Presentation

Abstract

In the 18th century, due to the influence of the Enlightenment, there was a great advance in the scientific study of a wide range of fields. However, it was in the 19th century when, as a consequence, among others, of the industrial revolution and technical advances, a genuine scientific revolution took place. In the humanities, and more specifically in philology, one of these phenomena was the emergence of numerous editions of texts from past ages. On many occasions, literary and non-literary manuscripts were edited (letters, public documents of diferent kinds, etc.) and the first printed editions appeared.

There were also many scholars who devoted not just to study the texts in their original languages but to translate them into others so these could be available to many potential readers. These translations included texts originally written in classical languages (Latin and Greek) and some semitic languages, in addition to other documents in several European languages used during the Renaissance or in the golden ages in literature.

Philological and translation studies have evolved enormously during the 20th and the first years of the 21st centuries, in their theoretical and practical strands. Nowadays, we have for instance technical means for the reproduction of texts that were unimaginable a few years ago. The digitalisation of documents enables us to reach a greater number of scholars, the creation of databases helps classify and systematize the existing documents and show the work of researchers to others.

The aim of the present monograph, focused on the critical review of editions and translations of 19th century texts, is to appraise and analyse the philological work carried out by scholars during the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries in the compilation, edition and translation of texts. Although we acknowledge the importance and gain that these editions and translations have meant for subsequent work, we also underscore some of their limitations.