1188

MA, Cambridge-Middlesex County-English as She Is Spoke, Intro by Mark Twain

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Books & Manuscripts Start Price:125.00 USD Estimated At:250.00 - 500.00 USD
MA, Cambridge-Middlesex County-English as She Is Spoke, Intro by Mark Twain
Preview
Holabird-Kagin Americana Office
3555 Airway Drive Suite#309
Reno, NV 89511
Thursday April 11, 10am-6pm
* Preview also available by appointment

Live Auction
Friday & Saturday
April 12-13, 2012
9am PDT starting time, both days

Location
Atlantis Casino & Resort
Grand Ballroom #4
3800 S. Virginia Street
Reno, NV 89502

Lot Pick Up
Holabird-Kagin Americana Office
3555 Airway Drive Suite #309
Reno, NV 89511
Sunday April 14th, 10am-1pm

English as She Is Spoke is the common name of a 19th-century book written by Pedro Carolino and falsely additionally credited to Jose de Fonseca which was intended as a Portuguese-English conversational guide or phrase book, but is regarded as a classic source of unintentional humor as the given English translations are generally completely incoherent. Carolino added Fonseca`s name to the book without the latter knowing about it. Fonseca had written a successful Portuguese-French phrase book, which Carolino adapted. The humor appears to be a result of dictionary aided literal translation, which causes many idiomatic expressions to be translated wildly inappropriately. For example, the Portuguese phrase chover a cântaros is translated as raining in jars, whereas an idiomatic English translation would be raining buckets.It is widely believed that Carolino could not speak English, and that French-English dictionary was used to translate an earlier Portuguese-French phrase book O Novo guia da conversação em francês e português, written by José da Fonseca. Carolino added Fonseca`s name to the book in an attempt to give it some credibility. Mark Twain was so amused by the work that he did an introduction, which almost amounted to a short story. This work comes in a covered holder and box and is not bound. There are small tears on the first few pages but, all in all, it is in excellent condition. This is indeed a rare Twain find.

HKA#62462