Tag Archive: 0translation

This is a copy of the first edition in English of Bettina von Arnim’s first book, Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde (1835), translated in part by the author herself and privately printed in Berlin.  ‘The printing had almost come to end [sic], when by a variance between the printer and the translator, it was interrupted; […]

I had a very nice response to last week’s post, on Anna Akhmatova. This week, I thought I’d write about another poet I have translated: Gottfried Benn. I originally came across his first published poem sequence, Morgue (1912), when I was at university and had always been disappointed at other English translations which, to me […]

As many of you may know, I also write choral music, and am always on the lookout for interesting texts to set. Early last year, a friend sent me an English translation of a poem she liked by Anna Akhmatova, thinking it may appeal. The translation didn’t rhyme and, curious, I went to find Akhmatova’s […]

German interest in folksongs began in the middle of the eighteenth century, stoked in no small part by the Europe-wide mania for Ossian.  Thomas Percy’s influential Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765) was also much admired, and the philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, who had been sent a copy by Rudolf Erich Raspe (of Munchausen fame) […]

Another book from the recently-released Anglo-German Cultural Relations catalogue: Albrecht von Haller’s Usong.  An Eastern Narrative …  (London: Printed for the Translator; and sold by F. Newbery … and J. Walter …  1772). This first edition in English was published only a year after the original had appeared in Germany, apparently at the instigation of Queen Charlotte.  ‘This […]

Also in our newly-released Anglo-German catalogue is a copy of the extremely rare first (and only) edition in English of a book by Christian Felix Weiße containing over 50 songs for children, an early appearance for a German children’s book in English.  It is also featured in our New York book fair list, available by […]