2007 NAJVS Jules Verne Project and Status Report;
Suggestions for World-wide Research
and commentary by Norman Wolcott

 

Most Victorian translators of Verne have now been identified. Those missing include Dora Leigh, "William Lackland", Grace Virginia Lord (Virginia Champlin), George W. Hannah, James Cotterell (a member of the New York bar with offices at 20 Wall St.), Mary de Hauteville, Laura E. Kendall, and William Struthers. For William John Gordon we do not have dates due to the commonality of names. It is known that in later life he became almost an author-editor for the firm of Frederick Warne (who brought you Peter Rabbit) now owned by Penguin, who might be able to provide information if anyone has contacts there. For Stephen W. White there must be at least an obituary somewhere in the Evening Telegraph. Microfilm is available at the Philadelphia Free Library. (More research). For Hope Cranstoun Metcalfe we do not have his exact death date in 1939, but as he is buried in the Gunnersbury Cemetery in Kensington in the family plot, any researcher in London should be able to clear this up. Much information for the translators, especially the U.S. ones, has been provided by Victor Berch of Brandeis University.

We have one new translator: William Struthers, who translated A Sojourn in the Ice.

For Lewis Mercier we have quite a bit of information, but there are still many questions. (1) Why did he quit his job as headmaster of the Edgbaston Grammar School in Birmingham to start a charity school in his father's house in Walthamstow? (2) Is there still an Edgbaston School in Birmingham? and are there any records? The address and Mercier's address in Edgbaston are known; the local historical association has information. (3) Although Mercier filled in as headmaster of the St. John's Foundation School in London when the previous head resigned in a scandal, why was he summarily dismissed two years later with no mention in the archives or wall photos of his existence as headmaster? (4) Why did Mercier suddenly need to borrow £250 in 1865, much more than his salary? (5) Why did not the attending physician sign his death certificate? How long was he in the hospital? Why is there no obituary or mention of his burial? Was he buried in a pauper's grave? Parish records should show something. (6) Was there any probate of his belongings? Again records probably exist.

New information has emerged about Lewis Mercier. With ten children, there must be many descendants who might have some knowledge of him. One descendant was Winifred Louise Mercier, (1878-1934), grand-daughter of Lewis Page Mercier, and daughter of Lewis W. Mercier (1851-1928). Her father failed at the Stock Exchange and she lived with her maternal grand-father in the vicarage at Thurston, Suffolk. Upon his death she had no home except her school where she was a student teacher. At the age of 26 the generosity of a relative (unknown to me, more research) allowed her to attend Somerville College, Oxford. She went on to become a Don at Girton College in Cambridge. Later she became active in the effort to educate women teachers for secondary schools. She became principal of Whitelands College (an Anglican Training college) and was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1933. This information is from the 2004 Dictionary of National Biography where numerous references are listed (all available only in England) which may provide some further leads into the life of Lewis P. Mercier. The Huguenot Society of London and their publications also may provide some relevant information.

Recent research has shown that in fact I might be a relative (albeit very distantly) of Lewis Mercier. This is not surprising given the ratios of populations at the different times, and further study is needed before the exact kinship if any can be determined. .

Lewis Mercier did not translate Around the world in 80 Days. In 1962 Doubleday published a "Junior Deluxe Edition" which even a casual observation reveals is nothing but an emasculated bowdlerized version of Towle's translation removing such lines as "house where Sheridan died" considered unsuitable for "juniors". However having cobbled the Towle version, they needed another name to attach to the translation, so they selected the long dead Lewis Mercier on whom to pin the crime. Thus after almost 100 years Lewis Mercier again suffered for a third literary crime of which he is totally innocent.

This has been a banner year for Lulu books by Jules Verne. In 2005 I submitted the first original Lulu illustrated Verne book as a test, and the first bi-lingual and illustrated version of the Blockade Runners. Since that time Ron Miller has republished his 20,000 Leagues, his previously unpublished Center of the Earth, a re-edited version of Purchase of the North Pole from the Ogilvie edition, a refurbished version of Hector Servadac (Off on a Comet), a new translation of the Moon Novels, and his book of maps, all with illustrations. Steve Michaluk has his re-scanned offering of the Foundling Mick ($65). Also there are a couple of French books with original illustrations from Canada. This year I have contributed two versions of North against South and George Munro's The Southern Star, both in the original publisher's format, and a color version of How Lewis Mercier and Eleanor King Gave You Jules Verne, mostly for my own use as I wanted a version with the color photos. Also the Dutch Jules Verne society has started republishing several of Verne's books which have been translated into Dutch in the 19th century. This effort can easily expand into Yiddish, German and several other languages. If you haven't yet go on-line to Lulu and search for "Jules Verne".

William W. White has been dunned (rated 6/10) for his translation of "80 Days" because he omitted the paragraph on Byron's beard on the first page. I do not know about any other omissions but in at least this case he is innocent. The paragraph appears in the newspaper and first printed editions of the book, but was omitted in the many reprints in the latter 1800's. It is "People said that he resembled Byron about the head, for his feet were irreproachable--but a bearded Byron, a tranquil Byron, who would have lived a thousand years without growing old." It could be that the later versions all copied the Munro reprint of 1877 which may have omitted the paragraph. Perhaps the White version is due for a ratings upgrade.

"N. Danvers" is now known to be the pen name of Nancy Regina Emily Meugens. Miss Meugen's father, Pierre Meugens, was born in Belgium in 1808. Thus the pseudonymn "N. D'Anvers = Nancy d'Anvers" or "Nancy from Antwerp" is easily explained. Later correspondence of Mrs. Bell with Whistler, her publisher, and Charles Freer (Peacock Room, Freer Gallery) attempting to cadge permission to reproduce Whistler's paintings for her unauthorised biography is online at the Glasgow University website. Some of the stories she wrote for St. Nicholas and other American magazines are online at the APA web-site. Most are now unreadable.

W.H.G. Kingston did not translate Mysterious Island, or any other Verne novels, nor Swiss Family Robinson. (I believe thanks are due to F. P. Walter for tipping me off on this.) They were instead translated by his wife, Agnes Kinloch Kingston, in her husband's name. This was at a time when Kingston was in financial difficulties and was offered translation business by Sampson Low. This was revealed in the book by R.M. Kingsford in 1947 who inherited the diaries of Kingston and Mrs. Kingston, and summarised in the 2004 version of the Dictionary of National Biography. Kingsford quotes liberally from W.H.G.'s diaries, but not much from those of his wife. He undoubtedly has left these diaries to a library in Canada, but where? The Ryerson Press, Toronto, Kingsford's publisher, may have some information. Again, room for further research. Also it was apparently well known at the time that Mrs. Kingston did the translations in her husband's name, and it is mentioned in her obituary in the Times in 1913, but forgotten until now.

Again it is likely that Mrs. Kingston translated or at least co-translated the Steam House with her daughter Agnes Dundas Kingston. Mrs. Kingston was probably already translating the Steam House when W.H.G. died in 1880, and a footnote in the book refers to the "translators". Again the diaries of Mrs. Kingston are vital. More research!

Sampson Low has emerged as the fairy godparent of literary people in financial difficulties. In at least three instances, Lewis Mercier, W.H.G. Kingston, and Mrs. Cashel-Hoey, Low came to the aid of authors in financial distress by providing translating work for them to do for ready cash. Mrs. Cashel-Hoey translated almost thirty books, most for Sampson Low, in the ten years after her husband died.

George Munro published the first half of Texar's Vengeance translated by Laura Kendall before the British edition came out. By the summer the Sampson Low version was in print, so Munro pilfered that translation instead of continuing with the Kendall translation.

Dover has reprinted the Routledge translation of Journey to the Center of the Earth in a Thrift Edition, $3.00, (a good thing). It is nice to see publishers now acknowledging their source material and not just blithely treat it as "public domain" with no commentary. We need to keep track of inexpensive good editions of Verne.

Barnes and Noble Classics has published a revised version of Malleson's translation A Journey into the Interior of the Earth, giving credit to Malleson (a good thing). Ursula K. Heise, (named Ursual Heise on the jacket) an English professor at Stanford, did the revision and has restored some abridged sections and corrected errors (a good thing). However the title has been changed to Journey to the Center of the Earth (why?), American spelling has been inserted (well, OK), and almost every occurrence of a pronoun has been replaced by an apostrophe (I'll, we'll, it'll, etc) to "modernize" the dialogue, completely destroying the cadence of Malleson's otherwise literary prose (not a good thing). If we are going to do this modernization thing I have a suggestion to make--

"It was on like May 24, 1863, like a Sunday that my uncle, Professor Lidenbrock like rushed back into his little house in a like ancient street of Hamburg.

Martha the maid must have like believed that she was like far behind schedule, for the dinner had only like just begun to like cook on the kitchen stove."

Well you get the idea.

Kieran O'Driscoll who came over from Ireland to lecture on the translations of 80 Days at the Mondial was very impressed by the Malleson translation. He gave a marvellous lecture giving us all a first exposure to "translation theory".

It seems that Center of the Earth may becoming the most popular Verne novel, at least as far as translators are concerned. Everyone wants to get into the act. The book is not too long, and one of the few told in the first person. The translator almost feels like Axel climbing the tower in Copenhagen and forging ahead with the expedition.

I would like to add a plug for the web-page A Jules Verne Centennial (1905-2005) on the Smithsonian web-site, www.si.edu. Search for "Jules Verne". My mentor Martin Kalfatovic at SI did the moving web design, and the photos of the first editions were made by SI professional staff. You can see the "First Class", "Second Class", and "Third Class" on the cover of the Scribner's edition, and see how the engraver of the Appleton Five Weeks illustrations carefully removed the original artist's signature from his re-engraved copy. Terry Harpold thought the site a good introduction for Verne neophytes for his Verne class.

Finally there is to my mind still the tantalizing possibility that the article Aerial Ascensions translated by Anne T. Wilbur from the Musée was actually written by Jules Verne. The story has been identified from the source by Volker Dehs as being by one J.-B. Gaspard. (Remember J.-T. Maston?) The exact parallel of the two articles is remarkable. Gaspard gives only successful balloon flights in his article, while Verne gives only disasters in his story in exactly parallel fashion. Also if you say "J. B." in French very quickly what does it sound like? "J.V."?

The Musée had both a fictional and an educational section. Verne's story, A Drama in the Air appears in the fictional section. Might it not be possible for Verne to get a little more money by writing an article on ballooning for the educational section? For the fictional side Verne could use his own name, but for the educational side, J.-B. Gaspard, listed only as maitre d'école (school-master) provides literary cover. The only other author of this name is for a medical Doctoral Thesis in Marseilles in 1853, an unlikely candidate for this authorship. Also "Gaspard" is normally a first name, leading one to suspect a pseudonym. (Think of Mr. James, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Henry, names offering little possibility of identification.) Also apparently (I have not seen the Musée article) Verne refers back to the Gaspard article in an aside on his story. We have also seen Verne giving backwards references to his previous writings in Sans dessus dessous. Could this be a pre-cursor and perhaps a clue he has left behind?

Bon Voyage Extraordinaire!