DIARIES OF GRAND DUKE SERGEI ALEXANDROVICH - 2 VOLUMES

Well, I actually didn't mean I have a job for you ... I should have written -- now there's a job for you.

I;ve got a job for you  ...  translating the diaries     

Wow! : )

Pity, I was actually interested there for a while. However, these Romanov diaries are not  normally very interesting. Not a great deal of insight, just a routine detailing of names and events.  Which could be  good for researchers but not engrossing enough for the average reader. Which is why I am interested as a book collector, to see the volumes, the quality of the production and the pictures above all else! Those captions I could easily translate myself

The Russian publisher is solely responsible for selling the foreign rights - and it would be up to the foreign publisher would be the one responsible for the translation -- but the Russian publisher could also release an English language translation  ...but they would be footing the costs of that, and selling the English-language edition.

Pity, I was actually interested there for a while. However, these Romanov diaries are not  normally very interesting. Not a great deal of insight, just a routine detailing of names and events.  Which could be  good for researchers but not engrossing enough for the average reader. Which is why I am interested as a book collector, to see the volumes, the quality of the production and the pictures above all else! Those captions I could easily translate myself

Marlene. as I mentioned earlier, I am not interested in publishing, just private use. I may have my friend in Russia do it, if I find them interesting enough. There are plenty of Russian speakers here that  can eventually  provide translations as well.  So, we will see, one way or the other, what GD Serge had to say in his diary.

I didn't say you were?   You are not a foreign publisher   

I would love to see these diaries translated into English - certainly a market for historians.  But it would be a great expense for either the original publisher or the foreign house that takes it on ..

Marlene. as I mentioned earlier, I am not interested in publishing, just private use. I may have my friend in Russia do it, if I find them interesting enough. There are plenty of Russian speakers here that  can eventually  provide translations as well.  So, we will see, one way or the other, what GD Serge had to say in his diary.

Take your change. I always wonder why everybody says that translating of these diaries would cost so much. I can understand that there are some costs. But if some who has no commercial what so ever in his/her mind, and only translate because out of love of these subjects, then those costs will not pushed on the costs by producing an English edition.

I cannot speak for Marlene, but I think she was referring to a professional, for publishing translation. Whereas I am just talking about a private use, colloquial translation I have friends to do the latter.  A publisher, I imagine would want someone of an academic level. I could have it done for a meal or two out and maybe some spending money, whereas a publisher would pay  a heft fee.
 Also, as Marlene has mentioned, this could be a great resource for researchers, but otherwise,  not much of a market to make it a worthwhile invest, by the publisher. I gather, from what has been said here, that the text itself is rather innocuous, otherwise.  I would have to see the volumes first to pay the money for them.  I would be mostly interested in the  pictures, If they are routine Romanov  photos we have all seen a thousand times, I would not be interested.

In order to translate a book -- you would need to get the permission of the rights holder.  One cannot do a translation on one's own and then publish the new version.  Publishers maintain lists of approved translators and the costs are in the tens of thousands of dollars because translations take time, months in fact, and require a comprehensive understanding of both languages. 

Take your change. I always wonder why everybody says that translating of these diaries would cost so much. I can understand that there are some costs. But if some who has no commercial what so ever in his/her mind, and only translate because out of love of these subjects, then those costs will not pushed on the costs by producing an English edition.

The third volume on GD Sergei has just been issued by the NovoSpasskiy Monastery. I even didn't hope that this would be so soon.

The volume is about 1880-1884 years of Grand Duke's life. So, we are closer and closer to the 1884 date and his marriage to Elisabeth of Hesse.

I've ordered the book and looking for it in 2-3 days.

In order to translate a book -- you would need to get the permission of the rights holder.  One cannot do a translation on one's own and then publish the new version.  Publishers maintain lists of approved translators and the costs are in the tens of thousands of dollars because translations take time, months in fact, and require a comprehensive understanding of both languages. 

Take your change. I always wonder why everybody says that translating of these diaries would cost so much. I can understand that there are some costs. But if some who has no commercial what so ever in his/her mind, and only translate because out of love of these subjects, then those costs will not pushed on the costs by producing an English edition.

I find it very strange that you need permission to translate a book, with the permission of the publisher. In the case of all those diaries of the GD Serge. The original writer died more then 100 years ago, and his diaries are still in my mind the property of living members of the Grand Dukes family and not the property of the GARF. Because an old regime is taken by force by an another, it doesn't mean, that the GARF has the right of ownership above those diaries with a commercial purpose.

For me its the same as the jewish accounts at the Switzerland bank. It doens't mean that if those who are killed, that you are automatically the rightfull owner of those accounts.

I understand your point of view. However, because GD Sergei has no heirs, legally the diaries are indeed the property of the archive in which they're held. The publisher has paid (and probably paid handsomely) for the right to print them. Hence, it's unfair for someone else to take advantage of that publisher's investment and make a translation for anything other than private, individual use.

I understand your point of view. However, because GD Sergei has no heirs, legally the diaries are indeed the property of the archive in which they're held. The publisher has paid (and probably paid handsomely) for the right to print them. Hence, it's unfair for someone else to take advantage of that publisher's investment and make a translation for anything other than private, individual use.

Because of his marriage with GD Ella, would not be this the property of the descendants of GD Dmitri P's family? Because Ella left all what was material to her cousin, when she became a nun! An otherwise to descendants of Ernie, Victoria and Irene, because Ella was the longest living in this marriage.

For example, the GD Michael A. had property in Poland. And still the countess Brassova and her son, where the legal heirs of his property, all though the Grand Duke was murdered and his belongings were confiscated.

No.  The rights to publish and the rights to sell translation rights belong solely to GARF.    There are no surviving heirs for Sergei.

Most of the Romanovs didn't say much in their diaries on their private life- K. R. was a rarity. Sergei was a mystery in some ways, and in all the biographies I've read on Ella and the Romanovs it seemed to me to say any diaries by him wouldn't contain much in the way of personal revelation. I didn't know any diaries by him even survived.

There are probably few diary entries of GD Sergei that were censored/deleted. Andrew Verner in "The Crisis of Russian Autocracy" examined in detail the diaries of Nicholas II and in describing the style states:

"...Nicholas' life, his own diary ... In part, this apparent absence of any real introspection and substance reflected a particular style of diary writing that eschewed any displays of emotion and thought in favour of plain facts and a simple listing of one's daily schedule. Nicholas' uncle, the Grand Duke Sergei, and his own brother, the Grand Duke Michael, kept their diaries in much the same way; obviously they had all been told to write in this manner..."

Joanna

The 3d volume on GD Sergei doesn't contain any of his diaries - they had been destroyed by him in his later years. But there is an interesting collection of his correspondence to brother Alexander III, cousin GD Konstantin and some other relatives and friends.

The period is 1880-1884 years, when Sergei lost his mother,when soon his father, he tried to outwear the sorrow, travelled much (Europe, Jerusalem),thrown himself into military service,became a victim of dirty rumours spread by GDss Olga Fedorovna,and after lingering doubts and some reluctance finally proposed Princess Elisabeth of Hesse.