Alfred Richard Allinson (1852–1929) was a British academic, author, and voluminous

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

of continental

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an literature (mostly French, but occasionally

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, German and Russian) into English. His translations were often published as by A.R. Allinson, Alfred R. Allinson, or Alfred Allinson. He was described as "an elusive literary figure about whom next to nothing is known; the title-pages of his published works are really all we have to go on."

Life

Allinson was born in December 1852 in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. He attended

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, beginning in 1872, from which he took a Bachelor of Arts degree on 14 June 1877, and a Master of Arts degree in 1882. After graduation he worked as an assistant school master and a librarian. He was also a meteorological hobbyist. He was living in Newcastle, Northumberland in 1901, and in

St Thomas, Exeter St Thomas (St Thomas the Apostle's) is an area of Exeter and formerly a civil parish and registration district in Devon, England, on the western side of the River Exe, connected to Exeter by Exe Bridge. It has a number of pubs, places of wor ...

in Devon in 1911.UK Census, 1911. He died in December 1929 in the

London Borough of Hackney London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Career

His early works as a translator included a number of works of French

erotica Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use a ...

for Paris-based speciality publisher

Charles Carrington Charles Carrington (1857–1921) was a leading British publisher of erotica in late-19th- and early-20th-century Europe. Born ''Paul Harry Ferdinando'' in Bethnal Green, England on 11 November 1867, he moved in 1895 from London to Paris where he ...

in the late 1880s and 1890s. Later he branched out into mainstream French literature, including works of various serious and popular authors. He participated with other translators in two ambitious early twentieth century projects to render the works of Anatole France and Alexandre Dumas into English. He also translated a number of children's books and historical works, and, late in his career, a number of volumes of the sensationalist

Fantômas Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared ...

detective novels. Allinson's sole work of note as an original author was ''The Days of the Directoire'' (1910), a historical and social portrait of France during the period of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. His aim in this work was "to present a vivid account of the extraordinary years from 1795 to 1799, when the Five Directors ruled France from the Palace of the Luxembourg; to portray the chief actors of those stirring times; and to draw a picture of the social conditions prevailing in capital and country after the tremendous changes of the Revolution."

Significance

Allinson's primary importance to literature is in helping to introduce French authors

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

and

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

to a broad English audience. Several of his translations of their works were the first into English, and a number of these remain the only English versions. In the case of Anatole France, his were the English versions authorised by the original writer.

Selected bibliography

Original works

*''The Days of the Directoire'' (1910)
Internet Archive e-text

Edited works

*'' Waverley, or 'Tis Sixty Years Since'', by Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

(1892)

Translated works

Note: publication dates shown are those of the translation, not of publication in the original language.

Works of Alexandre Dumas

Dumas - Tales of Strange adventure (Methuen, 1907) - Jacket

*''Acté, a Tale of the Days of Nero'' (1905) – first English translation *''The Adventures of Captain Pamphile and Delaporte's Little Presents'' (''Le capitaine Pamphile'') (1905) *''Amaury'' (1904) *''Bontekoe'' (1904) *''Captain Marion'' (1906) – 1st English translation *''Captain Pamphile'' (1904) *''The Castle of Eppstein'' (''Le château d'Eppstein'') (1904) – first English translation *''Catherine Blum, and Other Stories'' (1922?) *''Cécile; or, The Wedding Gown'' (''Cécile'') (1904) *''The Chevalier d'Harmental'' *''Chicot the Jester'' (''La dame de Monsoreau'') (1921) *''Conscience'' (''Conscience l'innocent'') (1902) – first English translation *''The Convict's Son and Other Stories'' (''Fils du forçat, M. Coumbes'') (1922) *''

The Corsican Brothers ''The Corsican Brothers'' (french: Les Frères corses) is a novella by Alexandre Dumas, père, first published in 1844. It is the story of two conjoined brothers who, though separated at birth, can still feel each other's physical distress. It h ...

'' (''Frères corses'') (1904) *''Crop-Eared Jacquot and Other Stories'' (1903) – first English translation *''The Dove'' (1906) – 1st English translation *''The Duke of Savoy's Page'' (''Page du duc de Savoie'') **Pt. 3. ''The Tourney of the Rue Saint-Antoine'' *''The Fencing Master; Life in Russia'' (''Maître d'armes'') (1921) *''Fernande'' (1904) – 1st English translation *'' Georges, or, The Isle of France'' (''Georges'') (1904) *''King Pepin'' (1906) – 1st English translation *''Maître Adam'' (''Maître Adam le Calabrais'') (1906) – 1st English translation *''Mille et un fantômes'' **''Tales of Strange adventure'' (1906) – 1st English translation **''Tales of Terror'' (1906) – 1st English translation **''Tales of the Supernatural'' (1906) – 1st English translation *''The Mouth of Hell'' (''Le Trou de l'Envers'') – 1st English translation *''My Pets'' (''Mes Bêtes'') (1909) – 1st English translation *''Nanon; or, Women's War'' (1904) *''Olympia'' (''Olympia de Clèves'') – 1st English translation *''Otho, the Archer'' (''Orthion l'archer'') (1904) *''Pascal Bruno'' (1904) *''Pauline'' (1904) *''Père la Ruine'' (''Le père la Ruine'') (1905) – 1st English translation *''The Prince of Thieves'' (1904) *'' Queen Margot'' (''La Reine Margot'') **Pt. 1: ''The Great Massacre'' (1921) **Pt. 2: ''Henri de Navarre'' (1921) *''The Reminiscences of Antony ; and Marianna'' (1905) *''The Regent's Daughter'' (''Fille du régent'') **Pt. 1. ''Hélène de Chaverny'' (1907) **Pt. 2. ''The Tragedy of Nantes'' (1908) *''Robin Hood, the Outlaw'' (1904) *''Samuel Gelb'' – 1st English translation *''The Snowball'' (1903) *''Sultanetta'' (1903) *''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...

'' (''Les Trois Mousquetaires'') (1903) *''

Twenty Years After ''Twenty Years After'' (french: Vingt ans après) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized from January to August 1845. A book of ''The d'Artagnan Romances'', it is a sequel to ''The Three Musketeers'' (1844) and precedes the 1847–1850 no ...

'' (''Vingt Ans Après'') (1904) *''

The Two Dianas ''The Two Dianas'' (french: Les Deux Diane) is a historical novel published in 1846-47 under the name of Alexandre Dumas but mostly or entirely written by his friend and collaborator Paul Meurice. The "two Dianas" of the title are Diane de Poitiers ...

'' (''Les deux Diane'') **Pt. 1. ''The Taking of Calais'' (1909) **Pt. 2. ''The Chatalet'' (1921) *'' The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later'' (''Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, ou Dix ans plus tard'') (1904) **Pt. 1. ''Louise de la Vallière'' **Pt. 2. ''The Man in the Iron Mask'' *''The Wild-Duck Shooter'' – 1st English translation *'' The Wolf-Leader'' (''Le Meneur de loups'') (1904)

Works of Anatole France

*''The Aspirations of Jean Servien'' (''Les désirs de Jean Servien'') (1912) *''

The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard ''The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard'' (french: Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard) is the first novel by Anatole France, published in 1881. With this work, one of his first written entirely in prose, he made himself known as a novelist; he had been primar ...

'' (''Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard'') *''The Garden of Epicurus'' (''Le jardin d'Epicure'') (1908) *''

The Gods Are Athirst ''The Gods Are Athirst'' (french: Les dieux ont soif, also translated as ''The Gods Are Thirsty'' or ''The Gods Will Have Blood'') is a 1912 novel by Anatole France. It is set in Paris in 1793–1794, closely tied to specific events of the French ...

'' (''Les dieux ont soif'') (1913) *''The Human Tragedy'' (''L'Humaine Tragedie'') (1917) (previously pub. as part of ''The Well of Saint Clare'') *''Little Sea Dogs, and Other Tales of Childhood'' (co-translated with J. Lewis May) (1925) *''Marguerite and Count Morin, Deputy; together with Alfred de Vigny and The Path of Glory'' (1927) (co-translated with J. Lewis May) *''The Merrie Tales of Jacques Tournebroche, and Child Life in Town and Country'' (''Les contes de Jacques Tournebroche'' and ''Les enfants'') (1909) *''The Path of Glory'' (1916) *''The Well of Saint Clare'' (''Le puits de Sainte Claire'') (1903)

Works of Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain

*''Bulldog and Rats'' (''Fantômas Attaque Fandor''), by

Marcel Allain Marcel Allain (15 September 1885 – 25 August 1969) was a French writer mostly remembered today for his co-creation with Pierre Souvestre of the fictional arch-villain and master criminal Fantômas. Career The son of a bourgeois family, ...

(1928) *''Fantômas Captured'' (''Fantômas en Danger''), by

(1926) *''Juve in the Dock'' (''Fantômas, Roi des Recéleurs''), by

(1925) *''A Limb of Satan'' (''La Main Coupée''), by

Pierre Souvestre Pierre Souvestre (1 June 1874 – 26 February 1914) was a French lawyer, journalist, writer and organizer of motor races. He is mostly remembered today for his co-creation with Marcel Allain of the fictional arch-villain and master criminal Fa ...

and

(1924) *''The Long Arm of Fantômas'' (''Le Policier Apache''), by

and

(1924) *''The Lord of Terror'' (''Fantômas est-il réssuscité?''), by

(1925) *''The Revenge of Fantômas'' (''Fantômas prend sa Revanche''), by

(1927)

Works of other authors

*''Birds and Beasts'', by

Camille Lemonnier Antoine Louis Camille Lemonnier (24 March 1844 – 13 June 1913) was a Belgian writer, poet and journalist. He was a member of the Symbolist ''La Jeune Belgique'' group, but his best known works are realist. His first work was ''Salon de Bruxelle ...

(1911) *''The Chastisement of Mansour'' (''L'amour au pays bleu''), by

Hector France Hector Nicolas Alphonse Marie France (1837–1908) was a French writer and soldier, the author of numerous stories of an erotic nature. Has also translated from English into French and from French into English. He sometimes collaborated with H ...

(1898) *''The Diverting Adventures of Maurin'' ('), by

Jean Aicard Jean François Victor Aicard (4 February 1848 – 13 May 1921) was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist. Biography He was born in Toulon. His father, Jean Aicard, was a journalist of some distinction, and the son began his career in 1867 wit ...

(1910) *''Down There'' ('' Là-Bas''), by

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel ''À rebou ...

(1930) *''Forty-five years of my life (1770 to 1815)'', by the Princess Louise of Prussia (Princess

Antoni Radziwiłł Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł (; 13 June 1775 – 7 April 1833) was a Polish and Prussian noble, aristocrat, musician, and politician. Initially an hereditary Duke of Nieśwież and Ołyka, as a scion of the Radziwiłł family he also hel ...

) (1912) *''Golf'', by

Arnaud Massy Arnaud George Watson Massy (; 6 July 1877 – 16 April 1950) was one of France's most successful professional golfers, most notable for winning the 1907 Open Championship. Early life Massy was born in Biarritz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. Th ...

(1914) *''Green Girls'', by *''Intimate Memoirs of Napoleon III : Personal Reminiscences of the Man and the Emperor'', by Baron d'Ambès (pseud.) (1912) *''Justine: The Misfortunes of Virtue'', by

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusat ...

(1912) *''The Lascivious Monk'' (''Lyndamine, ou, L'optimisme des pays chauds''), attributed to

Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche (26 November 1715, in Amiens - 28 November 1782), was a French writer. He was a lawyer at the Parlement de Paris of the Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des ...

(1908) – 1st English translation *''Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies'' (''Vies de dames galantes''), by

Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme Pierre de Bourdeille (, – 15 July 1614), called the seigneur et abbé de Brantôme, was a French historian, soldier and biographer. Life Born at Bourdeilles in the Périgord, Brantôme was the third son of the baron François de Bourde ...

(1901–1902) – 1st English translation *''The Massacre of the Innocents'' (''Massacre des innocents''), by

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

(1914) *''Maurice Maeterlinck, a Biographical Study'', by , with two essays by Maeterlinck (1910) *''Maurin the Illustrious'', by

(1910) *''Nell in Bridewell'' (''Lenchen im Zuchthaus''), by Wilhelm Reinhard (1900) *''Passion and Criminality in France : a Legal and Literary Study'' (''Le crime et le suicide passionnels''), by Louis Proal (1901
Internet Archive e-text
*''Satanism and Witchcraft, a Study in Medieval Superstition'' (''Le sorci'ere''), by

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and an author on other topics whose major work was a history of France and its culture. His aphoristic style emphasized his anti-clerical republicanism. In Michelet's ...

(1939) (a.k.a. ''Witchcraft, Sorcery, and Superstition'' (1992)) *The ''

Satyricon The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petro ...

'', by

Petronius Gaius Petronius Arbiter"Gaius Petronius Arbiter"
his translation was originally erroneously attributed to Oscar Wilderef>In 1902, more than a year after Wilde's death, Carrington published this translation of the

with no translator identified on the title page but a loose slip of paper inserted in every copy that the translation was "done direct from the original Latin by 'Sebastian Melmoth' (

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

)" - using Wilde's well-known pen-name and then providing his name. A copy, without the attribution to Wilde, is at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044013686464;view=1up;seq=13 . Experts on Petronius have doubted the attribution and, when challenged, Carrington could not produce any part of the manuscript. Experts on Wilde are more emphatic that Wilde did not write it, as the English falls far below Wilde's standards, the work was unknown to those who were close to Wilde and was especially unlikely to have been done in his last years in Paris, and the family and literary executor of Oscar Wilde demanded that Carrington cease attributing the book to him; at this point (ca. 1909) Carrington issued a grudging retraction that it had "been attributed quite erroneously to the pen of Oscar Wilde". The underlying text is very inferior, e.g. it incorporates the passages forged by Nodot. The bibliography is also disappointing, and the introduction errs in assigning the 1736 translation by John Addison to the better-known Joseph Addison who died in 1719. In 1930, ten years after Carrington's death, the Panurge Press, in New York, republished this translation, with its introduction (but not its bibliography, forward, or footnotes) with Alfred R. Allinson identified as the translator and author of the introduction. The translation itself hints that the translator was working from French renderings of Satyricon, more than from the original Latin. Boroughs, Rod, "Oscar Wilde's Translation of Petronius: The Story of a Literary Hoax", ''English Literature in Transition (ELT) 1880-1920'', vol. 38, nr. 1 (1995) pages 9-49. Gaselee, Stephen, "The Bibliography of Petronius", ''Transactions of the Bibliographical Society'', vol. 10 (1908) page 202. *''The Sexual Instinct and its Morbid Manifestations from the Double Standpoint of Jurisprudence and Psychiatry'', by Veniamin Mikhailovich Tarnovskii (1890) *''The Shadow of Love'', by Marcelle Tinayre (1911) *''The Sorceress; a Study in Middle Age Superstition'', by

(1904) *''The Sword and Womankind, Being a Study of the Influence of "The Queen of Weapons" Upon the Moral and Social Status of Women'' (''L'Épée et les femmes''), by Edouard de Beaumont (1900) *''Tortures and Torments of the Christian Martyrs, From the "De ss. martyrum cruciatibus"'', by Antonio Gallonio (1903) *''An Unknown Son of Napoleon'', by Hector Fleischmann (1914) *''Walks in Paris'', by

Georges Cain Georges-Jules-Auguste Cain (16 April 1856, Paris - 4 March 1919, Paris) was a French painter, illustrator and writer, who specialized in the history of Paris, its monuments and its theaters. Biography His grandfather, Pierre-Jules Mêne and ...

(1909) *''The War Diary of the Emperor Frederick III, 1870–1871'' (''Das Kriegstagebuch von 1870/71)'', by

Frederick III, German Emperor Frederick III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl; 18 October 1831 – 15 June 1888), or Friedrich III, was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days between March and June 1888, during the Year of the Three Emperors. Known informa ...

(1926)

Notes

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allinson, Alfred Richard 1852 births 1929 deaths Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford French–English translators Latin–English translators German–English translators 19th-century English writers 20th-century British writers Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne 20th-century English translators 19th-century British translators