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1st British edition of Sylvandire (Harper s U. S. edition precedes as the 1st in English). Original cloth. Very good with no significant flaws. Rare. Though rebound copies are sometimes seen, any copy in cloth is not, and ours is much finer than "any" copy. Only 1 of these listed on Copac (at Manchester). Let s touch language without molesting it. The best translations from French into English (but really in most languages) begin in 2 steps. First a literal translation, often word for word, followed by a search for the main verb in each sentence, and a disentangling of the subordinate clauses. Second, the most attentive translators have something other than accuracy on their minds. That means a thoughtful refining, not only in search of grammar, but one that carefully strategizes a movement, from mind to ear seeking artistic viability in syntax and in rhythm, lineation (granting some lines influence over adjoining lines), meter (chiefly dialogue), assonance (especially in longer descriptive passages), then the voice, its pacing, and diction, so that it stays in tune from one language to the other, and finally, sentences that read, as if the author had held a plow in his hand rather than a pen, and cut a straight and deep furrow to the end. The details appeal to art. For just one, minor example: the precise thrust, or nuance of the emphasis achieved by word order, flows from the context. The more unusual the position is for any word, the more emphatic it is for that word. Seller Inventory # 1048
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