Random Translations

Bits and Pieces Chosen for No Good Reason

Telegraphy Before Morse

An article about telegraphy before the electrical system of Morse began our communications revolution. At that time the most-used system was the optical telegraph invented by Claude Chappe, which was used with great success by the French.


Augustine on Genesis and Science

St. Augustine of Hippo warns us, in effect, not to speak of Genesis as a book of natural philosophy. Let the properties of the animal, vegetable, and mineral world be left to the experts in these things; we Christians should not bring derision upon ourselves by pretending that our sacred books tell us all about them.


Preface to The Conquest of Women

A curious little book that showed up recently on Project Gutenberg shows that the idea of writing a manual of seduction is nothing new. La conquête des femmes : conseils à un jeune homme was published in 1908. The author’s justification of his endeavor is perhaps more literate and more interesting than the usual run of such things (although we admit that we have not read many other books in the genre), and probably appears in English for the first time here.


The Case of the Dream Courtesan

It should not surprise us that French typefounders turn out to be French. This is a translation of a sample of Gros Romain type from a 1917 French type catalogue.


A Frenchman Looks at American Race Relations

In the 1790s, the time of the Revolution, there was a mania in France for descriptions of the newly independent United States. In this one, French traveler Jacques-Pierre Brissot de Warville argues that Black Americans are proving themselves in every way the equals of their neighbors.


Review of Robur-le-conquérant by Jules Verne

This is a short review of Robur-le-Conquérant by Jules Verne, which appeared in La Nouvelle Revue when the book came out in 1886.


One-Upmanship in the Court of Louis XIV

An English ambassador arguing for the release of Protestant prisoners of conscience in France gets the better of Louis XIV.


The Deliberate Choice of Evil

The crisis of conscience, so to speak, suffered by Cardinal de Retz when he found himself made coadjutor archbishop of Paris, where his uncle was archbishop.


God

A new translation of the article from Voltaire’s Portable Philosophical Dictionary.

What Is This Place?

Sometimes Dr. Boli finds himself reading a book in French (or occasionally Latin) and comes across an interesting passage that, out of his great regard for his readers, he makes available in a new English translation. This is another way of saying that sometimes Dr. Boli gets bored and scribbles a translation at random from whatever he happens to be reading at the moment.

All these translations are released into the public domain through a CC0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. You can use them for any purpose without asking permission, and the only condition is that you cannot hold Dr. Boli responsible for their accuracy or safety.


Dr. Boli’s Celebrated Publishing Empire

Dr. Boli’s Celebrated Magazine. The heart of the empire.

An Eclectic Library. Dr. Boli’s collection of interesting and unusual books on line.

The Historical Spectator. History as seen by the people who lived through it.

The Argosy of Pure Delight. The delight of discovering something new to read.


Father Pitt and His World

Father Pitt. Pictures of Pittsburgh and the world around it.

Flora Pittsburghensis. Wild flowers of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh Cemeteries. The art and architecture of death.

The Mirrour of the World, or thymage of the same. Random pictures from here and there.

Monochrome World. All the colors of black and white.

Two-Color World. The world is an old postcard.

Imaginary Color. If the world were in color, it might look like this.


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