Schepper, Susanna L. B. de (2012) 'Foreign' books for English readers : published translations of navigation manuals and their audience in the English Renaissance, 1500-1640. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Although there has been an increasing interest in the study of Renaissance translations
and the early world of print, the history of navigation and exploration has not been the
subject of any such in-depth bibliographical research. This thesis identifies and
analyses a corpus of translated navigation manuals and related works that were printed
in England between 1500 and 1640.
The context is sketched by defining the different areas of maritime writing found in
Renaissance England. Although English contributions were particularly strong in such
topics as the mathematical side of navigation, the technical instruments and the debates
about magnetism and compass variation, publications of manuals and sailing directions
were scarce. This thesis reveals that such knowledge was imported from continental
Europe through translation. Forty-three translations out of seven different source
languages are discussed from a book-historical perspective to establish what their
source text was, how they came to England and who was responsible for translating
and publishing them.
Such information was obtained, in part, from a study of the paratexts, in particular the
translators’ and publishers’ dedications and addresses to the reader, which show the
reason and purpose of the translations, the methods employed and particular problems
encountered, as well certain linguistic and rhetorical characteristics. One work is
selected as a case-study for in-depth research, namely Martin Cortés’s Breue
compendio de la sphera y de la arte de nauegar (1551) and its translation by Richard
Eden, The Arte of Navigation (1561), which went through ten editions and became the
model for English navigation manuals.
Finally, by turning to the agents involved in the production and dissemination of these
translations, particularly the printers and booksellers, and establishing the connections
between them, this thesis reveals intricate social networks and sheds new light on
certain aspects of the fields of navigation, translation and print.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	V Naval Science > V Naval Science (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Navigation -- Handbooks, manuals, etc. -- Translations into English -- History and criticism, Literature, Modern -- 15th and 16th centuries -- Translations into English -- History and criticism
Official Date:	June 2012
Dates:	Date Event June 2012 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for the Study of the Renaissance
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Hosington, Brenda ; Mack, Peter, 1955- ; Smet, Ingrid de
Sponsors:	Leverhulme Trust (LT) ; Bibliographical Society (Great Britain)
Extent:	xii, 341 leaves : illustrations, charts
Language:	eng

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