Autograph Letter Signed to Chevalier de Chatelain 1854

About this Item

One sheet, folded, 4 pages of text, signed. With the envelop. Jean-François Chatelain (1801-1881), named Chevalier de Chatelain, was a French Poet living in London. Letter about the translation of ''Voices of the Night". With : Lithograph by Alonzo Chappel (1828-1887), portrait of Longfellow (.c 1878). Longfellow to de Chatelain: "I have always thought all versions from English into French, and from French into English, extremely difficult, owing to the different structure of the two languages. but you have solved the problem certainly with great skill; and if your translation is not always very literal, it is always very spirited; and very often my verse comes mended from your pen. It is a transfiguration rather than an translation". Nicely written, Mr. Longfellow!! With a charming postscript, in French, at the end. De Chatelain (1801-81), born in Paris, lived in England from 1842 to his death; journalist,and prolific author, best known for his French translations of English poetry and of Shakespeare's plays. Unpublished letter (not in The Letters, ed. Hilen) with autograph addressed envelope. It is worth noting that Longfellow was (among other languages) a professor in French Language (I had at one point the longuest letter he ever wrote in French, and not a single mistake could be found in it). Seller Inventory # 000296

Contact seller

Report this item

Bibliographic Details