01 June 2015
Basque Books in the British Library
The first book in the Basque language was printed in Bordeaux as late as 1545. It is a collection of poems by the vicar of St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Bernat Etxepare, entitled Linguae Vasconum Primitiae (‘First fruits of the Basque language’). Only one copy survives, in the Bibliothèque national in Paris. Subsequent printing in Basque, both in France and Spain, was not extensive. So how it is that so many books in Basque are now in the British Library’s collections?
In fact books in a wide variety of languages, including Basque, were in the foundation collection of Sir Hans Sloane, who owned copies of three editions of Jean Etcheberri de Çiboure’s Noelac eta berce canta esperitual berriac (‘Carols and new spiritual songs’; Bordeaux, 1645; Bayonne, 1699; Bayonne: [1700?]; British Library 1064.a.30.(30), (2), (1) respectively). He also possessed the third edition of Etcheberri’s Eliçara erabiltceco liburua (‘A book to carry to Church’).
Jean Etcheberri, Eliçara erabiltceco liburua (Pau, 1666) C.53.gg.20.
It is doubtful that Sloane knew Basque, but books in foreign languages, including minority languages, were intrinsic to his collecting policy as language was seen as fundamental to the description of peoples. He also owned two key works about the Basque Country and the language: Andrés de Poza, De la antigua lengua, poblaciones, y comarcas de las Españas (Bilbao, 1587; 627.d.32) and Baltasar de Echave, Discursos de la antigüedad de la lengua cantabra vascongada (Mexico, 1607; C.33.i.6). Both emphasized Basque’s perceived status as the first language of the Iberian Peninsula.
The King’s Library contains a copy of what is arguably the most iconic book in the Basque language, Joannes Leiçarraga’s New Testament, printed in 1571. For the Basques this text is their Tyndale and King James versions combined.
The opening of St Matthew’s Gospel from Joannes Leiçarraga’s Basque New Testament Iesus Christ Gure Iaunaren Testamentu Berria (La Rochelle in 1571) 217.d.2
In the second half of the 19th century, purchase became the main means of acquiring foreign books. Thanks to Antonio Panizzi, Keeper of Printed Books from 1837 until 1856, the British Museum Library secured sufficient funds to acquire contemporary works of foreign scholarship systematically. These included books about Basque, as about other foreign languages.
The increase in acquisition budgets also allowed the Museum to bid ambitiously at book sales. One of the most important for minority language material was the 1873 Paris sale of the Bibliothèque patoise of French bibliophile Jean Henri Burgaud des Marets (1806-1873), which included more than 300 works relating to Basque. Of these the Museum purchased 130, mostly religious works, but also periodicals, books of music, travel writing, and scholarly works on the Basque language and region. Most were printed in the 19th century, but a number were from the 18th, e.g. Basque versions of The Imitation of Christ (Bordeaux, 1720; IX.Basq.7.) and St Francis de Sales, Introduction à la vie dévote (Toulouse, 1749; 886.d.2.)
The Museum received important donations material from two scholars of Basque during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first was Napoleon I’s nephew, Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte, who spent much of his life in London. He commissioned translations of the Song of Songs and of St Matthew’s Gospel into several minority languages and dialects, most notably Basque. These were used to compare dialects and as a result Bonaparte produced his dialect map of the seven Basque Provinces (Carte des sept provinces basques, 1863; Maps 18649(4)). Bonaparte’s basic divisions have largely stood the test of time.
The second donor of Basque books to the Museum was the irascible and obsessive Oxford Bascophile Edward Spencer Dodgson (1857-1922). A pupil of Resurrección María de Azkue, the first director of Euskaltzaindia, the Basque language academy, Dodgson devoted most of his life to studying Basque language and bibliography. This latter interest extended to collecting Basque books, most of which he donated to the British Museum. These fall into two broad categories. The first were cheap, popular, small-format books in Basque. Their subject-matter goes beyond the usual works of popular piety to include translations of episodes from Dante’s Inferno and Cervantes’ Don Quijote, a popular tale, and various dramatic works. The second group consists of Dodgson’s own publications: works about Basque, notably the verb, and his editions of earlier works (e.g. those of Rafael Mikoleta and Agustín Kardebaraz). Basque language courses, readers and conversation manuals can also be conveniently included in this group.
A conspicuous feature of Dodgson’s donations are his manuscript annotations. These indicate how, when and where he obtained a particular book, what he paid for it or who gave it to him. Other notes are corrections, including intemperate comments on the authors’ linguistic incompetence. Inside a copy of Tomás Epalza’s El euskara ó el baskuenze en 120 lecciones he wrote: ‘The author of this collection of bad Basque and silly Castilian is Thomas Epalza of Bilbao’. He corrected the text in many places. In a second copy he wrote: ‘This book is of very little value. Its lightest mistakes are misprints. These are very numerous indeed.’
Dodgson’s note in one of his copies of Epalza’s El euskara ó el baskuenze en 120 lecciones (Bilbao, 1896) 12978.c.38.(1)
The British Library’s early Basque holdings were thus built up in part fortuitously and in part strategically. That collection strategy has been maintained, with some variation. Today, the Library focusses on works about the language, editions of classic texts in Basque and a selection of contemporary literature (including in Spanish translation).
Geoff West, Former Curator Hispanic Studies
19 May 2015
The Basque Language
Basque, or Euskera, as the Basques call it, is a pre-Indo-European language now spoken in four provinces of northern Spain and three in France, on either side of the Western Pyrenees. It once extended over a much wider area, but how much wider is a matter of conjecture, as indeed is the prehistory of the language and people. In spite of perceived similarities and lexical coincidences between Basque and an extraordinary number of languages, living and dead, from across the world, only surviving fragments of Aquitanian, a language once spoken in South-Western Gaul, have been shown to have meaningful coincidences with Basque. Aquitanian can thus reasonably be regarded as an ancestor or close relative. Today Basque is an isolate, and the only surviving pre-Indo-European language in Western Europe.
Basque is a difficult language for speakers of other Western European languages. For example, the relationship of subject and object is quite different from what we are familiar with in English, or Spanish, and from what we may recall from Latin with its nominative (subject) and accusative (object) cases. Wikipedia tells us that:
Basque is an ergative-absolutive language. The subject of an intransitive verb is in the absolutive case (which is unmarked), and the same case is used for the direct object of a transitive verb. The subject of the transitive verb is marked differently, with the ergative case (shown by the suffix -k).
Here are two contrasted, basic examples: ‘nire anaia etorri da’ (‘my brother has come’); ‘nire aitak emakumea ikusi du’ (‘my father saw the woman’).
The Basque verb is especially complex. Wikipedia again:
The auxiliary verb accompanies most main verbs, agrees not only with the subject, but with any direct object and the indirect object present. Among European languages, this polypersonal agreement is only found in Basque, some languages of the Caucasus, and Hungarian (all non-Indo-European).
So in Basque we have the sentence ‘nire aitak Mireni liburu eman zion’ (‘my father gave the book to Miren’) where the auxiliary (zion) recapitulates the relationship between ergative, direct and indirect objects. The first Basque grammar, Manuel de Larramendi’s El impossible vencido, (Salamanca, 1729) G.16752. The title means ‘The Impossible Overcome’
The present-day Basque Country, or Euskal Herria, straddles France and Spain and within Spain it is divided between the Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco and the Comunidad Foral de Navarra. The three French provinces (Labourd, Basse Navarre and Soule), together with Béarn, make up the department of the Pyrénées Atlantiques. The Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco comprises the three provinces of Alava, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia. In Spain the language is spoken most widely in Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia and the northern parts of Navarra. The number of Basque speakers in France is declining and the majority of speakers are elderly. However, usage among young people has increased according to figures from 2011.
The Basque Country (highlighted). Source: UCLA Language Materials Project
The Basque Country is also divided linguistically: according to Louis-Lucien Bonaparte’s dialect map (London, 1869; Maps 18649.(4.)), the language can be classified into eight dialects. The situation in the late 20th century has been described by Koldo Zuazo as consisting of five dialects.
Since the late 1960s concerted efforts have been made to create a standardized form of Basque, known as batua (= unified; < bat = one).
In the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, the use of Basque was forbidden in education and public life as part of General Franco’s quest to impose national unity. At its most harsh, his regime forbade even the speaking of Basque in public. By the late 1960s the situation had eased somewhat and private schools, ikastolak, which had been functioning in secret, were now tolerated. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 gave Basque co-official status in the Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco and in some areas of Navarra. The introduction of the teaching of Basque in state schools by the autonomous Basque Government has saved the language from what would almost certainly have been total extinction. Basque imaginative literature has re-emerged and the works of prominent writers such as Bernardo Atxaga and Kirmen Uribe have been widely translated.
The most recent survey of the state of the language (V Encuesta Sociolingúística, 2011) has permitted broadly positive conclusions. Nearly 60% of people in the Comunidad Autónoma del P.V. now have some knowledge of Basque, an increase of 14.5% over the past 30 years. The percentage of fairly competent speakers now stands at 36.4% of the population, a roughly similar increase. Strangely, one worrying aspect of the survey is that the use of Basque in the home has dropped very slightly. However, the broad conclusion of the survey is that the future of Basque – in Spain – lies with the Basques themselves.
Geoff West, Former Curator Hispanic Studies
Further reading
Roger Collins, The Basques, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1990). YC.1990.a.10183 and 90/20865
Alan R. King, The Basque Language: a Practical Introduction (Reno, 1994). YA.1999.b.3105
R.L. Trask, A History of the Basque Language (London, 1997). YC.1997.b.547 and 97/06294
08 May 2015
‘World Literature’ and ‘World Languages’
Today’s guest post for European Literature Night 2015 considers how the original language of a work can influence its international success
In his 2007 New Yorker essay, ‘Die Weltliteratur: European novelists and modernism’, Milan Kundera poses the question - would anyone today know the work of Kafka if he had written his works in Czech and not German? For anyone writing in, or translating from, what is considered a ‘small’ or ‘lesser known’ language, this is the kind of question which could keep one awake at night and could easily induce a bitter sense of being neglected by history. For it does seem that nations such as the Czech Republic, not to mention the even smaller Macedonia or Montenegro, are left at the footnotes of history books; their writers excluded from the canon of European Literature. How many books written by Macedonian writers can you name?
Arguing for a ‘World Literature’ instead of a number of juxtaposed ‘literatures’, Kundera considers cultural diversity to be the greatest European value. His essay is a plea against ‘provincialism’ – either from the larger nations by ignoring the literary output or smaller nations, or from the writers of smaller nations themselves, who hide behind their obscurity, not daring to add their voice to the international dialogue. Brandishing the now infamous ‘4%’ statistic, publishers of literature in translation in the UK can often feel very frustrated by the constant reminder that the massive geographical reach of the English language makes many readers feel as if the world is writing in English. Insular as we are, the job of discovering writers from other nations, and then going through the lengthy process of having them translated, might seem to be pointless. But then we are reminded of how many works in translation have had so much influence in terms of literature as a whole – from Herta Müller to Murakami, and even Kundera himself – and we have to admit that we would all be the poorer without it (with the added relevance that Herta Müller, like Kafka, lived in Romania – a ‘lesser-known’ country and a smaller language group, but wrote in the much ‘bigger’ language of German).
So if Herta Müller and Franz Kafka had written in the lesser-known languages of their native countries it is very possible – given the low rate of translated fiction here in the English-speaking world – that they would never have been able to achieve the international reputation they now enjoy. This in itself should be argument enough for the benefit and relevance of translated literature. It is why a number of dedicated publishers continue to seek out new writers – however small the nation they come from – and why cultural institutions like the EU Culture Fund and the Arts Council continue to encourage and finance literary translation. Like Kundera, we feel that cultural diversity is Europe’s greatest value, and one worth preserving.
Susan Curtis-Kojakovic
Susan Curtis-Kojakovic is publisher of Istros Books, an independent publishing house dedicated to promoting the literature of South-East Europe. For this year’s European Literature Night she nominated and is supporting Slovenian author Evald Flisar
23 February 2015
The Champion of Slavonic Peoples: the Andrija Kačić Miošić collection in the British Library
Andrija Kačić Miošić (1704-1760) was a Franciscan friar, reader in theology and philosophy at religious schools in Venetian Dalmatia, and a national poet. He wrote three works in his lifetime, all printed in Venice: Elementa peripatethica juxta mentem subtilissimi doctoris Joannis Duns Scoti in 1752, a philosophical textbook derived from the works of John Duns Scotus; Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga (‘Pleasant Conversation of the Slavonic People’); and Korabglicza (‘Little Ark’), a collection of biblical stories and Slavonic chronicles from the beginning of the world to his time which was his last work, published in 1760. The most important of these, for which he is best known, is Razgovor ugodni, an epic history of the Slavonic peoples in prose and in 136 epic poems, first published in 1756 with a definitive second edition in 1759.
Title page of Razgovor ugodni (Vienna, 1836). RB.23.b.7396 (vol. 1)
The significance of Razgovor ugodni lies not in its literary merit but in the influence it had on generations of Slavonic people in the Balkans. Kačić Miošić wrote mainly in the Ikavian (ikavica) variant of the Štokavian dialect in Latin script, a language which the common people could read and understand as their own everyday spoken language. The Štokavian dialect became the foundation of the literary languages developed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia in the 19th century.
Razgovor ugodni aimed to instruct and inspire the people of the Balkans by their glorious past and to instil the values of national heroism and confidence in the struggle against the Turks. Kačić Miošić wanted the people to remember who they were and where they came from as the important legacy of their honourable past. His poetry did not aim to achieve literary heights, nor did his prose strive for historical accuracy based on documentary evidence. He drew mainly on the available Latin, Italian and Croatian printed sources, as well as on the scarce historical records, but his true inspiration came from his enthusiasm for the Slavonic peoples, especially his admiration for their common efforts in the long struggle against the Turks in the Balkans over a period of two centuries. Kačić Miošić travelled extensively to learn at first-hand about this struggle from people who had orally preserved their national tradition, myths and legends and passed them on for generations. His poetry celebrates the unity, endurance, dignity and faith of the Slavonic peoples and their allies against their oppressors and laments those who have not yet set themselves free.
Title page of Razgovor ugodni: ‘Serbsko-dalmatinske vitežke narodne pjesme’. RB.23.b.7396 (vol.2)
Razgovor ugodni was therefore inspired by the idealised history, folk tradition and myth of the Slavonic peoples which Kačić Miošić presented passionately to his readers in stylized decasyllabic verses modelled on national folk poetry. No book before or since has seen more editions in Croatian literature. It was referred to as ‘the people’s songbook’ and became an all-time favourite, printed in 64 known editions from 1756 to 2011. Kačić Miošić was the first Croatian writer to whom a monument was erected, in Zagreb in 1891. Razgovor ugodni was printed in 12 Cyrillic editions from 1807 to 1939.
Front cover of the volume 1 of the ‘Imperial edition’ of Razgovor ugodni. Vienna, 1836) RB.23.b.7396
In 1836 one Venceslav Juraj Dunder (a pseudonym for Vjekoslav Babukić published the 10th edition of Razgovor ugodni in Vienna as ‘Novo Vandanje’. An elegant and richly decorated two-volume bibliophile copy of this edition named ‘Carsko Vandanje’, (the imperial edition), was beautifully printed on fine paper with gilded edges, and decorated with an ornament on each page. The volumes were bound by C. G. Müllner’s workshop in Vienna in calf leather, blocked in colours with gilt and black tooling with leaf corner-pieces. (For a more detailed description see the British Library database of bookbindings.) This ‘imperial edition’ was not a complete edition of Razgovor ugodni. It includes 58 poems from the definitive 1759 edition.
Manuscript inscription in Russian with a dedication to Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia. RB.23.b.7396, volume 2
This unique copy of Razgovor ugodni was produced as a presentation copy for Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. In the period of national revivals in 1830-40s Kačić Miošić was celebrated and reprinted as a national poet whose vision was the Slavonic peoples’ interdependence and the common purpose of unity and collaboration for cultural and political progress, freedom and emancipation. It is evident from this presentation copy that Dunder shared Kačić Miošić’s sentiments and his understanding of the mutual Slavonic ties and goals.
Dunder’s autograph inscription in Croatian dedicated to Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia. RB.23.b.7396, volume 2
There are three manuscript inscriptions in the second volume on ornamented flyleaves. The first is in Russian, dated 24 June 1835 and recommending the book to the Tsar as a learned work created in the “Slavonic homeland.” The second is a Croatian dedication to the Tsar, and the third is Dunder’s six-page discussion of the “Serbo-Illyrian language” and the correct reading of the new orthography.
Dunder’s text on the new Serbo-Croatian orthography which he promoted, RB.23.b.7396, volume 2
Both volumes bear the stamp “Bibliothèque de Tsarskoe Selo” (left) which reveals the book to have been part of the private library of Tsar Nicholas I at Tsarskoe Selo near St Petersburg. It must have left the Russian Imperial Library in or before 1933 as it was advertised for sale on 20-21 June 1933, with other treasures from Austrian and Russian Imperial libraries, by the auction house of Gilhofer and Ranschburg. It is entry no. 227 in the catalogue of the sale (11910.t.27.) and images of the front cover and spine of volume one are shown in plate 21. The book was valued at 160 Swiss francs. The Zagreb daily Obzor reported on the auction and appealed to the public to raise 2000 Yugoslav dinars for the purchase of “the lavish edition” of Kačić Miošić.
Razgovor ugodni was partly translated into Latin by Emericus Pavić (1716-1780), a Franciscan from Buda, in 1764 (Descriptio soluta et rythmica regum, banorum, cæterorumque heroum Slavinorum seu Illyricorum; 9475.b.9.). This translation led to a wider interest in Kačić Miošić’s works. Alberto Fortis’s translations into Italian from Razgovor ugodni introduced Kačić Miošić’s poems to Western readers for the first time during the Romantic period.
The British Library holds a significant collection of Razgovor ugodni collected over a period of over 160 years, from 1847 to the present day. This comprises nine 19th century editions of Razgovor ugodni, seven in Latin and two in Cyrillic scripts:
Dubrovnik, 1826; RB.31.b.368. A facsimile reprint of an 1801 Venice edition, with an additional poem “Pisma od Napoleona” (Letters from Napoleon);
Vienna, 1836; RB.23.b.7396. The ‘imperial edition’, discussed above;
Zadar 1846; 12264.aa.10.
Zagreb, 1851; 11303.l.25. A inexpensive edition called “Pjesme” (Poems) printed in the spirit of Kačić Miošić to be affordable by ordinary people;
Zagreb, 1862; 12265.cc.6. Another inexpensive edition with Babukić’s introduction revealing that he had prepared Razgovor ugodni for publication in Vienna in 1836 under the pseudonym “V. J. Dunder”
Zagreb, 1876; 11586.df.18. The first of several of Lavoslav Hartman’s (later Kugli and Deutsch, then St[jepan] Kugli) editions;
Zagreb, 1886; 011586.ff.55
The first of the two Cyrillic editions that the library holds (011586.f.74.) printed in Zemun in 1849-50 in two volumes with the title Србско-народне витежке пјесме (‘Serbian-folk chivalrous poems’), is a selection from Razgovor ugodni. The other (012265.e.5/81.) was printed in Pančevo in 1890 in the Braće Jovanović bookshop’s popular series Narodna biblioteka (National library) and was presented together with 250 books from this series to the Library by the Serbian Legation in 1920.
There are four 20th-century editions of Razgovor ugodni in the Library of which it is worth mentioning a critical edition of both the 1756 and 1759 editions, published in Zagreb in 1942 (Ac.741/14.); and a 1946 edition (11588.bb.8.) which was one of 500 Yugoslav books donated by the Yugoslav government to the Library in April 1948.
The Library also holds a critical edition of the 1760 edition of Kačić Miošić’s Korabljica (Little Ark) published in 1945 (Ac.741/14.). We continue to collect works by and about Kačić Miošić as a highlight of our Croatian collections. The most recent acquisitions include a new critical edition of Razgovor ugodni (Zagreb, 2006: YF.2007.a.19001).
Milan Grba, Curator South-Eastern European Collections
Digital versions of Razgovor ugodni
Trieste [i.e. Dubrovnik], 1831 (from the National Library of Austria)
Dubrovnik, 1839 (from the National Library of Austria)
Vienna, 1836 [vol. two only] (from the National Library of the Czech Republic)
Zadar, 1851 (from the University of Wisconsin – Madison)
Zagreb, 1862 (from Harvard University)
Digital versions of Korabglicza
Venice, 1782 (from the National Library of the Czech Republic)
Dubrovnik, 1833 (from the National Library of the Czech Republic)
References
Fortunato Karaman, Andrija Kačić Miošić e i suoi canti. (Pula, 1889). 11840.aaa.25.(6.)
Danilo A. Živaljević, “Andrija Kačić Miošić slovinski pesnik”. Letopis matice srpske, 1892, III, 171, pp. 1-36. Ac.8984.
Vojislav M. Jovanović, “Deux traductions inédites d’Albert Fortis”. Archiv für Slavische Philologie, 1909, Bd. xxx. Hft. 4. Sonderabdruck, [586]-596. 011586.g.94.(5.).
Nikola Žic, “Carsko izdanje Kačićeva razgovora” . Obzor, 1933, 147, p. 3. MFM.MF693
Gašpar Bujas, Kačićevi imitatori u Makarskom primorju do polovine 19. stoljeća. (Zagreb, 1971). Ac.741/19[30]
Francesco Saverio Perillo, Rileggendo Kačić: tra storia e folklore. (Bari, 1979). YF.2004.a.17241
Andriia Kachich Mioshich i bŭlgarite. Editor Rumiana Bozhilova. (Sofia, 2000). YF.2012.a.21898
Stipe Botica, Andrija Kačić Miošić. (Zagreb, 2003). Includes a bibliography of Andrija Kačić Miošić (pp. [269]-319). YF.2005.a.29437
Fra Andrija Kačić Miošić i kultura njegova doba. Editor Dunja Fališevac. (Zagreb, 2007). YF.2008.a.10573
28 January 2015
Beauty in word and image
Rumours of the demise of page 3 and news of the Royal Academy’s Rubens exhibition have inspired considerations on the concept of beauty in art and text.
Rubens in the popular mind is associated with a particular female type, though he seems only to have had an adjective of his own since 1834:
Characteristic or suggestive of the paintings of Rubens; esp. (of a woman’s figure) full and rounded. 1834 J. Landseer Catal. Pictures in National Gallery 243: If not picturesque, however, according to the modern construction and present use of that term, the subject is Rubensesque. (OED)
The curious thing to me is that there seems to be no parallel between word and image in Rubens’s time.
For the earlier period it’s simple enough to illustrate from art the verbal descriptio puellae laid down in the medieval arts of poetry:
let her arms be pleasing, as slender in their form as delightful in their length. Let substance soft and lean join together in her slender fingers, and appearance smooth and milk white, lines long and straight [...] Let her breast, a picture of snow, bring forth either bosom [sic] as if they were, in effect, uncut jewels side by side. Let the circumference of her waist be narrowly confined, circumscribable by the small reach of a hand. I am silent about the parts just below [...] But let her leg for its part realize its length in slenderness [...] (tr. Murphy p. 54)
Thus this description by Geoffrey of Vinsauf (Chaucer calls him Gaufred) c. 1210 can be illustrated by this picture of Bathsheba c. 1485.
David and Bathsheba, from French Book of Hours, ca. 1485. British Library MS Harley 2863
But when Góngora writes of female beauty and the urgent need to enjoy it, he’s closer to Geoffrey than to Rubens:
Mientras por competir con tu cabello,
oro bruñido al sol relumbra en vano;
mientras con menosprecio en medio el llano
mira tu blanca frente el lilio bello;
Mientras a cada labio, por cogello,
siguen más ojos que al clavel temprano;
y mientras triunfa con desdén lozano
del luciente cristal tu gentil cuello:
Goza cuello, cabello, labio y frente,
antes que lo que fue en tu edad dorada
oro, lilio, clavel, cristal luciente,
No sólo en plata o viola troncada
se vuelva, mas tu y ello juntamente
en tierra, en humo, en polvo, en sombra, en nada.
While burnished gold gleams in vain in the sun to compete with your hair;/ while in the middle of the plain your white brow gazes on the fair lily with disdain;/ while more eyes follow each lip to kiss them [each lip] than [follow] the early carnation;/ and while your slender neck triumphs over gleaming crystal with self-assured scorn: enjoy your neck, hair, lips and brow, before what was in your golden youth, gold, lily, carnation, gleaming crystal not only turns to silver or to drooping violet but you and all of it together [turn] into earth, smoke, dust, shadow, nothing. (tr. at Spain Then and Now).
The arts of painting and poetry were commonly said to be sisters. But only to a point. When he said ‘Ut pictura poesis’, Horace didn’t actually mean that the arts were analogous in a general way. In context – and context is all – he says ‘A poem is like a painting; the closer you stand to this one the more it will impress you, whereas you have to stand a good distance from that one; this one demands rather a dark corner, but that one needs to be seen in full light, and will stand up to the scrutiny of the art critic; this one only pleased you the first time you saw it, but that one will go on giving pleasure however often it is looked at.’ (Dorsch, 91-2).
And the pleasure of the eye is not the pleasure of the ear.
Barry Taylor, Curator Hispanic studies
References
Three medieval rhetorical arts, ed. James J. Murphy (Berkeley 1971) X.981/2867
Wesley Trimpi, ‘Horace’s Ut pictura poesis’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 36 (1973), 1-34. Ac.4569/7.
Classical literary criticism, tr. T. S. Dorsch (Harmondsworth, 1965) W.P.513/155.
05 January 2015
Learning English: Barcelona 1846
Anglophilia in Spain is not the mirror image of Hispanophilia in Britain. The first is much older – in bibliographical terms – than the second. One indication is the history of translations: Cervantes was first translated into English in 1612 and Shakespeare into Spanish (Romeo) in 1780.
For Hispanophilia in Britain, a resource is R. C. Alston, A Bibliography of the English Language from the Invention of Printing to the Year 1800, vol. 12, pt 2 (Ilkley, 1987; British Library X.985/532.); partly supplemented by Foreign-language printing in London, 1500-1900 (Boston Spa, 2002; 2708.h.1059).
For Anglophilia in Spain the resource is Palau, Manual del librero hispanoamericano, Index IV, pp. 144-45, ‘Lingüística inglesa’. (RAR 090.98)
Alston and Palau show that the first Spanish-English grammar-phrase books and dictionaries were published in England, beginning with an anonymous Spanish Grammar in 1554. They were usually written by exiles. In Spain, the first books on English date from 1769.
Why? The status of English was low. It did not have an international role. No Spanish diplomat needed English, as it was not a transferable skill. Gondomar was ambassador to court of James I, and he bought some English books, but he and James conversed in French and got on mightily: they called themselves “Les deux Iacques”.
Spanish interest in English seems to date from the nineteenth century, presumably as an indication of growing British political and economic power.
One piece of evidence on this occasion is this reader for Spaniards.
Antonio Bergnes de Las Casas, Crestomatía inglesa, ó sea selectas de los escritores mas eminentes de la Gran Bretaña, así en prosa como en verso ..., 2nd edn (Barcelona: Establecimiento Tipografico a cargo de don Juan Oliveres, [1846]). RB.23.b.4208.
Antonio Bergnes de Las Casas (1801-1879) was a remarkable man: self-taught, he was the founder of Greek studies at the new University of Barcelona (refounded in 1837), and ran one of the first circulating libraries in the country. His Quaker and Liberal views made him something of an outsider. As a publisher, he produced essentially utilitarian books on history, practical manuals (mostly translations), grammars and readers in Latin and Greek, and translations from Sir Walter Scott, Goldsmith and Gibbon.
This book (first edition 1840) is a reader designed to take the Spanish student from the rudiments to Shakespeare in 259 pages. The first passages are specially written for teaching purposes and are comprehensively glossed in Spanish. The later texts are taken from works of literature chiefly of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and are lightly annotated in English. This second edition also includes a section on commercial correspondence.
The first exercise in Bergnes’ Crestomatía inglesa.
The corpus of English literature here is formidable. Items 1-53 are not signed. Followed by prose selections: Dr Percival, Dr Benjamin Franklin, Various tales (3), Dodsley 6, Dr Enfield 2, Robertson 2, Mackenzie 2, The Spectator 2, Watts, Gibbon, Hervey, The Correspondents, Sterne, Rambler, Edinburgh Review, Washington Irving, Walter Scott (incl. Scotticisms in The Antiquary), [J. F.] Cooper, Marryat, Bulwer [Lytton], Miss Edgeworth, Dickens, Teodore Hook; next The Beauties of English Poetry: Colley Cibber, Goldsmith 3, Thomson 2 (The Pleasures of retirement), Shakespeare 3 (Hamlet’s Soliloquy; Macbeth’s Vision), Pope 4 (1 Iliad), Cunningham 2, Addison 4, H. More, Gray 2, Cowper, Scott 4, Logan, Shenstone, Moore, Opie, Lowth, Horne, Collins 2, Ledyard, Burns, Charlotte Smith 3, Rogers, Langhorne, Dryden 2, Parnell, Milton 2, Bryon, Campbell.
By page 222 Bergnes’ students are tackling poetry.
English studies were not a feature of mainstream Spanish education until the 1970s. This book is therefore a landmark in the history of the study of English, as well as a cross section of the literary canon of the mid-19th century.
Barry Taylor, Curator Hispanic Studies
References:
J. A. Clua Serena, ‘Bergnes de las Casas, helenista del sexenio liberal español: semblanza intelectual’, Estudios Clásicos, 92 (1987), 59-74.
http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6887
10 December 2014
Velimir Khlebnikov – pioneer of trans-sense language
Velimir Khlebnikov is the co-inventor along with his fellow Russian poet Aleksei Kruchenykh of trans-sense or transrational language (zaum). This new approach to poetic language adopted by the Russian Futurists aimed at liberating sound from meaning to create a primeval language of sounds.
Photograph of Velimir Khlebnikov from Wikimedia Commons
One of the first examples of Futurist trans-sense poetry is Khlebnikov’s Zakliatie smekhom (‘Incantation by Laughter’). This poem performs its title. It achieves this by using the one word stem, smekh or smeiat’sia (Russian for laughter/to laugh) to which prefixes and suffixes are added to generate new words without any external references or associations, so the poem becomes just the sound of laughter itself. It was first published in Studiia impressionistov (‘Impressionists’ studio’).
Zakliatie smekhom by Velimir Khlebnikov in Studiia impressionistov, ed. N. Kul’bin (St Petersburg, 1910), p.47. British Library C.104.i.14.
Here is part of it in transliteration so that you can see the almost musical patterns that are formed:
O, razsmeites’, smekhachi! / O, zasmeites’ smekhachi!
Chto smeiutsia smekhami, chto smeianstvuiut smeial’no,
O, zasmeites’ usmeial’no!
O razsmeshishch nadsmeial’nykh – smekh usmeinykh smekhachei!
O izsmeisia razsmeial’no smekh nadsmeinykh smeiachei! etc.
Amongst the Russian Futurist artists’ books that celebrate their centenary this year are Te li le and Igra v adu, both jointly written by Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh. The second half of the handmade lithographed Te li le is devoted to the poetry of Khlebnikov with drawings by Olga Rozanova and Nikolai Kulbin.
Title page of Khlebnikov’s section of Te li le (St. Petersburg, 1914). C.114.mm.37.
In Khlebnikov’s section appears the seminal poem ‘Bobeobi pelis’ guby’ (The lips sang red). Khlebnikov shows in this poem how he not only wanted to give the roots of words new emotional meanings (‘the word as such’) but also wanted to extend this and assign independent meanings to syllables and letters (‘the letter as such’). For example the first word ‘Bobeobi’ consists of several “b”s linked by vowels to make it pronounceable. As Khlebnikov associated the letter “b” with the colour red (perhaps because of the b in guby = lips), the word bobeobi is used to mean red in this sentence (not the normal Russian word for red). This kind of synaesthesia where colour is represented in terms of sound is reminiscent of the poetry of French symbolists such as Rimbaud who also assigned colours to letters (notably in his poem Voyelles).
The poem Bobeobi by Khlebnikov as it appears in Te li le.
Another important Russian artists’ book published on the eve of the First World War 1 in 1914 was Igra v adu (‘A game in hell’). The text of this lithographed book which depicts a game between devils and sinners in hell, was begun by Kruchenykh and finished by Khlebnikov. This work recreates the unity of words and image found in medieval manuscripts often written and transcribed by different people at different times.
Cover of Igra v adu designed by K. Malevich (2nd ed., St Petersburg, 1914). Cup.406.g.2.
In attempting to create a universal language of sounds Khlebnikov did not confine himself to experimentation with Russian. He arranged his zaum languages into various types of made up language, as for example, the language of the gods (this includes non-Russian words such as ‘gamch’ and ‘gemch’ spoken by Eros) or of the birds (mostly onomatopoeic words) which he used in his play Zangezi (‘Beyond the Ganges’, Moscow, 1922; C.114.n.42). Khlebnikov was also interested in creating new alphabets; this is reflected in the cover of Zangezi by Petr Miturich which consists of flowering loops like the patterns of letters in Khlebnikov’s astral alphabet.
Cover of Velimir Khlebnikov, Ladomir (Kharkov, 1920). C.114.n.47
Another interesting late work by Khlebnikov is Ladomir. The designer of the striking cover of this book is not named but it has been attributed to Vasyl Yermilov. The copy held by the British Library (C.114.n.47) also has a dedication in Khlebnikov’s handwriting to a person called Sergei.
Peter Hellyer, Curator Russian Studies
Books with texts by V. Khlebnikov and A. Kruchenykh held by the British Library:
Bukh lesinnyi. [‘Forestly rapid’] (St Petersburg, 1913). [22] leaves. Lithographed text, handwritten by O. Rozanova. Lithographed cover and 5 lithographs by O. Rozanova. Includes lithographed portrait of A. Kruchenykh by N. Kul'bin. Includes a few poems by Khlebnikov. C.114.mm.43.
Igra v adu: poema. [‘Game in hell: a poem’] 1st edition (Moscow, 1912), 14 leaves. Drawings by N. Goncharova. C.114.mm.31.
Igra v adu. 2nd enlarged ed. (St Petersburg, 1914). [40] leaves. Lithographed text, handwritten by O. Rozanova. Cover and 3 lithographs by K. Malevich and 22 lithographs by O. Rozanova. Cup.406.g.2. and C.114.mm.41
Mirskontsa. [‘Worldbackwards’] (Moscow: 1912.) [41] leaves. Lithographed text, handwritten by M. Larionov, A. Kruchenykh and others. Illustrated by N. Goncharova, M. Larionov, V. Tatlin and N. Rogovin. Cover of each copy has a unique collage by N. Goncharova. Six poems each by Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh. C.114.mm.42.
Slovo kak takovoe. [‘Word as such’]( [Moscow, 1913]) 15p. Cover illustration by K. Malevich and one illustration by O. Rozanova. Futurist Manifesto on trans-sense language written by Kruchenykh and Khlebnikov. C.114.mm.23.
Te li le (St Petersburg, 1914). [14] leaves. Reproduced by colour hectography [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hectograph]. Text handwritten by O. Rozanova and N. Kul'bin. Illustrated by O. Rozanova and N. Kul'bin. Cover by O. Rozanova. Four poems each by Khlebnikov and Kruchenykh C.114.mm.37.
Books by Velimir Khlebnikov held by the British Library:
Izbornik stikhov s poslesloviem recharia, 1907-1914 gg. [‘Selected poems with an afterword by a wordsmith, 1907-1914] (St Petersburg, 1914). 48p. Ilustrated by P. Filonov, K. Malevich and Nad. Burliuk. C.114.mm.39.
Ladomir. (Kharkov, 1920). 30p. Lithographed handwritten text. Cover designer is not named. Dedication in V. Khlebnikov's handwriting. C.114.n.47.
Neizdannyi Khlebnikov. [‘Unpublished Khlebnikov’] Ed. by A. Kruchennykh. (Moscow, 1928-33). C.114.mm.38.
Noch' v okope. [‘Night in the trench’] (Moscow, 1921). Printed poem occupies 11 unpaginated leaves. X.909/5086.
Otryvok iz dosok sud'by. [Fragment from the boards of destiny] (Moscow, 1922). 1 poem. Cup.408.i.28.
RIAV! Perchatki, 1908-1914 gg. [Roar! Gauntlets, 1908-1914] (Moscow, 1914.) 29p. Poetry and prose. Illustrated by K. Malevich and D. Burliuk. BL copy lacks the cover which bears the title. C.114.mm.7.
Zangezi. (Moscow, 1922). 35p. Cover by P. Miturich. C.114.n.42.
Zapisnaia knizhka… [‘Notebook’]. Collected and annotated by A. Kruchennykh. (Moscow, 1925). C.114.l.
Useful Sources:
Compton, Susan P. The world backwards: Russian futurist books, 1912-1916. (London, 1978). X.981/21715
Hellyer, Peter W. A catalogue of Russian avant-garde books 1912-1934 and 1969-2003. London, British Library, 2006.
Janecek, Gerald. The look of Russian literature: avant-garde visual experiments, 1990-1930. (Princeton, 1984). X.955/3162
Markov, Vladimir. Russian futurism: a history. (London, 1969). X.981/1801
The Russian avant-garde book, 1910-1934. By Margit Rowell and Deborah Wye… New York, 2002. LC.31.a.179 and m02/26181
14 November 2014
Silesia: a borderland in Central Europe
Silesia is a region now located mainly in Poland with small strips in the Czech Republic and Germany. Historically the province has been divided into the north-western Lower Silesia and the south-eastern Upper Silesia with the two biggest cities Wrocław (Breslau) on the Oder and Katowice respectively. In the early Middle Ages Silesia was populated by various Slav tribes and was part of Great Moravia and Bohemia.
At the end of the 10th century it was incorporated into the Polish state by Mieszko I. Over the course of the next few centuries Silesia was ruled by the Silesian Piasts. In the 13th century the Piasts brought in a large number of German settlers and since then Silesia was under the influence of German culture and language. Eventually it became part of Bohemia in 1335, and two centuries later fell under Habsburg rule. Its rich natural resources, especially coal and iron-ore deposits, and its important strategic position for Prussia were the cause of wars with Austria for the possession of Silesia in the mid-18th century. Consequently, Frederick the Great of Prussia conquered most of Silesia and only a small part of the south-eastern corner was retained by Austria.
Traditonal Upper Silesian costumes, from Eduard Duller, Das Deutsche Volk in seinen Mundarten, Sitten, Gebräuchen, Festen und Trachten (Leipzig, 1847) 10256.d.20.
Prussian Silesia was then subjected to Germanisation, particularly strong during the implementation of the ‘Kulturkampf’ policy in the second half of the 19th century. Lower Silesia was predominantly inhabited by Germans and was Protestant, while Upper Silesia had a mixed population of Germans, Poles and Silesians with Catholicism as the prevailing religion. The latter are regarded as an ethnic group of Slav origin speaking in Silesian. There is now an ongoing debate whether Silesian is a distinctive language, a Polish dialect or a regional language. Upper Silesians spoke Silesian at home and either German or Polish in public and clearly emphasized that they were neither Germans nor Poles. Although Silesians had never created their own state, they built a society with a distinctive culture and language. In the 19th century there were unsuccessful attempts to codify Silesian, and only in 2003 was the first publishing house founded to publish books in Silesian.
Upper Silesia was an arena of political clashes between Polish and German nationalist movements at the turn of the 20th century. Each aimed to win the support of the local population regarding its ownership. Ironically, the Kulturkampf served to strengthen Polish nationalism in the region, which eventually led to the inclusion of the eastern part of Upper Silesia into the newly-reborn Poland in 1922. This followed three Silesian uprisings in 1919-1921 and a 1921 plebiscite organised by the League of Nations. The aim of the uprisings was to win autonomy for Upper Silesia either within the Polish or German state. The uprisings were, however, considered by some Silesians as a civil war. The plebiscite was to decide its national status. Both Germany and Poland wanted this territory due to its heavy industrialisation and strong economic development.
The results of the plebiscite held in 1921 in Upper Silesia from Stefan Dziewulski, Wyniki Plebiscytu na Górnym śląsku. (Warsaw, 1921) X.700/15938. The red areas voted to be part of Poland, the blue ones to be part of Germany
The solution was thus to divide it between the two countries. Subsequently, the Prussian Province of Silesia within Germany retained Lower Silesia and the western part of the disputed territory of Upper Silesia. Austrian Silesia was mostly awarded to the newly-created Czechoslovakia, with a small area included in Poland. The region granted to Poland formed the Silesian Voivodeship and received significant autonomy from the Polish government, with its own legislative body and treasury. Polish Upper Silesia (the eastern part) was economically most important as it comprised three-quarters of Silesia’s coal production. The demographic structure of the divided territory, with the Poles and Germans living on both sides, was, however, politically disadvantageous.
At the beginning of the Second World War Upper Silesia was immediately annexed by the Nazis to the Third Reich and the extermination of the Polish population took place. After the war the German inhabitants were expelled, with Poland shifting westwards in 1945. Nowadays, in a free Poland, there are political movements seeking autonomy, separation or even full independence for Silesia.
Magda Szkuta, Curator East European (Polish) Studies
References/further reading
Tomasz Kamusella, Silesia and Central European Nationalisms: The Emergence of National and Ethnic Groups in Prussian Silesia and Austrian Silesia, 1848-1918 (West Lafayette, 2007) m07/12120
The Problem of Upper Silesia (London, 1921) 08072.c.6
Stefan Dziewulski, Wyniki Plebiscytu na Górnym Śląsku (Warszawa, 1921) X.700/15938.
12 November 2014
“Cursed orthography”: Revolution, Language and Identity
Writing in his diary in spring 1919, the Nobel Prize-winning Russian writer Ivan Bunin bitterly condemned the Izvestia newspaper’s use of what he called “Bolshevik orthography”. Introduced after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian orthographic reform of 1917-1918 streamlined the written Russian language to its current form. Yet while the reform was introduced by the Bolsheviks, changes to the orthography had been discussed, and even endorsed, by leading academic authorities long before the revolution.
Russian First World War propaganda poster entitled “Wilhelm's Nightmare” (Moscow, 1914). H.S.74/273.(24).
From the Bolsheviks’ perspective, the aim of the reform was to improve literacy among Russian speakers, including speakers of Russian as a second language, and thus foster a national and collective identity among its disparate peoples. The reform effectively simplified Russian orthography by replacing a number of letters with existing letters that had the same pronunciation. In addition, the changes also significantly economised the printing process by greatly restricting the use of ъ (tverdyi znak).
Red Army propaganda poster in the new orthography (Moscow, 1921). The caption reads “From Darkness into Light; From Battle to Books; From Misery to Happiness”. Cup.645.a.6, plate 21
Despite its pre-revolution origins the reform became a focus of anti-Bolshevik sentiment among the Russian émigré community which emerged after the revolution. White propaganda and émigré publications across the world continued to be printed in the old orthography right up until the Second World War. Effectively, as Marc Raeff argues, “one’s stand on the issue of orthography became symbolic of one’s opinion on the Soviet system or to the revolution”.
White Army propaganda poster in the pre-revolutionary orthography (date unknown). 1856.g. 8.
Similarly, a number of émigré writers insisted on their work being published in the pre-reform orthography, complaining that the new system tarnished the purity of the Russian language. Bunin himself swore that he would “never accept the Bolshevik orthography. If only because the human hand has never written anything like what is being written now in this script”. This unapologetic disregard for the new orthography can be seen in the wider context of the relationship between language and identity. For the Russian émigré community, the pre-revolutionary orthography represented a tie with their homeland and life before emigration. For them, accepting the new orthography would in effect not only indicate their support of the Bolsheviks, but also a break with the past.
Bunin’s “Diary of the Revolution” published in 1935 in the pre-revolution orthography. Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, Okaiannye Dni (Berlin, 1935), YA.1989.a.15918
The new orthography was not fully adopted by the émigré community until after the Second World War and the corresponding “second wave” of Russian emigration. The new émigrés were familiar with the reformed orthography and attached far less cultural and political significance to it. Émigré publishers and editors did however begin to accept the new orthography prior to the new wave of emigration. The reform particularly found support among younger émigrés due to its simplified rules and the availability of books printed in Soviet Russia. Changes in the attitude among the older émigré generation can also be seen as early as the mid-1930s. Alexander Kerensky, the prominent pre-revolutionary politician, adopted the new orthography for his émigré publication Novaia Rossiia as early as 1936. Bunin, on the other hand, was still very much standing his ground against the “cursed orthography”.
Émigré newspaper Novaia Rossiia from April 1936 edited by Alexander Kerensky, NP000451448.
Katie McElvanney, CDA PhD student, Collections Division
References:
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, Okaiannye Dni (Berlin, 1935), YA.1989.a.15918
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin, Cursed Days: Diary of a Revolution, trans. by Thomas Gaiton Marullo (London, 2000). YC.2001.a.5248
Marc Raeff, Russia Abroad: A Cultural History of the Russian Emigration, 1919-1939 (New York; Oxford, 1990), YC.1991.b.4698
For more details about the reform see Marc L. Greenberg, The Writing on the Wall: The Russian Orthographic Reform of 1917–1918 http://russiasgreatwar.org/media/culture/orthography.shtml
05 November 2014
Hero of Montevideo: Ivo Lapenna in memoriam
On 10 December 2014 Esperantists worldwide will be reflecting on the 60th anniversary of the Montevideo Resolution. This resolution in support of Esperanto was passed by the General Conference of UNESCO in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 10 December 1954, and authorised the Director-General “to follow current developments in the use of Esperanto in education, science and culture, and, to this end, to co-operate with the Universal Esperanto Association in matters concerning both organizations”. The Montevideo Resolution would not have been possible without enormous efforts by a great enthusiast for the international language, Ivo Lapenna (photo above with kind permission from the Lapenna Foundation).
The conference in Montevideo produced poems about its heroes and anti-heroes in Esperanto (by William Auld, Kalman Kalocsay, Reto Rosetti, Marjorie Boulton and Geraldo Mattos). Photographs from the conference and poems about it are to be found here. The “anti-hero of Montevideo” - Danish philologist Andreas Blinkenberg, who opposed the acceptance of the resolution - lives on forever in Esperanto poetry and spoken language (blinkenbergo).
Ivo Lapenna was born on 5 November 1909. A native of Split (then the part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), he received a very good education and in 1933 gained his PhD in Law in Zagreb and later became a professor of International Law at Zagreb University. During the Second World War Lapenna worked for the Resistance Forces. In 1949 he emigrated from Yugoslavia to Britain via France, became a British citizen in 1962, and worked as a professor of law in London. He was also a qualified teacher of the cello.
Ivo Lapenna playing cello (With kind permission from the Lapenna-Foundation)
The British Library holds books written and edited by Ivo Lapenna in various languages. The oldest of these was published in Croatian in Zagreb, then in Yugoslavia: Ujedinjene Nacije (‘The United Nations’; Zagreb, 1946; 8012.aa.23). Books about law in English followed in the 1960s: State and Law: Soviet and Yugoslav theory (London, 1964; 8184.d.47/1) and Soviet penal policy: A background book (London, 1968; X.208/864). By the time of writing the last book Ivo Lapenna held the title of “Reader in Soviet Law, London School of Economics and The School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London”.
Lapenna learned Esperanto as a teenager in 1928 and was an energetic and outspoken promoter of the language all his life. In 1955 he became General Secretary of the Universala Esperanto Asocio (UEA/World Esperanto Association) and between 1964 and 1974 served as its President. He was not re-elected during the 59th World Congress of Esperanto in Hamburg in 1974, which created a lot of friction among Esperantists. Lapenna himself called the events in Hamburg “the communist putsch”. His colourful and complicated personality continues to provoke discussions in the Esperanto world up to the present day. Although Esperanto was planned by Zamenhof as a “neutral language” for all, the World Esperanto Association was functioning in the real world, and during the Cold War tensions among various national Esperanto associations sometimes rose very high. Even the article about Ivo Lapenna in the Esperanto-language Wikipedia (Vikipedio) gives a warning about the “non-neutrality of the article”.
There are, however, a few things that all Esperantists do agree about Lapenna: he was an outstanding orator and the first author of a book about the art of oratory in Esperanto. His Retoriko (‘Oratory’; Paris, 1950) was republished several times (the British Library holds the second and third editions: Rotterdam, 1958; X5/5240 and Rotterdam, 1971; YF.2011.a.24046).
Most of the books written and compiled by Lapenna, among them the monumental encyclopedic work (written in collaboration with Ulrich Lins and Tazio Carlevaro) Esperanto en perspektivo: faktoj kaj analizoj pri la internacia lingvo (‘Esperanto in Perspective: Facts and Analyses about the International Language’; London-Rotterdam, 1974;) are in Esperanto and about Esperanto. The British Library Esperanto Collections hold the following books:
Elektitaj paroladoj kaj prelegoj (‘Selected Talks and Lectures’; two editions: Rotterdam, 1966; YF.2005.a.664; and Rotterdam, 2009; YF.2010.a.877);
Kritikaj studoj defende de Esperanto (‘Critical Studies in Defence of Esperanto’; Copenhagen, 1987; YF.2006.b.2670);
Hamburgo en retrospektivo : dokumentoj kai materialoj pri la kontraŭneŭtraleca politika konspiro en UEA (‘Hamburg in retrospective: documents and materials about the anti-neutrality political conspiracy in the UEA’; 2nd edition; Copenhagen, 1977; YF.2008.a.11937);
La Internacia Lingvo: faktoj pri Esperanto (‘The International Language; Facts on Esperanto’; London, 1954; F9/8716);
Aktualaj problemoj de la nuntempa internacia vivo (‘Current Problems of Contemporary International Life’; Rotterdam, 1952; YF.2010.a.16344).
Some of his books were translated into other languages. The whole bibliography of the original works and their translations is available in: Concise Encyclopedia of the Original Literature of Esperanto by Geoffrey Sutton (New York, 2008; YC.2008.a.12495).
After his retirement Ivo Lapenna moved to Denmark. Even the date of his death – 15 December 1987 – the year of the 100th anniversary of La Unua Libro – is linked to the love of his life, Esperanto: Zamenhof was born on 15 December. Books and pamphlets in his memory appeared soon after his death: Memore al Ivo lapenna (‘Ivo Lapenna in Memoriam’; Copenhagen, 1988; YF.2010.a.9052); Eseoj memore al Ivo Lapenna (Essays in memory of Ivo Lapenna; Copenhagen, 2001; awaiting shelfmark). In 1984 the Lapenna Foundation was created in Copenhagen, aiming to keep alive the memory of Ivo Lapenna’s outstanding life, to promote the international language Esperanto, and to contribute to respect for human rights worldwide.
Olga Kerziouk, Curator Esperanto Studies
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