Popular Tales and Romances of the Northern Nations: Difference between revisions

The book was published without crediting the original authors of the stories, or their translators. [[John George Cochrane]] attributed the translations to "Messrs. Leeds, Browning, [[Thomas De Quincey|De Quincey]], and Mrs. Hodgskin".<ref>{{Cite book|first=John George|last=Cochrane|author-link=John George Cochrane|title=Catalogue of the Library at Abbotsford|location=Edinburgh|year=1838|page=335|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_e8HAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA335}}</ref> According to [[Henry George Bohn]] the translations "are said to be by [[Robert Pearse Gillies|Gillies]], [[George Soane|Geo. Soane]] and De Quincy".<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Catalogue of Books|first=Henry G.|last=Bohn|author-link=Henry George Bohn|location=London|year=1841|page=1701|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PB1PAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA1-PA1701}}</ref> George Willis added "Leeds, [[Et cetera|&c.]]" to this list though Willis and Sotheran catalogues dropped the attribution to Leeds.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Catalogue of Superior Second-Hand Books|date=25 April 1853|publisher=George Willis|page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZcIAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA8-PA19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A Catalogue of Upwards of Fifty Thousand Volumes of Ancient and Modern Books|publisher=Willis and Sotheran|location=London|year=1862|page=422|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zSsYAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA422}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A Catalogue of Superior Second-Hand Books|publisher=Willis and Sotheran|location=London|date=25 April 1862|page=26|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFg5AAAAMAAJ&pg=RA24-PA26}}</ref> Sotheran added initials "[[John Gillies (historian)|J. Gillies]], G. Soane, and T. de Quincey" but later attributed the book to just [[William Henry Leeds|W. H. Leeds]], as did Bohn.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Catalogue of Superior Second-Hand Books|first=Henry|last=Sotheran|location=London|date=22 April 1891|page=26|hdl=2027/mdp.39015076073611?urlappend=%3Bseq=144 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015076073611?urlappend=%3Bseq=144%3Bownerid=13510798895672865-150}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A Cataglogue of Second-Hand Books Ancient and Modern|date=20 January 1894|page=18|publisher=Henry Sotheran & Co.|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ukDQAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature: Part VI|author-first=William Thomas|author-last=Lowndes|editor-first=Henry G.|editor-last=Bohn|editor-link=Henry George Bohn|publisher=Henry G. Bohn|location=London|year=1861|page=1704|hdl=2027/mdp.39015067268022?urlappend=%3Bseq=296 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015067268022?urlappend=%3Bseq=296%3Bownerid=13510798885851387-398}}</ref> The [[Brooklyn Public Library]] also solely attributes it to W. H. Leeds, while the [[Peabody Institute]]'s Baltimore Library gives "— Leed" as the anonymous editor.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Catalogue of the Brooklyn Library: Part Second D–M|year=1878|location=New York|page=513|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FNlGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA513|last1=Library |first1=Brooklyn Public }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Catalogue of the Library of the Peabody Institute: Part III: H–L|location=Baltimore|publisher=Press of Isaac Friedenwald|year=1887|page=2496|hdl=2027/hvd.32044089275754?urlappend=%3Bseq=678 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044089275754?urlappend=%3Bseq=678%3Bownerid=27021597764422686-692}}</ref> [[Sotheby's|Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge]] attributed it to "De Quincey, Gillies and others".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Catalogue of Books from the Library of a Gentleman|year=1895|publisher=Dryden Press: J. Davy & Sons|location=London|page=30|hdl=2027/uc1.31175007654877?urlappend=%3Bseq=478 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31175007654877?urlappend=%3Bseq=478%3Bownerid=13510798902974049-568}}</ref> De Quincey republished "The Fatal Marksman" in his 1859 collected works, confirming that at least one story was translated by him.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Edith|last=Birkhead|author-link=Edith Birkhead|title=The Tale of Terror: A Study of the Gothic Romance|location=London|publisher=Constable|year=1921|page=174|url=https://archive.org/details/taleofterrorstud00birkuoft/page/174/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|editor-first=David|editor-last=Masson|editor-link=David Masson|title=The Collected Writings of Thomas De Quincey|location=Edinburgh|publisher=A. and C. Black|volume=12|year=1889|page=286|hdl=2027/miun.ach0324.0012.001?urlappend=%3Bseq=300 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/miun.ach0324.0012.001?urlappend=%3Bseq=300}}</ref> In 1825, ''[[The Museum of Foreign Literature and Science]]'' reported that [[John Bowring]] was preparing a translation of [[Friedrich Laun]]'s {{lang|de|Die Zigeunerin}} as ''The Gipsey, A Romance''; the following year this notice was published in a number of other magazines, attributed to "the Translator of 'Popular Stories of Northern Nations{{'"}}.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Miscellaneous Intelligence|magazine=The Museum of Foreign Literature and Science|volume=7|issue=39|year=1825|page=270|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgagJS-xdmwC&pg=PA270}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=German Literature in American Magazines Prior to 1846|first=Scott Holland|last=Goodnight|year=1907|page=152|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924026130777/page/n159/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=List of New Works|magazine=[[Monthly Magazine]]|page=434|date=April 1826|volume=1|issue=4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ECQAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA434}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Literary Report|magazine=[[The New Monthly Magazine]]|page=221|date=1 May 1826|volume=18|issue=65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KYNHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA221}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Works Preparing for Publication|magazine=[[Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany]]|page=474|date=April 1826|volume=18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeEEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA474}}</ref> [[Mary Diana Dods]], who had also been working on a translation of "{{lang|de|Der Freischütz|italics=no}}" when ''Popular Tales'' was published, wrote to [[William Blackwood]] that the translator was Browning (Eileen Curran suggests this may have been a transcription error for Bowring<ref>{{cite journal | last=Curran | first=Eileen M. | journal=[[Victorian Periodicals Review]] | publisher=[Research Society for Victorian Periodicals, Johns Hopkins University Press] | volume=26 | issue=4 | year=1993 | issn=07094698 | jstor=20082719 | pages=238 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20082719 }}</ref>), who she knew, and considered a good man, but a "thorough pac'd Hum-drum".<ref>{{cite book | first=Betty T. | last=Bennett | author-link=Betty T. Bennett | chapter=Yours Very Truly, David Lyndsay | title = Mary Diana Dods, A Gentleman and a Scholar | publisher=William Morrow and Company | publication-place=New York | year=1991 | isbn=0-688-08717-5 | page=55 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/marydianadodsgen00benn/page/55 }}</ref>