Brussels Brontë Blog

Villette continued

The sixth translation, by Nannie Nieland-Weits, was published by Muntinga (Amsterdam) in 2008, in which year it had two editions. It was published as a ‘Rainbow pocket’ (675 pp.). Nieland-Weits has translated many books, also from French and German, and wrote a book about Jane Austen.

Cover of the 2008 Muntinga Villette

The seventh and so far last translation was published in 2010 by Reader’s Digest (Amsterdam/Brussels). It’s an ‘adaptation’ (461 pp.). The book doesn’t mention who translated it. The cover is very dull.

Cover of the 2010 Reader's Digest
Villette

The Professor

The first Dutch translation of The Professor was published in early 1859, by Van Bolhuis Hoitsema (Groningen; 10 years earlier they published the first Dutch Jane Eyre). The title it got was Edward Crimsworth, with the subtitle, in translation, The life of a teacher. a story (vi + 304 pp.). The ‘Edward’ is quite remarkable of course, all the more so since at the beginning of the novel the name of William Crimsworth is given first in big letters. The book has the preface of the author and Arthur Bell Nicholls.

Cover of the 1859 Dutch
Edward Crimsworth

Title page of the 1859 Dutch Edward Crimsworth

Advertisement for Edward Crimsworth (Opregte Haarlemsche
Courant, 26 March 1859)

The second and last translation was first published in 2005 by Kemper & Boekwerk (Leidschendam; 239 pp.), with the title Leven en liefde (Life and love). The translation was done by Temilo van Zantwijk (a philosopher) and Agave Kruijssen (mostly known for writing historical novels). It was republished in 2009 as a Rainbow pocket too by Muntinga, entitled William Crimsworth (279 pp.).

Cover of the 2005 Dutch
Leven en liefde

Cover of the 2009 Dutch
William Crimsworth

The other Brontë novels

Remarkably, the first Dutch Brontë translation was Anne’s second novel, published as De bewoonster van Wildfell Hall. The first advertisement for this book is from September 1849. Two months later the first ad appeared for the Dutch Jane Eyre. This has been digitized, and the two volumes can be seen here. The first Shirley translation was published in 1851, in three volumes. The first, second and third have also been digitized.

The 1850s library catalogue, which I spoke about in an article about a supposed novel by Acton Currer Bell, wrongly gives the title of Anne’s novel as De huurster van Wildfell Hall, which is a correct translation though. Bewoonster means occupant, or inhabitant. The word ‘huurster’ was indeed used for the translation that was first published in 1997. It got several more editions.

It took until 1941 before the first translation of Wuthering Heights was published, done by the above mentioned Elisabeth de Roos. The first translation of Agnes Grey was only published in 1962.

Trivia

Agnes Grey was also the name of a Dutch (Frisian) pop band which existed between 1978 and 1980. It was probably based on a (bluesy) song with the same name recorded in 1977 by Arti Kraaijeveld, and was later also played by The Bintangs. These can be found on Youtube. There doesn’t seem to be a direct relation with Anne’s novel.

Mrs. Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë has never been translated into Dutch.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Latvia

A Latvian translation of Villette was published by Daugava, from Riga, in 2 volumes (279 and 380 pp.), as Pilsētiņa (little city). The first volume, published in 2011 has already been described in the cover top six article. The second volume was published in 2012. The translation was done by Dagnija Dreika, who apart from Jane Eyre translated all of the Brontë novels, as well as Mrs. Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë.

Cover of the first volume of the
2011-12 Pilsētiņa

Cover of the second volume of the
2011-12 Pilsētiņa

Photograph of Dagnija Dreika

The translation of The Professor by Dagnija Dreika was first published in 2005 (307 pp.) by Skarabejs, from Riga. It had a reprint in 2015, by Daugava (288 pp.). The title is Skolotājs, which translates as teacher or schoolmaster.

Cover of the 2005 Skolotājs

Cover of the 2015 Skolotājs

Wuthering Heights was the first Brontë novel to be published into Latvian, in 1960. Jane Eyre followed in 1976, Agnes Grey in 1999, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 2003 and Shirley in 2010.

Lithuania

The Lithuanian translation of Villette was published in 1995 by Rosma, from Vilnius, in a translation by Marius Indriūnas (576 pp.). He also translated Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence and some other works.

Cover of the 1995 Vijetė

The Professor has not yet been translated into Lithuanian, nor have Shirley and The Tenant of the Wildfell Hall. The first Lithuanian Jane Eyre was published in 1957, the first Wuthering Heights in 1961, the first Agnes Grey in 1997.

Estonia

Neither Villette nor The Professor have been translated in Estonian, as opposed to the other Brontë novels.
The first translation of Jane Eyre was published in 1959. In 1974 the first Estonian Wuthering Heights appeared. Agnes Grey followed in 1998 (a year after Emma), Shirley in 2011 and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 2013.

Poland

Villette
The first and only Polish translation of Villette, by Róża Centnerszwerowa, was first published in 1939, and had its last reprint in 2013. Róża Emilia Centnerszwerowa (1867-1940) translated works from several languages, but it appears she did no other English language novels.
The first edition was published in 1939 by Rój from Warsaw, in two volumes (359 and 426 pp.). The second edition was published in 1993 in two volumes again (451 and 520 pp.), by Alkazar from Warsaw.

Cover of the second volume of the
1993 Polish Villette

Only one year later another reprint followed, published by Warsaw publisher Rytm, in two volumes (348 and 419 pp.).

Cover of the 1994 Polish Villette

The fourth edition was published in 2006 by Hachette Livre Polska from Warsaw in two volumes (312 and 344 pp.)

Cover of the 2006 Polish Villette

The fifth and sixth editions were published by Świat Książki from Warsaw in two volumes, in 2008-9 and 2011 (320 and 366 pp.), with identical covers.

Cover of the 2008-9/2011
Polish Villette

The seventh edition was published in 2013 by Wydaw from Warsaw, for the first time in one volume (684 pp.).

Cover of the 2013 Polish Villette

The Professor
A translation of The Professor, by Katarzyna Malecha, was published in 2012 by Wydawnictwo from Warsaw (312 pp.). Katarzyna Malecha has also translated Mrs. Gaskell’s Life of Charlotte Brontë and Ruth.

Cover of the 2012 Polish
The Professor

The other Brontë novels
Jane Eyre was first translated into Polish in 1930, Wuthering Heights in 1950. Both novels have had numerous Polish editions. A translation of Shirley was published in 2011, translations of Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 2012.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Czechia

Villette
The first Czech Villette was published in two volumes in 1907-8 by Jan Laichter from Prague (369 and 393 pp.), in a translation by Zdeněk Franta (1868-1943). He also translated Jane Eyre and Shirley, as well as for instance Dickens’ Little Dorrit and Bleak House.
The second edition of this work was published by Jan Laichter again in 1928. Whereas in the first edition the author’s name was just given as Charlotte Brontë, twenty years later that was strangely changed into Karolina Brontëová. It’s a remarkable echo of the old rumour that Caroline was the author’s first name (as shown by an article I wrote in 2011). This 1928 edition (376 and 400 pp.) doesn’t seem to mention the translator’s name.

The covers of the 1928 Czech Villette

The third edition of Franta’s translation was published in 1948, again by Jan Laichter (422 and 443 pp.). Apart from nrs. 1 and 2 the two covers are identical.

Cover of the first volume of the 1948
Czech Villette

In 1975 the first edition of an abridged translation, done by Jarmila Urbánková (1911-2000), was published. It got to three editions (228, 249 and 322 pp. respectively), all published by Albatros from Prague. The second edition was published in 1990, the third in 1999. Urbánková was a poet and translator of among other works Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

Cover of the 1975 Czech Villette

Cover of the 1990 Czech Villette

Cover of the 1999 Czech Villette

A new full translation, by Kristýna Julinová, was published by Daranus from Prague in three volumes (218, 236 and 258 pp. respectively). The first two were published in 2011, the third in 2012. The volumes had as subtitles, in translation, Unloved, Admired and Adoration. Julinová has also translated juvenilia of Charlotte and Jane Austen, as well as George Eliot’s The Lifted Veil.

Cover of the first volume of
the 2011-12 Czech Villette

Cover of the second volume of
the 2011-12 Czech Villette

Cover of the third volume of
the 2011-12 Czech Villette

The Professor
In 2010 Daranus published the only Czech translation of the The Professor (294 pp.), in a translation by Květa Palowská, a poet and translator of among other works Mrs. Gaskell’s Cranford.

Cover of the 2010 Czech The Professor

The other Brontë novels
The first translation of Jane Eyre was published in 1868. Shirley followed in 1906, Wuthering Heights in 1912, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1975 and Agnes Grey in 2009.

Slovakia

Villette
The first Slovakian Villette was published in 1972 by Tatran from Bratislava, in 2 volumes (344 and 352 pp.), translated by Jozef Máček. It had two editions in that year, with different covers.

Cover of the first 1972 Slovak
Villette

Cover of the second 1972 Slovak Villette

Cover of the first 1980 Slovak
Villette

The second translation was published in 1999 by Media Klub from Bratislava, again in two volumes (252 and 252 pp.). It was translated by Kristína Limbecková, who also translated other novels and books about the Beatles.

Cover of the 1999 Slovak Villette

The Professor
The first Slovakian translation of The Professor was published in 1992 by Práca from Bratislava (214 pp.). It was translated by Mária Klenková, who has translated English and German novels, and Jana Kantorová-Báliková, who did the poems.

Cover of the 1992 Slovak
The Professor

The second translation was published in 2014 by Slovart from Bratislava (245 pp.). Beáta Mihalkovičová was the translator. She also translated Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey and several Jane Austen books.

Cover of the 2014 Slovak
The Professor

The other Brontë novels
It appears that Shirley was the first to have been published in Slovakia, in 1936 for the first time, followed by Wuthering Heights in 1944, Jane Eyre in 1958, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1971 and Agnes Grey in 2015.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Villette

Ilona Róna (1904-199?) translated many books, for instance of Jane Austen, Wiliam Makepeace Thackeray and Gore Vidal, and also from other languages. Villette was her only Brontë translation. It is the only Hungarian translation of the novel. It first appeared in 1967, twice, published by Európa from Budapest (566 pp.).

Cover of the first 1967 Hungarian
Villette

Cover of the second 1967 Hungarian
Villette

The third and four editions, published in 1969 and 1973 (by the same publisher; 586 and 537 pp. respectively) had the same cover as the second edition. In 1974 it was again published, in two volumes (319 and 334 pp.), together with Charlotte’s Henry Hastings, by the same publisher, as well as in two other 1974 editions with both stories, firstly by Európa and Alföldi Ny from Debrecen. and secondly by Európa, Alföldi Ny and Madách Kiadó from Bratislava (Slovakia).

Covers of the 1974 Hungarian
Villette/Henry Hastings

The eight edition was published in 1985, again by Európa (665 pp.).

Cover of the 1985 Hungarian
Villette

The ninth edition was published in 2005 by Palatinus from Budapest (696 pp.).

Cover of the 2005 Hungarian
Villette

In 2007 it was published again, this time by Ulpius from Budapest, in two volumes (460 and 367 pp.).

Covers of the 2007 Hungarian Villette

The eleventh and for now last edition of Róna’s translation was published in 2012, by Lazi from Sgezed (492 pp.).

Cover of the 2012 Hungarian Villette

The Professor
The year 1874 saw the first Hungarian translation of The Professor. It was published by Stein from Koloszvar, with the title A tanár : regény (The teacher, a novel; 432 pp.), a translation by Julianna Szász.
The second translation, A különös tanítvány (A special student), by Geyza Bányai, György Gellért and Ernő Hárs had three editions. The first two were published in 1992 and 1993 by Nesztor from Budapest (216 pp.) and had the same cover.

Cover of the 1992-3 A különös tanítvány

The third edition was published in 2006 by Ulpius from Budapest (359 pp.).

Cover of the 2006 A különös tanítvány

Az angoltanár (The teacher of English), the third translation, by Gerda Barcza, was published by Lazi from Sgezed (260 pp.) in 2004 and 2006, with the same cover.

Cover of the 2004/06 Az angoltanár

The other Brontë novels
The first Hungarian translation of Jane Eyre dates from 1873. Wuthering Heights was first published in this language in 1940. Both novels had many editions in Hungarian. The first Hungarian Shirley was published in 1975, the first Agnes Grey in 1984 and the first The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1985.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Denmark
After the 1853-4 Danish Villette there has only been one more translation of Villette. It was published in 1976 by Hernov, in cooperation with the Nyt Dansk Litteraturselskab (552 pp.), and translated by Luise Pihl, who also did The Professor, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, as well as several Jane Austen books. In 1994 it was released as an audiobook, on cassette tapes. Earlier, in 1986, a Danish Villette was also published as an audiobook on cassette tapes, but it’s not entirely clear if this is the Pihl translation too. It’s very likely though.

Cover of the 1976 Danish Villette

The Professor

Charlotte’s posthumously published first novel was quickly translated in Danish. Laereren. En Fortaelling was published in the same year, 1857 (Kopenhagen; 360 pp.). The name of the translator is not given. The title page gives Fr. Waldike as the publisher. It published books until at least 1868.
On the title page it also says ‘Expeditionen af Husbibliotheket’, Expedition of house library, in translation. Two more books are known with this text, both from 1857 too (translations from Thackeray and Hawthorne).

Title page of the 1857 Laereren. En Fortaelling
(with thanks to Ole Henrik Sørensen of the
Denmark Royal Library)

The second translation was published in 1975, again by Hernov, and also done by Luise Pihl (272 pp.), as Professoren.

Cover of the 1975 Professoren (from the
Paperback castles blog)

It is remarkable that Denmark hasn’t had new translations of both books since then. Nor seem there to have been reprints of the Pihl translations.

The first Danish translation of Jane Eyre was published in 1850, the first Danish Shirley in 1850-1. Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall had their first translation in 1851, while it took until 1919 before the first Wuthering Heights’ translation was published.

Norway

There are two languages in Norway, Bokmål and Landsmål or Nynorsk. For about a century they have been trying to integrate the two into one official language but that is still an ongoing process. Until about a century ago they read their literature in Danish, which helps to explain why it took rather long before translations were published, in comparison with other West-European countries.

There has been one Norwegian translation, in Bokmål (‘book language’), by Ragnfrid Stokke (1944-). She also did Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and other literary works from English, Russian, Danish and Swedish. This Villette was published by Pax in 2000 (528 pp.).

Cover of the Norwegian Villette

The first Norwegian Jane Eyre was published in 1902, but it took until 1999 for a complete translation, also by Ragnfrid Stokke. The first Wuthering Heights was published in 1945, and this year, 2016, the first The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was published. The other Brontë novels have not yet been translated.

Sweden

Villette

The first and only Swedish translation was published in 2015 by Modernista from Stockholm (592 pp.). It was translated by Anna-Karin Malmström Ehrling and Per Ove Ehrling. It also appeared as an audiobook in that year.

Cover of the 2015 Swedish Villette

The Professor

The first Swedish translation was published in 1857 (it appears to have been printed in 1858 though), as Professoren, in Linköping. The book doesn’t mention the name of the publisher.

The second translation will be published in August of this year, also by Modernista, as Professorn (256 pp.). This translation is also done by Anna-Karin Malmström Ehrling and Per Ove Ehrling, who also translated Ann Dinsdale’s The world of the Brontës. It has a preface written by Thomas Sjösvärd, a literary critic who has published on many authors. The book has a cover which is similar to their Villette, and to a Swedish Jane Eyre.

Cover of the 2016 Professorn

Jane Eyre was first published in Swedish in 1850, Wuthering Heights in 1927, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 2004, and Agnes Grey in 2009. Shirley has not yet been translated. Recently, in May, a translation of Charlotte’s last unfinished work was published (Emma. Ett fragment).

Finland

Villette

There has only been one Finnish translation of Villette, by Tyyni Haapanen-Tallgren (1892-1991). She was a writer, literary scholar and translator (from several languges). She also translated Jane Eyre (1915), which was the first Finnish translation of that novel. (For more about her see this article).

Photograph of Tyyni Haapanen-Tallgren

Her Villette translation was first published in 1921, and had its sixth and (as yet) last reprint, remarkably, in 2015. The title of the work is Syrjästäkatsojan tarina, which translates as ‘The helpless viewer. A story.’

The first six editions were published by WSOY (Werner Söderström osakeyhtiö), from Helsinki. The first two are both from 1921 (764 pp.).

The cover of the 1921 Syrjästäkatsojan tarina

There seem to be two varying colours of the hard cover of the 1921 reprint.

Cover of the second 1921 Syrjästäkatsojan tarina

The third, fourth and fifth editons were published in 1952, 1953 and 1959 respectively, with identical covers. Like the sixth edition they have 497 pages.

Cover of the 1952 Syrjästäkatsojan tarina

The sixth and last WSOY edition was published in 1966, this time with a cover illustration.

Cover of the 1966 Syrjästäkatsojan tarina

The last reprint, a 2015 paperback, was published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (356 pp.).

Cover of the 2015 Syrjästäkatsojan tarina

The Professor
In 2009 Professori was published by Tammi (331 pp.), a translation by Inkeri Koskinen.

Cover of the 2009 Professori

The other Brontë novels
The first translation of Charlotte’s Shirley was published in 1968. Emily's Wuthering Heights first appeared in 1927 in translation, while Anne’s novels were both first published in 1971 in Finnish.

Iceland
An Icelandic Jane Eyre was first published in 1948. The translation of Wuthering Heights was first published in 1951. The other novels have not been translated in Icelandic.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Villette
The first Spanish translation of Villette was published in 1944 by Nausica from Barcelona (613 pp.), in a translation by P. Elias, who also wrote a preface. Elias also translated Anne Brontë’s novels, Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop and books by Mark Twain.

Cover of the 1944 Spanish Villette

Spain’s second translation was published in 1996 by Rialp from Madrid (462 pp.). Or rather, this version, ‘realized by Miguel Martin,’ was based on Elias’ translation, as is shown in an article written by Maria Teresa Fernández Martinez. In it she also relates how this Spanish Villette censored “every single element considered to be critical of Catholicism, thus distorting the meaning.”

Cover of the 1996 Spanish Villette

The real second translation in Spanish, by Eduardo Arana, was published in 1945, in Argentina, by Ayacucho from Buenos Aires. Bizarrely, Emily Brontë is given as the author of the novel. With 394 pages it is probably an abridged version. Unfortunately no picture of the cover could be found.

The third (annotated) translation, by Marta Salis, was published in 2005 by Alba from Barcelona (645 pp.). Salis also translated works from Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Mrs. Gaskell, George Eliot and other authors.

Cover of the 2005 Spanish Villette

Salis’ translation was republished in 2014 by Alba, with a cover we have already seen in the cover top six article.

Cover of the 2014 Spanish Villette

The Professor
The first translation of The Professor in Spanish was published in 1884 in Chile, by La Epoca from Santiago (282 pp.). The title was El Profesor. The author’s name is given, strangely, as Currer Ber. The translator’s name is not given.

Cover of the 1884 Chilean The Professor
(with thanks to the Biblioteca Nacional
de Chile)

The second translation was published in 1916 in Argentina, by La Nación from Buenos Aires (300 pp.), in a translation by Gregorio Lafuerza. He also translated several Dickens novels, Thackeray’s Vanity Fair and French works.

Cover of the 1916 Argentinian
The Professor

The year 1943 saw two more translations. In Argentina a new El Profesor was published by Poseidón from Buenos Aires (266 pp.). The name of the translator is not given. Luisa Sofovich (1905-1970) wrote a preface about the Brontë sisters. She was a writer and translated some French literary works, and may perhaps have done this translation..

Cover of the 1943 Argentinian
The Professor

Spain in that same year had its first translation, published by Nausica from Barcelona (279 pp.). It was translated by Agustí Esclasans (1895-1967), who also did Dickens and Eliot novels and other works from English, French and German.

Cover of the 1943 Spanish The Professor

Argentina soon had another translation, in 1946, by H.F. Casali. It was published by Acme Agency from Buenos Aires (280 pp.). It appears Casali only translated one other novel, Gaston Leroux’s Le Fantôme de l'Opéra.

Cover of the 1946 Argentinian
The Professor

A very short version, of 42 pages only, was published in 1947 in the Madrid literary journal Novelas y cuentos (año XIX, no 831), with the author’s name being given as Carlota Brontë.

Cover of the 1947 Spanish The Professor

Another abridged edition (157 pp.), without the name of the translator being given, was published in 1953 by Dolar from Madrid.

Cover of the 1953 Spanish
The Professor

In 1985 another translation was published in Chile by Portada. With 189 pages it is another abridged edition. The translator is again not given.

Cover of the 1985 Chilean The Professor

A full translation was published by Alba in 2000, as El Profesor: Una historia (388 pp.) It was a translation by Gema Moral Bartolomé, who has also translated Shirley, as well as, among others, works from Henry James, Wilkie Collins and Shakespeare. This Alba edition has been reprinted in 2002, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016 with the same cover.

Cover of the 2000 Alba The Professor

Gema Moral Bartolomé’s translation has also been issued by two other publishers. Debolsillo from Barcelona had two editions in 2005 and 2007 (296 pp.), using the same cover as the Alba 2000 version. RBA from Barcelona had three editions. The first of these was published in 2004 (301 pp.).

Cover of the 2004 RBA The Professor

The second RBA edition was published in 2009, the third in 2010 (both 333 pp.)

Cover of the 2009 RBA The Professor

Cover of the 2010 RBA The Professor

Another edition of Bartolomé’s translation was published in 2014 by Alba (388 pp.), with a different cover.

Cover of the 2014 Alba The Professor

Another (annotated) translation, by Sonia Postigo Ímaz, was published in 2004 by Gredos from Madrid (378 pp.). It had a reprint in 2005. It seems to be her only translation.

Cover of the 2004 Gredos
The Professor

In 2008, finally, a translation was published in Argentina, by Aguilar from Buenos Aires (302 pp.), which has also published translations of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and books about the Brontës. The translator of this work isn’t known, nor could a picture be found of the cover.

The other Brontë novels
Wuthering Heights was the first to be published in Spanish, in 1921, followed by Jane Eyre in 1943, Agnes Grey and Shirley in 1944 and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1945.

Catalunya
Four Brontë novels have been translated and published in Catalonian: Jane Eyre in 1992, Agnes Grey in 1994, Wuthering Heights in 1996 and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 2013.

Basque Country
A Basque translation of Jane Eyre was published in 1998.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Portugal

Villette
The first Portuguese Villette was published in 1943, by Portugália from Lissabon, as Villette ou num colégio de raparigas (‘or a girls’ school’; 539 pp.). It was translated by Ersilio Cardoso (1911-1996). He also translated Pride and Prejudice, Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop, Shakespeare’s Hamlet and a lot of other works, and wrote English-, French- and German-Portuguese dictionaries.

Cover of the 1943 Villette ou num
colégio de raparigas

It was republished by Portugália in 1958 (511 pp.)

Cover of the 1958 Villette ou num
colégio de raparigas

The Cardoso translation was again published in 1974 and 1985, by Celidis from Lissabon (491 pp.). Unfortunately no pictures can be found of the covers.

A new translation, by Maria do Carmo Romão, was published in 2008, by Planeta from Lissabon (492 pp.). Maria do Carmo Romão has mostly translated modern literature.

Cover of the 2008 Portuguese Villette

The Professor
The first Portuguese translation of The Professor was published in 1943, by Inquerito from Lissabon (247 pp.). The translation was done by António Pedro (1909-1966), a writer of plays and poetry mainly, and a translator of a couple of works like Mrs. Gaskell’s Cranford and Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Cover of the 1943 Portuguese O Professor

Title page of the 1943
Portuguese O Professor

The second translation was published in 1955 first by Civilização from Porto. The translator’s name was just given as M.C. in this edition.

Cover of the 1955 Portuguese
O Professor

It was republished by Civilização in 1959, with a remarkable discrepancy in the number of pages, 271 versus the 178 of the 1955 edition. This time the name of the translator was given as Maria de Carvalho (1889-1973). She was a poet mainly. The Professor appears to be the only literary work she translated.

Cover of the 1959 Portuguese
O Professor

In 1964 the third translation was published by Romano Torres from Lissabon (268 pp.). It was translated by Mário Domingues (1899-1977), a historian and translator, who also did, among other works, Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and George Eliot’s Middlemarch.

Cover of the 1964 Portuguese
O Professor

The fourth translation, by Adolfo Casais Monteiro (1908-1972), was first published (posthumously) in 1974 by, again, Inquérito (350 pp.). He also translated Shirley 1943 and George Eliot’s Silas Marner, as well as other works from English, French, Russian and Latin, and was a poet and literary critic too. This translation had its second edition in 1980, but it is unclear what covers they actually had. It seems well possible though that both had the following cover.

Cover of the 1974 and 1980 Portuguese
O Professor (?)

The third edition of Casais Monteiro’s translation was published in 2003 by Inquérito (349 pp.).

Cover of the 2003 Portuguese
O Professor

The last Portuguese O Professor was published in 2013, by Book.it from Matosinhos (334 pp.). It was apparently in essence the Maria de Carvalho translation which was revised by Mariana Guimarães.

Cover of the 2013 Portuguese O Professor

The other Brontë novels
It is remarkable that in both Spain and Portugal the first translations of all the Brontë novels were first published between 1940 and 1946, the years of World War II. In Spain it was between 1942 and 1945, in Portugal between 1940 and 1946, with Wuthering Heights being the first. Jane Eyre followed in 1941, Agnes Grey in 1942, Shirley in 1943, and (after Villette and The Professor in 1943 too) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1946.

Brazil

Villette
The first Brazilian (anotated) translation of Villette was published first in 2014, by Pedrazul from Vitória (598 pp.). It was translated by Fernanda Martins, who has also done Shirley, and Anaximandro Amorim, a poet and novelist who did the French parts of the novel (these translations were given in notes). The book has 40 illustrations by Luiz Carlos C. Pereira.

Cover of the 2014 Brazilian Villette

One of the illustrations of the 2014
Brazilian Villette by Luiz Carlos C. Pereira

The second edition of this translation was published by Pedrazul in 2015 (432 pp.).

Cover of the 2015 Brazilian Villette

The third edition will be published later this month, July 2016.

Cover of the 2016 Brazilian Villette
(with thanks to Chirlei Wandekoken of Pedrazul)

The Professor
The first Brazilian translation of The Professor was published in 1944 by José Olympio from Rio de Janiero (265 pp.). It was translated by Raul Lima

Cover of the 1944 Brazilian O Professor

The Raul Lima translation was republished in 1983 by Global (259 pp.).

A new translation was published in 1958 by Saraiva, together in one book with Charles de Coster’s Tijl Uilenspiegel (A lenda de Ulenspiegel). The translator is not given.

Cover of the 1958 Brazilian O Professor/
A lenda de Ulenspiegel

In 1958 there was also another Brazilian O professor, published by Clube de Livro (186 pp.). The name of the translator is given as José Maria Machado but that is apparently a fictional name.

Cover of the 1958 Brazilian O Professor/

In 2017 Pedrazul will publish a new translation of The Professor.

The other Brontë novels
The first Brazilian translation of Jane Eyre was published in 1916, Wuthering Heights followed in 1938, Shirley in 1949, Agnes Grey in 1977 and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 2008.

Trivia
There is a Rua Emily Bronte (without the dots on the e) in the city of São Paulo in Brazil. It’s a short, rather shabby looking street.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Romania

Villette
Romania’s first translation of Villette, by George Demetru-Pan, was published in 1940 by Capitol from Bukarest (276 pp.). Demetru-Pan (1911-1972) also translated works from Arab and Spanish and he was a poet and a novelist. The title of his abridged version of Villette was Mascarada (Masquerade).

Cover of the 1940 Romanian Villette

A revised and improved version of Mascarada, edited by Luxa Stefan-Andreescu, was published in 1993 by Lucman from Bukarest, as Te-am dorit intr-o seara (Mascarada). That new title part is, in translation: ‘I wanted one evening.’ It still is an abridged version, with 335 pages only.

Cover of the 1993 Romanian Villette

In 2010 a second revised edition was published by Artpress from Timisoara, edited by Valerică Dinu. A picture of the cover couldn’t be found.

A full translation was published in 1975 by Eminescu from Bukarest. The translation (599 pp.) was done by Mihai C. Delescu, who also translated French works.

Cover of the 1975 Romanian Villette

The second edition of Delescu’s translation was published in two volumes (317 and 311 pp.) in 1993 by Elinor from Bukarest. It had illustrations by Adriana Ioniţă.

Cover of the 1993 Romanian Villette

The third translation, by Lucian Popa, was published in 2012, in two volumes again (416 and 368 pp.), by Adevarul from Bukarest. Popa also translated Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. This ediition appeared in the ‘Surorile Brontë’ series with most of the other novels of the sisters.

Cover of the 2012 Romanian Villette

The Professor
The first translation of The Professor, by Al. D. Grigorescu, was published in 1993 by Artemis from Bukarest (238 pp.). Grigorescu also translated Trollope. The book, with in translation ‘The ladies’ pensionnat’ as title, had illustrations by Mihail Botor.

Cover of the 1993 Romanian
The Professor

Artemis republished this translation in 2002 and 2009 (same number of pages). It’s not clear what the 2002 cover was but it is probably the same as the one of 2009.

Cover of the (first) 2009 Romanian
The Professor

The second translation, by Daniel Mihai Dunca, was first published in 2006 by Grupul Editorial Art from Bukarest, and republished in 2008 (both 287 pp.).

Cover of the 2006 and 2008 Romanian
The Professor

The year 2009 also saw the publication of the third translation, by Arina Avram, also entitled Professorul. It was published by ALLFA from Bukarest (336 pp.). It seems to be the only translation Avram did. Otherwise she wrote books herself, for instance about famous women.

Cover of the (second) 2009 Romanian
The Professor

The other Brontë novels
The first translation of Jane Eyre was published in 1891. Wuthering Heights was second, in 1937. The first translations of Shirley and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall were published in 1974. The first Romanian Agnes Grey appeared in 1979.

Bulgaria

Villette
The first and only Bulgarian translation of Villette, by Zheni Bozhilova, was first published in 1975 by Narodna Mladezh from Sofia (536 pp.). Bozhilova also translated works of Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf and Arthur Conan Doyle, among many other novels.

Cover of the 1975 Bulgarian Villette

The second edition of her translation was published in 1989 by Otechestvo from Sofia (528 pp.).

Cover of the 1989 Bulgarian Villette

The third and last edition was published in 1992 by Koala from Sofia (528 pp.).

Cover of the 1992 Bulgarian Villette

The Professor
There has been one Bulgarian translation of The Professor, by Khristo Kŭnev . It was published in 1992 by Garant from Sofia (266 pp.), and reprinted in 1993. The title (in transcription: Uchitelyat) translates as just The Professor. Among a number of other works Kŭnev has also translated Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, as well as Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass.

Cover of the 1992/93 Bulgarian
The Professor

The other Brontë novels
Jane Eyre was again the first to be published, in 1952. In 1957 she was followed by Wuthering Heights, in 1963 by Shirley. Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall saw its first Bulgarian translation appear in 1992, followed a year later by Agnes Grey.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Greece

Villette
The first translation of Villette in Greek was published in 1957 by Zervas from Athens. With 368 pages it must have been an abridged edition. The author was given as, in transcription, ‘Karlotta Bronté’ (Καρλόττα Μπροντέ), the title as Viliét (Βιλιέτ). It was translated by Margarítas Petrakopoulos, of whom no other translations are known. No picture of the cover could be found unfortunately.

The second translation was published in 2004, by Beitel from Athens (718 pp.), as Βιλέτ, by Σάρλοτ Μπροντέ. The translation was done by Maria Lainá (1947-), a poet and playwright, and translator of The Professor (see below) and works of for instance Somerset Maugham and Katherine Mansfield.

Cover of the 2004 Greek Villette

The Professor
The first translation of The Professor, by Aris Diktaios, was published in 1955 by K.M. from Athens, as Tó parthenagogeío (The Girls; 270 pp.). Diktaios (1919-1983), a writer and poet too, translated directly from English (e.g. Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca), German, Bulgarian and Russian, and possibly from Chinese too, and indirectly it seems he did translations of Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Romanian and Italian works.

Cover of the 1955 Greek The Professor

The second edition of Diktaios’ translation was published in 1979 by Epikairótita from Athens (339 pp.). The title was changed to the literal translation of the original, O kathigitís. A picture of the cover could not be found.

In 1997 the third edition of his translation was published by Zacharopoulos from … (366 pp.).

Cover of the 1997 Greek The Professor

A new translation, by the above mentioned Maria Lainá, was published by Beitel from Athens in 2005 (365 pp.).

Cover of the 2005 Greek The Professor

That same year another translation, by Ángelos Angélou, was published by De Agostini Hellas from Athens (300 pp.), also with the title O kathigitís. It had a reprint in 2006. Angélou , a poet, also translated Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan. The cover is the same as the Spanish 2004 RBA The Professor, without any text on it.

Cover of the 2005/2006 Greek The Professor

The other Brontë novels
Wuthering Heights was the first to have a Greek translation, published in 1943. Jane Eyre followed in 1950, and Shirley in 2011. Anne’s novels have not yet been translated in Greek.

Slovenia

Villette
There have been three editions of one Slovenian translation, all published by Mladinska Knjiga from Ljubljana (496 pp.). The translation was done by Rapa Šuklje (1923-2013). She also translated Wuthering Heights and Shirley, and many other works like for instance George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss. She was also a writer herself. The editions had illustrations by Nora Fry Lavrin (1897-1985), an English woman who had married a Slovenian writer. She also made illustrations for the Slovenian translation of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
The first edition was published in 1965.

Cover of the 1965 Slovenian Villette

The second edition was published in 1970.

Cover of the 1970 Slovenian Villette

The third and last edition is from 1977.

Cover of the 1977 Slovenian Villette

The Professor
There has been no Slovenian translation of The Professor.

The other Brontë novels
Jane Eyre was the first Brontë novel to be translated in Slovenian. It was published in 1955. Wuthering Heights followed in 1962, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1974 and Shirley in 1978. There has been no translation of Agnes Grey.

Albania
Only two of the Brontë novels have been translated in Albanian (so far), Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Both were published in 2003.

Macedonia
The same two novels have been translated in Macedonian (which is related to Bulgarian). Both were first published in 1984.

Eric Ruijssenaars

In this article the translations of Villette and The Professor that were published in the countries of the former Yugoslavia will be described, except for those from Slovenia (and Macedonia), which were dealt with in the previous article. In these countries – Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Montenegro – it is essentially Serbo-Croatian that is being spoken, which, incidentally, I forgot to mention in the list of languages that have a Villette translation. Because Serbian and Croatian can now be regarded as two languages – both have their own translations - it means that the amount of languages for that novel is raised to 31.

Montenegro
The first Villette in (Cyrillic) Serbo-Croatian was published in 1956 in Montenegro, in the town of Cetinje. It was published in two volumes, of 303 and 291 pages, translated by Tadija Gavrilović, and published in three versions, with red, blue and violet covers.

Cover of the 1956 Montenegrin Villette

Serbia

Villette
The Gavrilović translation has been republished quite often, in Serbia mostly, and firstly in 1967. Beginning from here the title was changed from, in transcription, Vileta to Vilet. All these editions had 596 pages. This 1967 edition, published by Narodna Knjiga from Belgrade, had a slightly different cover than the ones that followed.

Cover of the 1967 Serbian Villette

It appears that most of these editions were part of a set of Brontë books, in which Villette was published together with Jane Eyre, Shirley, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

The 1967 Serbian set of Brontë books

The Serbian Villette was reprinted in 1971, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980 and 1986 (by the same publisher) with a somewhat different cover.

Cover of the 1971-1986 Serbian
Villette

There were two more editions of the Gavrilović translation, in 1990 (same publisher, also 594 pp.) and 1994 (published by Narodna knjiga/Alfa; 586 pp.). The covers of these could not be found.

Bosnia-Hercegovina

The set of five Brontë novels, including Villette in the Gavrilović translation was published in 1971 by Veselin Masleša from Sarajevo. It had the same cover as the 1971 to 1986 Serbian Villette, and the same amount of pages.

Croatia

In 1974 the first Croatian Villette was published in Zagreb, by Nakladno Zavod, in a translation by Sonja Budak. Two more editions followed in 1975, one more in 1976, and the last one in 1986 (all 565 pp.) They all had the same cover. Sonja Budak also translated The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Cover of the 1974-1986 Croatian Villette

The Professor

The first translation of The Professor, by Emilija Jurišić, was published in 1956, in Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb. There is no name of a publisher being mentioned, which makes it fair to assume it was the state of Yugoslavia that published it, as nr. 50 in a series of paperbacks (Džepna knjiga; 275 pp.). The title was Dođi, čežnjo, which translates as ‘Come on, longing.’ Emilija Jurišić has otherwise only translated some Slovenian works.

Cover of the 1956 Serbian-
Croatian-Bosnian The Professor

Croatia
The second translation was published by Maticai from Zagreb, first in 1974. Two editions followed in 1975 and one more in 1976. They all had 278 pages. It was a translation by Anita Ljubić, who also did Wuthering Heights.

Cover of the 1974-6 Croatian
The Professor

Serbia
In 2002 the first edition of a translation by Dušanka Šuša was published by Alfa from Belgrade (286 pp.) She translated a few more rather unknown works.

Cover of the 2002 Serbian The Professor

This translation was first reprinted in 2005 by Narodna knjiga from Belgrade (243 pp.).

Cover of the 2005 Serbian The Professor

The third edition of Šuša’s translation was published in 2015 by Polydor from Belgrade (189 pp.).

Cover of the 2015 Serbian The Professor

In 2016 the fourth edition was published, by Liber Novus from Belgrade (239 pp.).

Cover of the 2016 Serbian The Professor

The other Brontë novels
A translation of Wuthering Heights was the first to be published, in 1940 in Serbia, and in Cyrillic. The same translation, but in Latin alphabet, was published in 1962 in Croatia. Serbia saw its first Jane Eyre in 1952, Croatia In 1974. Serbia was also first with Shirley in 1954, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 1967. Croatia again had the first translations in 1974.
Bosnia had its first editions of these four novels and Villette in 1971, in the set as shown above.
Agnes Grey has never been translated in Serbo-Croatian.

Eric Ruijssenaars

As a member of the Brussels Brontë Group you are, twice a year, invited to a lunch; in the summer, normally at the Belvue museum restaurant and, in the winter, at Carpe Diem. It is always a great pleasure to meet other members of the group, the atmosphere is great and the discussions never cease. Especially, at the Christmas lunch. It is not only a lunch, but accompanied by various pieces of entertainment under the guidance of Jones Hayden. The quiz, put together by Jones, is testing our knowledge of the Brontës, a theatre play performed by members (it turns out that Brontë members are very talented in many different fields), singing, poetry reading and much more. At the end there is a lottery with all prices connected to the Brontës. It was in this lottery that I won Becoming Jane Eyre last year.

I am quite familiar with the story of the family and at first I could not really engage in the book. It is very well written, beautiful prose. It follows the thoughts of Charlotte, Emily, Anne, the father and a nurse helping the father during his convalescence after his eye operation. Sheila Kohler lets us into the minds of the sisters and how their experiences in life has found its way into their books. We hear the thoughts of the father, always somehow distancing himself from his children, except possibly from Branwell, the promising son of which became nothing.

The more I read however, the more I do engage in their story and destiny. Sheila Kohler has integrated happenings in their life and shows us how these events have been woven into their stories. It is very delicately and respectfully done, and towards the end of the book you feel their pain and the solitude of their lives, which were rich in literature and work, but somehow seemed to lack the spirit of life.

An easy readable and thought worthy book on the life of the Brontës, which has given me another dimension of their writings. Kohler carefully guides you through their personalities, and characters as we know them. In the end of the book there is a chapter ”A conversation with Sheila Kohler”. Here is her answer to the question ”How long did the research for the novel take? Were there moments in writing the book where your creative impulse went in one direction and the truth of Charlotte Brontë’s life went in the other? Which did you follow?

”J.M. Coetzee once said to me when I told him about my project: ’Don’t stay too close to the truth.’ I think that it is good advice. Certainly, one cannot falsify the facts that are so well known, and I hope I have never done that. However, there is so much one doesn’t know about someone else’s life, even someone so famous, and there I let my imagination work freely. Besides. there is always a selection of facts made. I was particularly interested in the bond between Charlotte and her married professor and also in the relationship between these three sisters, who died so young. …”

I think Sheila Kohler has managed to stay true to the sisters, and the areas where she has let her imagination flow, she has nevertheless held back in line with their characters. A different read on the Brontës, and a dimension of their lives, which can only be guessed, but nevertheless seems realistic.

Lisbeth Ekelof
The Content Reader

The first translation of Villette was published in 1853. In 1856 and 1860 a translation of La Maitresse d’Anglais was published. These have been described earlier in Nastavnitsa ili pansion v brussele.
The first of 27 editions of a new Russian translation of Villette was published in 1983, as Городок (Gorodok, pronounced as Garadok), which means little city. The first half was translated by A. or L. Orel. In most cases the name A. Orel is given, in the other cases L. Orel. It has not been possible to find out anything more about this person, but he or she also translated Shakespeare. The second half of the novel was translated by Elisabeta Jakovlena Surits.
The 1983 edition was published in Moscow, had 559 pages and an introduction by N. Michalskoy.

Cover of the 1983 Russian Villette

The second edition was published in 1990 by Pravda from Moscow, with the Michalskoy introduction. It had 477 pages.

Cover of the 1990 Russian Villette

The third edition was published in 1993 by Dom from Moscow (458 pp.).

Cover of the 1993 Russian Villette

In 1995 two editions were published. One of these also had a translation of Agnes Grey. That one was published by Borisfen (672 pp.).

Cover of the 1995 Russian
Villette/Agnes Grey

The edition with Villette only was published by Folio in Charkov, Ukraine (446 pp.).

Cover of the 1995 Russian Villette

The sixth edition was published in 1997 by El-fa from Nalchik (528 pp.), as part of a series with all of the Brontë novels.

Cover of the 1997 Russian Villette

In 1998 the next edition was published, by AST Folio (АСТ Фолио) from Moscow and Charkov (448 pp.).

Cover of the 1998 Russian Villette

The year 2001 saw two editions being published, both by AST Folio too (448 pp.).

Cover of the first 2001
Russian Villette

Cover of the second 2001
Russian Villette

In 2002 AST Folio published another edition, with the cover being a variation of the second 2001 edition. This was a smaller book, 17 v 21 cm, with thus more pages (525).

Cover of the 2002 Russian Villette

AST Folio published its next edition in 2003, with 525 pages again, and a different cover.

Cover of the 2003 Russian Villette

In 2005 the next edition was published, by AST Tranzitkniga (525 pp.).

Cover of the 2005 Russian Villette

To be continued.
Eric Ruijssenaars

There were three editions of the translation in 2007. Two of them were published by AST Chranitelj from Moscow. The first of these had 525 pages and was 17 cm high, the second was 18 cm.

Covers of the two 2007 AST
Russian Villettes

The third Villette of 2007 was published by Eksmo (605 pp.)

Cover of the 2007 Eksmo
Russian Villette

The Orel/Surits translation was republished by Terra in 2008 (558 pp.)

Cover of the 2008 Terra Russian Villette

Back cover of the 2008
Terra Russian Villette

An abridged version, with Godorok as title, was published in two instalments in 2008 in a ‘literary-artistic journal’ but the National Library of Russia does not give its name, nor could any further information be found about it.

There were three editions in 2009 of the Orel/Surits translation. The first one was published by Eksmo from Moscow (605 pp.). It had the same cover as their 2007 edition.
The second one was published by Leningradskoe Publisher from Sankt-Petersburg (477 pp.).

Cover of the 2009 Leningradskoe
Russian Villette

The third edition was published by the international book club ‘Family Leisure Club’ with the title Villet (560 pp.).

Cover of the 2009
Family Leisure Club Villette

The years 2010 and 2011 each saw two AST Moscow editions, one with 448 pages, one with 528. Three of them had the same cover.

Cover of the 2010 and 2011 editions
of Russian Villette

The 2011 AST edition with 448 pages had another new cover.

Cover of the second 2011
AST Villette

There were two more editions in 2012. The first of these was published by Azbuka-Attikus from St. Petersburg (542 pp.).

Cover of the 2012 Azbuka Villette

The second edition of 2012 was published in Charkov by Belgorod (717 pp.), with Villet as title. It’s not certain, but it will be the Orel/Surits translation.

Cover of the 2012 Belgorod Villette

The last two editions were published in 2013 by Azbuka again (542 pp.). They had the same cover as the 2012 edition.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Last year I was wondering what the 2016 annual holidays in Ireland could bring as far as Brontë literary links are concerned. I should not have bothered. In Ireland, the country of literary greats, there is always something to be discovered and literary footsteps to trace.

This year, the annual holidays started in Cork/Crosshaven. This was a great opportunity for me to do some more research on the honeymoon trip of Charlotte Brontë and Arthur Bell Nicholls. For a very long time, I have been wondering where Charlotte and Arthur stayed in Cork at the end of their honeymoon. I had already been checking all possible biographies. A lot of information can be found on the other places in Ireland that they visited, such as Dublin, Banagher, Kilkee, Glengariff, Killarney, mostly from letters that Charlotte wrote to her friends, but on Cork not much is known. I became intrigued and wanted to find out more. So, I contacted the Cork archives and Cork library before I travelled to Ireland, and made an appointment to have a look at some of the newspapers of that period. As my husband was out fishing at sea for a whole day I was free to spend my days as I wished, and doing some research at the Library was one way of spending the day. Probably not what you would expect someone to do on their holidays (and I did get a funny look from the people at the B&B where we were staying), but this was my way of having fun indoors on a “soft day in Ireland” (note: for those who do not understand Irish humour, this means a rainy day)! However, the newspapers of July 1854 did not mention anything on Charlotte, as I could have expected. But I was not disappointed and was not yet ready to give up. I had to look at it from another angle. Back in the B&B, while waiting for my husband to return from his fishing trip, by sheer coincidence, I was browsing through a book on Cork describing all streets in Cork city throughout the ages and also mentioning the businesses that were located in the various streets. I found the names and addresses of some hotels and lodging houses that must have been open for business in 1854, when Charlotte was visiting. I decided to spend another day in Cork trying to discover what was left of the “Victorian Cork” that Charlotte may have seen. I even discovered that Charlotte’s idol, William Makepeace Thackeray, stayed in one of the hotels in Cork when he was writing his “Irish Sketch Book”. Many buildings still survive and what I saw and discovered gave me some more ideas on how to proceed with the research on this particular subject. To be continued!!!!

Some architectural remnants of Victorian Cork

Next stop on our journey was Connemara on the west coast of Ireland. No Brontë link this time! Following a book I had read on Oscar Wilde’s family in Connemara and Mayo (“Oscar in the Wilds” by Anthony Dudley), I had decided to try and locate one of his family’s haunts in Connemara: the hunting lodge and holiday home ”Illaunroe”(the Gaelic word for” Red Island”). Over the years, having travelled in the Connemara crisscross in all directions, we have become very familiar with the area. We had more or less an idea where to try and find this location, so, with the book in hand, off we went on our discovery tour. It was not the best of days weather-wise, but that did not bother us. The hunting lodge was built by Oscar’s father Sir William Wilde and is located on an “island” (strictly speaking, it is a peninsula) in Lough Fee (near Little Killary). It became the favourite holiday spot for the Wilde family. I had seen some pictures in the book, but I could imagine that it would not be obvious to see it from the main road. Oscar liked to call it ” the little purple island where we children learned to fish and hunt”. We had not too many problems finding the narrow road winding its way around the lake, but as the book mentioned that the house stood “almost in the middle of Lough fee”, we were looking (through the rain-stained car windows) further onto the lake and therefore did not see the “peninsula” right under our noses. We went all the way past the lake and had to return. But then, coming from the other side, you could clearly see the peninsula, and on nearing and slowing down, through the trees we could detect the house very vaguely. It is surrounded by trees and it is well hidden. We could then also see the gate on the main road that closes off the driveway towards the house. It is now in private property. But I was happy enough to have located the place! That was our mission for the day.

Lough Fee

Next destination on our holidays was the small cottage we rented in Boyle, Co Roscommon, which is only at a stone’s throw from Sligo and surroundings, also known as William Butler Yeats’ country. Over the past years we have been on the Yeats’ trail many times: from Thoor Ballylee and Coole Park (home of Lady Gregory, friend and patron of Yeats, co-founder of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin), to Lissadell House (home of Eva and Constance Gore-Booth, which Yeats visited regularly), to Drumcliff and Ben Bulben (where Yeats found his final resting place) and all the nooks and crannies in the area that have inspired Yeats to write his beautiful poetry. It is the area where he grew up, to which he returned often and where he is buried.
On a warm sunny Sunday (no fishing was planned!) we decided to visit Sligo city and to tour around the area. In Sligo city the headquarters of the Yeats Society (established in 1958 to preserve the artistic heritage of the Yeats family) is housed in a beautiful old (AIB bank) building (called the Yeats’ Memorial building, near Hyde Bridge named after the first president of Ireland, Dr. Douglas Hyde). The two-and-a-half-storey red-brick building was erected in 1895 and was donated to the Yeats Society in 1973 by AIB bank as a memorial to the Yeats family. At regular times exhibitions on Yeats (both William and his brother Jack who was a famous painter) are being held here, and the Society also provides space for book launches, poetry readings, lectures and public meetings. It also organises each year the Yeats International summer school which brings together students and professors from every country and continent of the world to Sligo for a two week cultural and literary experience.

Yeats' memorial building

Statue of Yeats in Sligo

Unfortunately, we were just in between exhibitions. A new exhibition was being installed, but we could not yet visit! So we decided to enjoy the building and have a coffee/tea in the garden of Lily’s & Lolly’s Cafe which operates as part of the Yeats’ Memorial building, while listening to the rushing waters of the Garavogue river in the background. Lily (Susan Mary) and Lolly (Elizabeth Corbet) were WB Yeats’s sisters. We then strolled through Sligo on a quiet Sunday morning, visited the Abbey (really worthwhile!) and headed back to Lily’s and Lolly’s for lunch. After lunch we decided to tour around the Sligo area and to visit some of the spots that influenced and inspired Yeats when he wrote his poetry. The tour took us to Glencar Lake, a beautiful, serene, silvery lake with a wonderful view of Ben Bulben, both of which inspired Yeats. The spot I was interested in, was the Glencar waterfall, mentioned in one of my favourite Yeats’ poems “the stolen child”. The beautiful, romantic Glencar Waterfall in County Leitrim is well hidden off the road between Sligo and Manorhamilton/Enniskillen, at the bottom of Kings Mountain. There is a short fairly steep walk up the mountain to reach the bottom of the waterfall: a shallow pool into which the waterfall tumbles down. With a drop of about 50 feet, it is a small but enchanting cascade. Its lush foliage and craggy, layered rocks offer a kind of "lost world" atmosphere. It is so quiet there, the only noise being the water falling down into the dark pool. I could stand there for ages just sipping in the atmosphere. It really is a magical and mystical place. If you believe in fairies, this is the place where you could see them! If you wish, you can climb all the way up to the top of the waterfall via a charming walkway. Glencar is particularly impressive after a night's rainfall (this being the west of Ireland, your chances here are good!).

Glencar lake and Ben Bulben

Glencar waterfall

Our tour continued through Yeats’ country via Lough Gill, where the “Lake Isle of Innisfree” inspired Yeats to write one of his most famous poems (and another favourite of mine). The whole area of Yeats’ country with its lakes, rivers and forests and a coastline that varies from long sandy beaches to high limestone ridges, is such a beautiful, idyllic area, you can easily understand where Yeats got the inspiration for his beautiful romantic poetry.

To be continued

Marina Saegerman
27 August 2016

On our way back home towards Dublin we had decided to stop again for 2 nights in Banagher, and that brought us back on the Brontë trail.

Three years ago we went to Banagher for the first time very briefly with a special mission: to visit Arthur Bell Nicholls’ grave. We did not have the opportunity then to explore Banagher and the surroundings in more detail, but we intended to come back and stay in the B&B Charlotte’s Way, the home that Arthur returned to after Charlotte’s death and where he died (we also visited this house by sheer coincidence back in 2013). We arrived around noon and had some time to spend before checking into the B&B. We had also arranged to meet Fay Clarke, Church warden of St. Paul’s and the person who helped me accomplish the mission in 2013.
Back in 2013 the visit to Banagher was very emotional for me, this time I just wanted to see more of the town and the places where Arthur (and Charlotte on her honeymoon) may have walked.
There is a photo of Arthur in old age taken in Banagher, and I was curious to find out the exact spot of the photo. That was not too difficult. Banagher is not a very big town, in fact it is one long main road from the harbour (‘the Marina”☺) towards “the Hill” (where St. Paul’s church and Arthur’s grave are). With the help of a detailed heritage trail on Banagher we could easily stroll up and down the main road and discover the various attractions.

Arthur in 1904 in Banagher

The same spot in 2016

Amongst other things I learned that from 1841 till 1844 Anthony Trollope had also been stationed at Banagher as a Post Office Surveyor’s Clerk, and I could see the place where he had worked (Ivory House) and the place where he had stayed (Shannon hotel – now derelict). It was here that Trollope began his first published novel.

Another place we had to see (and Brontë-related) was Cuba Court (or what is left of it!). We met up with Fay and she directed us to the site of Cuba Court (only the gate and a small part of a building are left of that grand house). Arthur Bell Nicholls grew up here (his uncle was headmaster of the Royal School situated at Cuba Court) and it was the place where he took Charlotte on their honeymoon to meet his relatives. Charlotte was very impressed with the house (and the family) and her first impressions of Cuba Court are recorded in one of her letters to Miss Wooler.

Cuba Court as it was in Arthur's time

and what is left of it!

We also visited Arthur’s grave again (an absolute must for Brontë fans) and put some heather plants on the grave. I noticed also that on the wall near the grave a new information board on Charlotte and Arthur had been placed. This had been done in April 2016 to commemorate the bicentenary of Charlotte’s birth. Another board (about Arthur and Banagher) was put on the fence at the B&B.

Arthur's grave an commemorative board

Information board at Hill House

Fay also invited us to the St. Paul’s community Sunday barbecue, which was a fundraising event for the church. This would take place after the Church service, which I planned to attend. I am not an Anglican, but I wanted to have a feeling of how Arthur would have experienced community life in Banagher (or even in Haworth) and a church service in St. Paul’s could give me an idea. And going to the community barbecue seemed like fun to us (and we had to eat something anyway). So, the plans for Sunday were made.

The only thing left to do on Saturday was checking in in the B&B, that fabulous house that I remembered from 3 years ago. Nicola had put us in the “famous” attic room (also known as the Honeymoon suite) where Arthur had stored all the memorabilia of Charlotte and her sisters. I just enjoyed wandering around in the lounge and the dining room, just trying to feel Arthur’s presence. An open fire was on in the evening, and that made the room very cosy indeed!

Charlotte's Way B&B

Next morning I went to the church around 10.45, with a quick visit first to the graveyard (again). I was the first to arrive in church and had some time to admire the beautiful glass stained windows.
I decided to sit “invisibly” at the back of the church to witness and experience the service from a distance. The vicar saw me sitting there, and as I was unknown to him (not being part of the regular church going community) he welcomed me to the church and explained that it was not going to be a regular service, but only prayers, readings and hymns. I told him I was not of the Anglican faith and was only interested in the Brontë link. Sitting invisibly at the back of the church was apparently not going to happen. Nearly everyone that attended the service, started occupying the back seats around me, so I was not really “invisible”. It was a serene service, with many humorous notes by the vicar (not something I could envisage being done by a catholic priest!). But I enjoyed it, and the vicar explained afterwards that this would have been how Arthur and the rev. Patrick Brontë experienced their pastoral duties and life in their community. All church-goers went straight to St. Paul’s community Hall for the barbecue. I first went to collect my hubbie at the B&B, and then we also joined the barbecue. A lot of eating, drinking tea, chatting, laughing was going on at the hall. At first we felt a bit excluded, knowing no one (apart from Fay who was busy with the organisation), but eventually we started talking to some of the locals and we really enjoyed ourselves. There was a also raffle organised to raise funds for the church, and the vicar was leading the ceremony with a cook’s hat on. Very funny sight indeed! We did not win anything, but we had a jolly good time.

As we had seen all the Brontë-related sites in Banagher, we decided to take the car and tour in the area surrounding Banagher. It really is a beautiful countryside (mostly bog land), with the Shannon always nearby. We visited Clonmacnoise, one the oldest and most famous monastic sites in Ireland (with lots of tourists visiting), and Clonfert cathedral (unfortunately not open to the public that day).
We ended the day in a pub for a meal, a nice pint of Guinness and a lovely chat with Fay.

Our holidays in Ireland were sadly nearing the end, but it really ended on a “Brontë” high. On our last evening in Ireland we were invited by Monica Wallace and her husband Peter for a meal and a chat at their home in Glenageary, near Dun Laoghaire (Dublin). We were staying in a B&B nearby. Monica is a member of the Brussels Brontë group but returned to Ireland recently. She is preparing a talk for the BBG in October on Charlotte and Arthur’s honeymoon trip in Ireland, which is of course also one of my interests. So, we certainly had a lot to talk about. It was so nice to visit her and meet her husband. She had also invited another Irish member of the Brussels Brontë group, who had recently returned to Ireland and whom she had met accidentally in Dublin. This meant, of course, that Brontë was never far away as a topic. But, as we also had two husbands present (non-Brontë persons) other topics came up in the conversation: from Ireland in general, the regions we visited and the Irish language to (believe it or not) celebrities living nearby (Maeve Binchy, Enya and Chris de Burgh as my personal favourite being amongst them). The evening turned out to be just lovely: Monica prepared a wonderful homemade Irish meal with all the trimmings, which we all really enjoyed. And her homemade elderflower cordial was a real treat for me! What a nice ending to our holidays!

The next day we left Ireland (as always with tears in our eyes) with the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead and we were heading for North Yorkshire, where the Brontë story was to be continued. But more about that in a separate report.

Marina Saegerman
25 August 2016

On our way back from the holidays in Ireland we always spend a few days in the UK, usually in Yorkshire, as this is a region we really love. This year the destination was the area around Ripon, and we had a very specific goal set from the start: a visit to Norton Conyers.

We were staying in The Old Coach House in North Stainley (near Ripon), a lovely B&B and a real oasis of peace and tranquility (and a pub and restaurant nearby!).

I had done my research in advance and I knew the house was only open to the public on select days and times, but we were lucky: the house was open for visitors in the period that we were staying in the area (27 to 31 July 2016), only in the afternoon with guided tours at 2 pm, 3 pm and 4 pm.
The estate is well hidden amidst trees and parkland, and it took us a while to find the entrance. We had to park the car near the stables and the walled garden, and then a short walk towards the House. We had to register for the group visit in a little “shed” next to the house and await the guide’s arrival. We received a brochure about the house and its history, written by the present owner, the 11th baronet, Sir James Graham, which made a very interesting read. This was a good introduction to the guided tour we were about to receive.

The side and front of the house

Detail above the front door

The front door

Norton Conyers is a late medieval stately manor house, a pleasing mix of historic styles, with Stuart and Georgian additions. It has been owned by the Graham family (originally from Scottish origin) since 1624 (except for a period of 20 years between 1862 and 1882). The house is steeped in history and has welcomed a number of noteworthy guests such as King James II, King Charles I and of course Charlotte Brontë.

Sir James and Lady Graham in the Hall

The Hall

With a little delay we went over to the house via the side-entrance which still contains the bells that rang when service was required in one of the rooms (each bell having a very specific sound for each room). We were personally greeted and welcomed for our guided tour by Sir James and Lady Graham in the Hall. The first part of the tour consisted of an introduction by the current owners about the history of the house, but also about the extensive repair and restoration work they have been doing since 2005, when they discovered a major death-watch beetle infestation in the wooden floorboards. Many pictures were shown of how the house looked like during the restoration work, we could even see some real carcasses of the destructive beetle (collected by Sir James). During the restoration work, which is still ongoing, fascinating layers of the history of the house have been uncovered and the owners have been able to carry out “extensive rescue archeology”, as Sir James mentioned in his brochure. The restoration work has been done with great care and a real passion and respect for the historic structure of the house. As a consequence of their remarkable renovation work, Sir James and Lady Graham received the Historic Houses Association & Sotheby’s Restoration Award 2014, which proudly hangs on the wall in the Hall.

"The Quorn Hunt in 1822" by John Fernely
in the Hall

A collection of family picture in the Hall

The most interesting part for me was of course the link with Charlotte Brontë, who is said to have visited Norton Conyers in 1839 when she was a governess with the Sidgwick family. Lady Graham pointed out that the restoration works have enhanced many features of Norton Conyers mentioned by Charlotte Brontë in her description of Thornfield Hall: the battlements around the roof, the rookery, the main broad oak staircase, the high square hall covered in family portraits and of course the famous Mad Woman’s room in the attic.

The “secret” staircase, hidden behind a secret door in the wooden paneling on the landing near the Peacock Room – the supposed model for Mr. Rochester’’s room in Jane Eyre – and connecting the first floor to the attic rooms, was discovered in November 2004 (after having been blocked up for donkey’s years). “There was no way you could tell from outside that there was anything there”, said Sir James. This discovery aroused world-wide interest because of the striking similarity with the story of Bertha Mason, the mad wife of Mr. Rochester locked up in the attic in the novel Jane Eyre. The secret staircase was probably constructed in the late 17th century to provide servants with a short cut from their sleeping quarters to their workplace. It was certainly in use when Charlotte visited and she must have heard the story of a “mad” woman called Mary who was locked in the attic of Norton Conyers in the 18th century. In Jane Eyre the staircase is vividly described by Charlotte and matches the concealed staircase in Norton Conyers perfectly (now officially also called “The Jane Eyre Staircase”). This story has most probably inspired Charlotte Brontë when writing Jane Eyre, as has the house itself.

Picture of: the Mad Woman's room in the attic

Picture of: the concealed staircase towards the attic

To be continued

Marina Saegerman
27 August 2016

Lady Graham showed us pictures of the staircase and of Mad Mary’s Room (as the attic room is called), which is situated in a remote corner of the attic. The attic is not open to the public because of the fragility of the structure, and the staircase (which is sadly too dangerous for the public to use) can only be seen from the landing on the first floor. Lady Graham told us that they plan to restore the staircase and attic rooms in time, but at the same time respecting and keeping the specific atmosphere of the Mad Woman’s room (supposedly quite a depressing and sad room): “this room is in a cul-de sac in the attic, very awkward to reach, the room is north-facing with a small gable window, it has a tragic feel about it”.

After this introduction we were allowed to wander around in the house and visit the rooms opened to the public. Sir James and Lady Graham stuck around and were very willing to answer any questions. I told Lady Graham of my interest in the link of Norton Conyers with Charlotte Brontë and she showed me the library which had been restored and re-furnished with items that Charlotte would have seen when visiting. She pointed out a few of these items (such as a pair of globes, a cabinet piano in the window-bay, painting equipment, the bookcases – most of which are locked apart from one triangular bookcase in a corner which contains “everything that could be needed in the way of elementary works” as described in Jane Eyre). The room was re-furnished in accordance with the description of Mr. Rochester’s study, which was used in the novel by Jane Eyre as a classroom for Mr. Rochester’s ward Adele Varens.

The Library

Apart from the Library the rooms open to the public are: the Dining Room, the Hall (where we started the tour), the Parlour (all on the ground floor), the main oak staircase, and on the first floor: the landing (with the “secret” door), the Passage, the Best Bedroom (with a reproduction of a unique wallpaper design found in an attic cupboard) and King James’s Room (where King James II and his wife stayed during their visit in 1679- still displaying the traditional bed they are supposed to have used). Throughout the house, in all rooms open to the public, you can see a beautiful collection of family portraits and other paintings related to the house and its inhabitants, magnificent old furniture, beautiful 18th century plaster ceilings and many other valuable treasures and fine art work.

The landing with (behind me in the wood panelling)
the secret door to the attic

The main oak stair case

The Parlour

King James's room

The Dining room

The house is a real marvel, so lovingly and passionately restored to its original grandeur, with great attention to detail, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I was in awe when I finished the tour. The house has indeed a special friendly, welcoming atmosphere, which according to Sir James “results from its having belonged to the same family for 392 years”. Personally I think it is also the result of the passion and dedication with which the current owners have restored and taken care of the house. You can definitely see and feel this passion in every room you visit. And some hard work has gone into the restoration, for sure! Thanks are due to Sir James and Lady Graham for saving this fascinating historic gem for generations to come.

The Stable block

The Garden in full bloom

The Orangery

We still had to visit the walled garden and the stable block which is also a Grade II-listed building (as is the house). The walled garden is five minutes’ walk from the house. It covers over three acres and was designed in the mid-18th century. It still retains the essential features of the original design: two paths meeting at the central feature (the Orangery), flanked by greenhouses, with a small ornamental pond before it and colourful flower and herbaceous borders everywhere in the garden. It gives the visitor this feeling of utter tranquility, which we all need once in a while in our busy lives!
What a perfect way of ending this extraordinary visit!
And, for those unmarried souls amongst us, a special message: Reader, you can marry here!
(Norton Conyers is indeed a wonderful venue for weddings and other celebrations/events!)

Marina Saegerman
27 August 2016

 

Russian
The first Russian translation of The Professor was published in 1857, in the journal Otechestvennye zapisky (Notes of the Fatherland) nr. 115, pp. 107-202 and 621-730. The second translation was first published in 1997 by Mir I Semya (382 pp.). There have been more translators but the title is always the same: Учитель (Utchitel, The teacher). This translation was done by Natalia Fleishman, who also did the annotations. An afterword was written by Yekaterina Teplova. The book has illustrations by Ljudmila Sergeeva.

Cover of the 1997 Russian
The Professor

The second and third editions of the Fleishman translation were published in 2006 by Tekst from Moscow (284 pp.).

Cover of the first 2006 Russian
The Professor

Cover of the second 2006 Russian
The Professor

It was published again by Eksmo from Moscow in 2009, together with a translation of Shirley (732 pp.). The cover though only mentions The Professor as title.

Cover of the 2009 Russian
The Professor/Shirley

In 2010 it was published by Eksmo together with a translation of Jane Eyre (832 pp.).

Cover of the 2010 Russian
The Professor/Jane Eyre

The sixth edition of the Fleishman translation was published in 2011 by Azbuka from St. Petersburg (316 pp.).

Cover of the 2011 Russian
The Professor

There were three editions of a Russian The Professor in 2012. Firstly, Azbuka published a new edition, the seventh of the Fleishman translation (316 pp.). It had the same cover as their 2011 edition.

The eight’ edition was published by the Family Leisure Book Club from Belgorod. Here the translation was in a book together with Jane Eyre and with Charlotte’s Ashford (1088 pp.).

Cover of the 2012 Russian
The Professor/Jane Eyre/Ashford

In 2012 too there was also a new translation by Alexandra Testova, published by Lenigradskoe from St. Petersburg (316 pp.).

Cover of the 2012 Leningradskoe
Russian The Professor

In 2013 there were four editions. Azbuka republished their Fleishman translation with the same cover as in 2011 and 2012 (320 pp.). The Family Leisure Book Club republished the The Professor/Jane Eyre/Ashford edition, also with the same cover as in 2012 (1088 pp.).

Azbuka also published a book with translations of The Professor (the Fleishman translation), Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Angrian tales (1472 pp.).

Cover of the 2013 Azbuka The Professor/
Wuthering Heights/Jane Eyre/Angria

AST from Moscow published a new translation in 2013 by Yulian B. Sapchinoy ((318 pp.). She also translated Wuthering Heights, as well as, among other works, 6 Jerome K. Jerome stories.

Cover of the 2014 AST Russian
The Professor

In 2014 five editions of The Professor were published, mostly in combination with other Brontë works. Azbuka reprinted its The Professor/ Wuthering Heights/ Jane Eyre/Angrian tales (1472 pp.), with the same cover as in 2013, and with another cover.

Cover of the second 2014 Azbuka
Russian The Professor/
Wuthering Heights/Jane Eyre/Angria

Eksmo republished its combined Jane Eyre/The Professor (832 pp.), with a new cover, which only gives Jane Eyre as the title.

Cover of the 2014 Eksmo Russian
The Professor/Jane Eyre

AST published two editions of the Sapchinoy translation, one together again Jane Eyre and Ashford. It’s not clear what the cover of this book is. The other one has just The Professor, with a new cover (320 pp.).

Cover of the 2014 AST Russian
The Professor

AST republished it again 2015, with the same cover. Azbuka republished their edition of the Fleishman translation in that year and in this year, 2016, with the same cover as in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The other Brontë novels
The first translation of Jane Eyre was published in 1849, followed by Shirley in 1851. It is likely that the other novels also had a 19th century translation but we don’t know about these. The first modern translation of Wuthering Heights was published in 1956, of Agnes Grey in 1990 and of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in 2003.

Ukrainian
This year, 2016, two editions of a Ukrainian translation of The Professor have been published by Bogdan (336 pp.), with different covers. As far as is known it is the only Brontë novel that has been translated into this language. It’s not known who translated it. As we have seen there have been editions of translations of Villette and The Professor that were published in Ukraine but these were in Russian.

Covers of the two 2016 Ukranian
The Professor

There have also been translations of the other Brontë novels that were published in other countries of the former Soviet Union. Belarus for instance had editions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights published in 1957 and 1958 but these appear to have been in Russian.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Villette

The story of Villette in Switzerland begins in April 1856, with an ad for La Maitresse d'Anglais, the Belgian-French (abridged) translation published in 1855. It’s just an internet find but it helps to give an idea about how the novel spread around Europe. In this case to the French speaking part of Switzerland.

Head of the Feuille d’avis de Neuchatel
of 19 April 1856

Part of page 2 of the Feuille d’avis
de Neuchatel of 19 April 1856

The German speaking part of the country will have learnt about the novel earlier, in view of the 1853 German translations. The first new German translation of Villette came in 1947. It was published in
Zürich, Switzerland, by Manesse (584 pp.). As far as is known this is the oldest illustrated Villette cover of a translation. It took until 1971 before Germany had its first new translation. Switzerland also has French translations, and it’s even got a Swiss-Italian Jane Eyre.

The 1947 Swiss Villette was translated by Paola Meister-Calvino. She also translated Jane Eyre, published in 1945, wrote a novel herself. She seems to be an intriguing person. She will have been of Italian-Swiss origin – she also translated from Italian. She will have married a German-Swiss man. But unfortunately no biographical information can be found on the internet. The translated novel had at the end a piece (‘Nachwort’) about the novel written by Mary Hottinger. She was born in Liverpool in 1893 of Scottish parents and had married a Swiss man, and was living in Zürich.

Cover of the 1947 Swiss-German
Villette

This translation had one reprint, in 1957, by Büchergilde Gutenberg from Zürich. A picture of the cover cannot be found unfortunately. With only 375 pages it is an abridged edition. It says it was “bearbeitet” by Meister-Calvino, which means revised, or edited.

A new Swiss translation, by Ilse Leisli, was published in Zürich by Manesse, firstly in 1984. Ilse Leisi-Gugler (1913-1999) has also translated Jane Austen novels, Middlemarch, and Washington Irving’s Rip van Winkle. The second edition was published in 1986, the third in 1991. They all have the same cover, and 846 pages, and an afterword by Leisli too.

Cover of the 1984, 1986 and 1991
Manesse Villette

Swiss-French

The first Swiss-French Villette, of 1950, we have already seen in the cover top 6 article, on number three. It was translated by Roger Villemin.

Cover of the 1950 Swiss-French
Villette

It had a reprint, by the same publisher, Montaudon from Lausanne, in 1963. Unfortunately the cover of that edition cannot be found.

Le Professeur

A Swiss-French translation of The Professor was published in 1971 in Lausanne, a translation by Janine Rebersat et Jacques Papy

Cover of the 1971 Swiss-French
The Professor

Apart from the above mentioned 1945 Meister-Calvino Jane Eyre there are also an adapted 1944 Jane Eyre and an adapted Shirley in Swiss-French.

In the first Dutch translations article we saw the Swiss artist André Nicolas Suter who had illustrated the first Dutch 1968 Villette. He made more illustrations for this book, of which the following picture is one, of the last but one chapter. It is quite remarkable that no Villettes with these illustrations in other countries have been found.

Illustration for the first 1958 Dutch Villette

Trivia

Villette is a former municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. There is a Hotel Villette in Zürich. And MS Emily Brontë is a Swiss operated river cruise ship , newly built, offering trips in several European countries.

Switzerland is a great contrast to its neighbouring (German speaking) country, Austria. That is a country about which, in this regard, nothing can be said.

Eric Ruijssenaars

After the two translations of Villette published in Berlin and Stuttgart in 1853, described earlier, it took until 1971 before a new translation, by Christiane Agricola, was published in Germany. So far it has reached 14 editions, the last one having been published in 2015. The two other translations in German were Swiss. Agricola (1927-2009), was from Leipzig, in (the former state of) East Germany. She also translated Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and Welsh and Scottish folk tales (even from Welsh apparently!).

The first edition (686 pp.) was published by List from Leipzig. It had an afterword by Helmut Findeisen (from Dresden probably). One suspects that was a marxist interpretation of the novel. No doubt it is a good translation. It is nr. 8 on the list of longest running translations, with a fine 44 years between the first and (so far) last edition, making her the top scorer for the German language.

Cover of the 1971 Leipzig Villette

It was republished the next year by the same publisher, List, but this time in Munich, in West Germany. As it had only 657 pages, with no mention of an afterword, it must be that it was dropped.

Cover of the 1972 Munich Villette

The year 1973 saw two similar List editions. One from Leipzig (686 pp.) with the afterword, and one from Munich without it (657 pp.). Both covers can't be found.

The fifth edition was published in 1987, in a List license, by Ullstein from Frankfurt am Main and Berlin (671 pp.). It had a new afterword, by Sabrina Hausdörfer. It had the same cover as the sixth and seventh edition which was published by Ullstein too, and had the same amount of pages. It was part of a series of Women in Literature, or Die Frauen in der Literatur, as it says on the cover.

Cover of the 1987, 1989, 1991
Germany Ullstein Villettes

The next edition was published in 1992, after the collapse of East Germany, by Insel from Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig (licensed by Kiepenheuer Verlag from Leipzig, which had apparently taken over the publishing rights from List; 776 pp.). It had a new cover, which was also used for the 2001 edition, and probably also for the 1998 and 2005 Insel editions.

Cover of the 1992, 1998, 2001 and
2005 Germany Insel Villettes

The twelfth edition was published in 2011, by Anaconda from Köln (784 pp.). Somehow it was now by license of Aufbau Verlag.

Cover of the 2011 German
Anaconda Villette

Anaconda published a set of five books with Brontë novels in 2012, one of which was Villette (784 pp.). The Professor and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are not in this series, which was republished in 2015. The Villette cover was the same as the 2011 one.

Picture of the whole set of the five novels

In 2014 Insel published the last but one edition so far (776 pp.), with a new cover. It's likely we'll see two or three new German Villettes in this decade, at least, at this rate.

Cover of the 2014 German
Insel Villette

Eric Ruijssenaars

Villette and The Professor in Dutch – Part two

Villette and The Professor in the Baltic countries and Poland

Villette and The Professor in Czechia and Slovakia

Villette and The Professor in Hungary

Villette and The Professor in the Nordic countries

Villette and The Professor in Spain and South America

Villette and The Professor in Portugal and Brazil

Villette and The Professor in Romania and Bulgaria

Villette and The Professor on the Balkan – Part One

Villette and The Professor on the Balkan – Part Two

Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler

Villette in Russian – Part One

Villette in Russian – Part Two

More literary footsteps in Ireland: Brontë & other literary greats - Part I

More literary footsteps in Ireland: Brontë & other literary greats - Part II

Looking for Jane Eyre’s mad woman in the attic: A visit to Norton Conyers in North Yorkshire - Part I

Looking for Jane Eyre’s mad woman in the attic: A visit to Norton Conyers in North Yorkshire - Part II

'The Professor' in Russian and Ukrainian

Villette and The Professor in German and French. Part one - Switzerland

Villette in Germany – Part two