This project from Eagle Books is
bringing new life to a classic work by
Jules Verne – the first English
translation of Michel Strogoff to
appear in over a century.
As a French-speaking child living in both
Australia and France, Jules Verne's great adventure
novel Mikhail Strogoff (published in French as
Michel Strogoff)was my favourite book in the world
when I was around 12. (The photo included below is
of the edition I read as a child, which I still own). The
book was enormously influential on me, both as a
reader and a writer, leading to a lifelong fascination
with Russia and a lifelong love of both reading and
writing adventure fiction too. I've re-read the book
many times over since then and love it just as much.
But it always frustrated me that when I
mentioned it to English-language friends, they had
never heard of it, because the only English translation
had been done back when the original French edition
was first published and it was stodgy, slow and dated-it actually did not capture the liveliness and freshness
of the French original, as 19th century popular French
novels are much more 'immediate', pacey and less
densely wordy than was the prevailing literary taste in
19th century English-language novels.
I had toyed with the idea of a translation myself
but other books got in the way--and then one day I
met the wonderful translator and writer Stephanie
Smee, who had just translated the works of another
great classic French author, the Countess de Ségur,
another childhood favourite of mine. Stephanie's
translations of the Countess' books captured perfectly
the brightness and verve of the Countess' works and I
mentioned to her, very hopefully, Michel Strogoff!
Stephanie hadn't read the book but immediately went
and got it (in the original French edition), loved it,
and began the work of translating it. And that's when
we stepped in and offered for it to be the launch title
in a new imprint we were planning! We are so
absolutely thrilled that she agreed.
- Sophie Masson
From Eagle Books:
We are thrilled that Stephanie's translation of
Jules Verne's Mikhail Strogoff will be the launch
title for Eagle Books in 2016 and to mark and
celebrate this major publishing event, we are looking
for your support to help fund the production of a
beautiful limited edition of the novel, released in early
2016, well before general commercial publication.
This exclusive collectible edition will be limited
to 750 hand-numbered copies, with internal pages of
soft cream paper, and each chapter featuring a
delicate black and white illustration by artist David
Allan. The cover will feature a full colour illustration
by David Allan, set into high-quality textured red
hardback binding, and the book will feature other
special elements, such as coloured end-papers, a satin
bookmark, and gold foil detail on front, spine and on
book block edges.
This beautiful book will be available to
Australian and New Zealand contributors for a pledge
of AUD $55, postage included, and to all other
international supporters for AUD $75, postage
included. There are also many other levels of support,
from $10 to $1000, and some truly fantastic perks for