Can't find translator's date of death

[AlexBell]

I am working on Solammbo by Gustave Flaubert, in the J.C. Dent 1913 edition translated by J.C. Chartres. But I can't find any mention of J.C. Chartres on the internet to find out his or her date of death.

Can I assume that he or she died died more than 70 years ago, or do I have to use the N. French Sheldon edition? She died in 1936.

[pdurrant]

For uploading to MobileRead you can't assume a date of death more than 70 years ago for a work translated ca. 1913.

(I couldn't find anything on J C Chartres either.)

[Doitsu]

If it doesn't have to be the Chartres translation, you can also download a translation by Edward Powys Mathers (1892–1939) from archive.org. The preface by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) is also out of copyright.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I am working on Solammbo by Gustave Flaubert, in the J.C. Dent 1913 edition translated by J.C. Chartres. But I can't find any mention of J.C. Chartres on the internet to find out his or her date of death.

Can I assume that he or she died died more than 70 years ago, or do I have to use the N. French Sheldon edition? She died in 1936.

I'm poking around and haven't come up with anything definitive yet, other than the translator is J.S. Chartres, not J.C., and the translation in fact was published the same year as the Sheldon edition, in 1886, not 1913. But I can't resist sharing a quote from a press clipping that referred to the Sheldon version as "an extraordinary bad translation."

[issybird]

I'm no help, but I'm having fun. In an article in the Spectator in 1886 on the two translations, Chartres is described as "an insufficient English gentleman." I wonder where he fell short?

[pdurrant]

One wonders whether J S Chartres might be John Smith Chartres (1862-1927)

There seems to be an odd gap in his biography between 1885 and 1902. Perhaps he did some translation work.

Whether he is or not, I can't see any translator working before 1886 still being alive in 1947.

I suppose Alex has the final say, but I don't think there'd be any objection to having this work in the MobileRead library.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm no help, but I'm having fun. In an article in the Spectator in 1886 on the two translations, Chartres is described as "an insufficient English gentleman." I wonder where he fell short?

Perhaps because he really was John Smith Chartres, an Irish Englishman?

[issybird]

According to a book called Transitions in Middlebrow Writing, 1880 - 1930, Chartres is "probably" John Smith Chartres, an Irish lawyer who died in 1927. This is the same Chartres who is identified as the translator in World Cat, so I hope that's good enough.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

One wonders whether J S Chartres might be John Smith Chartres (1862-1927)

There seems to be an odd gap in his biography between 1885 and 1902. Perhaps he did some translation work.

Whether he is or not, I can't see any translator working before 1886 still being alive in 1947.

I suppose Alex has the final say, but I don't think there'd be any objection to having this work in the MobileRead library.

I was working along the same lines as you and it does seem as if J. S. Chartres is that John Smith Chartres - at least I came up with two citations, even though his obit doesn't mention the translations.

[issybird]

Save us, please from the "extraordinary bad translation"!

[pdurrant]

Hmmm.... worldcat.org thinks it was John Smith Chartres, but I can't see any source for the claim.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Hmmm.... worldcat.org thinks it was John Smith Chartres, but I can't see any source for the claim.

See my posts above yours, Paul. I came up with another source. A google books search should come up with the relevant page and it did expand on the supporting evidence.

[pdurrant]

I think we have enough evidence now to say that the translator died in 1927, and so the work is in the public domain in life+70 countries.

[AlexBell]

Thanks to you all; I really appreciate the work which you have put in to it.

I also need to think about it some more. After thinking about it overnight I had almost decided to use the Mary French Sheldon edition anyway because to me her translation reads more easily, and she has a fascinating biography.

Issybird: could you provide me please with a link to the press article about her translation? What grounds were cited?

Doitsu: thanks to the link for the third translation. I'm tempted to use that one after having a quick look, but the spelling is different and and it doesn't seem to use diacritics. It also has illustrations, which would be an advantage if my graphic skills weren't so limited. From the few pages I read it reads more easily to me that the Chartres translation.

Decisions, decisions.

P.S. I've looked again at the cover of the J.M. Dent & Sons edition, and it definitely is J.C. Chartres. One presumes the publishers would get the translator's initials right.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

P.S. I've looked again at the cover of the J.M. Dent & Sons edition, and it definitely is J.C. Chartres. One presumes the publishers would get the translator's initials right.

The publisher might not. Especially as it was 30 years since the translation was done, and he's not a well-known translator.