The Professor in French, part two

Apart from the Swiss-French translation (of 1971) there are three other French translations of The Professor. By far the most successful one was done by Henriette Loreau. It is well possible that she began translating the novel in 1857, the year in which it was first published, posthumously. Loreau's Le Professeur was first published in 1858, by Hachette et Cie, from Paris (299 pp.). The last new edition so far of her translation dates from 2016! It brings her score to 158 years in the longest running translations competition, 64 years ahead of number 2. Henriette Loreau (1815-after 1883) also translated several Dickens novels and Mrs. Gaskell's Ruth, among other works.

Title page of the 1858 French
The Professor

This first edition has in recent years had two facsimile reprints, as print-on-demand books published by Reink Books (2014) and by Chapitre.com (year unknown).

The second edition was published in 1864, also by Hachette (and 299 pp.). It was like the first edition a copyrighted translation. "Traduit avec l'autorisation de l'éditeur" it says on the title pages. The 'editeur' is Smith, Elder & Co surely. It shows how much progress was made in a dozen years in international copyright matters, in a then very successful fight against pirate editions. Even though this 1864 edition especially may still have been an example of voluntary copyright. It's doubtful if the novel could have enjoyed an international copyright of more than 5 years in 1857.
A picture of the title page could not be found,

The third edition was published in 1867.

Cover of the 1867 French The Professor

Title page of the 1867 French The Professor

This 1867 edition was republished in facsimile this year, 2016, by Reink Books again (whom we also saw in the German The Professor article).


The next editions were published, by Hachette, in 1869, 1872, 1875 and 1878 (all 299 pp.).
Here are picture of the cover of the 1972 edition and the title page and opposite page of the 1875 edition. It is quite possible that the 1872 edition is the first one with a sort of modern cover. It does now mention that it is "Traduit avec l'autorisation de l'auteur" (whereas Charlotte of course never authorized a translation of The Professor as it was only published posthumously).

Cover of the 1872 French The Professor

Title page of the 1875 French The Professor

The eighth edition was published by Hachette in 1887 (still 299 pp.). It has quite the same cover as the 1872 edition. The main difference is the price. It had gone down from 1.25 francs to 1.

Cover of the 1887 French The Professor

In 1894 the ninth edition was published by Hachette (305 pp.). It has the same cover as the 1887 edition (with the same price). On the title page it still reads "Traduit avec l'autorisation de l'auteur."

Title page of the 1894 French The Professor

This edition was recently republished as a facsimile print-on-demand book by Chapitre.com. The exact year of it is not known though.

The tenth edition was published in 1933 by Gallimard from Paris (261 pp.).

Cover of the 1933 French The Professor

The first other translation, by J.J. Martin was published in 1945 by La Boétie from Bruxelles (277 pp.), which at around this time also published a translation of Villette.

Cover of the 1945 French The Professor

It was republished in 1947, with a different cover.

Cover of the 1947 French The Professor

The third translation of The Professor, by Henriette Tissier de Mallerais, was first published in 1946 by Nouvelles Ėditions Latines from Paris (287 pp.). She mostly translated from Spanish, and also did Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. This translation was republished in 1982 and 1989.

Cover of the 1946 French The Professor

Henriette Loreau had her eleventh edition in 1947, published this time by S.E.P.E. from Paris (204 pp.).

Cover of the 1947 S.E.P.E. French
The Professor

S.E.P.E. published a second edition, or twelfth, some time later, probably in or around 1949. It had a slightly different cover, in that the colour had turned from yellow into orange.

Cover of the second S.E.P.E. French
The Professor

In 1949 Gallimard published its second edition, Henriette Loreau’s thirteenth (261 pp.). The cover is the same as the 1933 Gallimard Le Professeur.


(To be continued)

Eric Ruijssenaars