[English as She Is Spoke] The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English in Two Parts
by Twain, Mark (introduction); Carolino, Pedro
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very good
- Seller
-
Portland, Oregon, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1883. First US edition. Hardcover. Very good. Fonseca and Carolino's inadvertent masterpiece has been called many things... "Perhaps the worst foreign phrasebook ever written" ... A book of "miraculous stupidities." "The most ludicrous foreign attempt ever made to teach our language." Most often under the title English as She Is Spoke...the mid-nineteenth-century Portuguese phrasebook has become a minor classic. Yet it is not as a book of instruction intended for those Portuguese who would learn English that it has survived-nay thrived-for the last century and a half, but rather it is as a work of accidental comedy and unintended humor."-George Monteiro.
The New Guide to Conversation began as an 1836 French-Portuguese phrasebook by José da Fonseca; in 1855, Pedro Carolino, with only a limited grasp of English, translated the French text to make an English-Portuguese phrase book. In succeeding years, excerpts made the rounds of English-language magazines until in 1883, a London publisher reprinted the book under the title, English As She Is Spoke, and within a year, six editions appeared (the book was not protected by copyright).
This is apparently the first American edition (published in mid-1883), and the first edition with an introduction by Mark Twain. For more information, see BAL 3412 and George Monteiro, English as She Is Spoke: 150 Years of a Classic, Luso-Brazilian Review, Volume 41, Number 1, 2004. First American edition and first edition with the Twain preface (first printing). A very good copy in somewhat scuffed thin cloth-covered boards; the cloth is beginning to fray at the top of the spine (there was also a simultaneous paperback version). Uncommon.
The New Guide to Conversation began as an 1836 French-Portuguese phrasebook by José da Fonseca; in 1855, Pedro Carolino, with only a limited grasp of English, translated the French text to make an English-Portuguese phrase book. In succeeding years, excerpts made the rounds of English-language magazines until in 1883, a London publisher reprinted the book under the title, English As She Is Spoke, and within a year, six editions appeared (the book was not protected by copyright).
This is apparently the first American edition (published in mid-1883), and the first edition with an introduction by Mark Twain. For more information, see BAL 3412 and George Monteiro, English as She Is Spoke: 150 Years of a Classic, Luso-Brazilian Review, Volume 41, Number 1, 2004. First American edition and first edition with the Twain preface (first printing). A very good copy in somewhat scuffed thin cloth-covered boards; the cloth is beginning to fray at the top of the spine (there was also a simultaneous paperback version). Uncommon.
Details
- Bookseller
- Downtown Brown Books, ABAA (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 362701
- Title
- [English as She Is Spoke] The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English in Two Parts
- Author
- Twain, Mark (introduction); Carolino, Pedro
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First US edition
- Publisher
- James R. Osgood and Company
- Place of Publication
- Boston
- Date Published
- 1883
- Keywords
- mf35
- Bookseller catalogs
- FICTION; TRAVEL & EXPLORATION;
Terms of Sale
Downtown Brown Books, ABAA
All items are guaranteed as described and may be returned within 30 days for a refund. If the item arrives damaged or does not match the description, we'll refund the purchase price plus shipping.
About the Seller
Downtown Brown Books, ABAA
Biblio member since 2019
Portland, Oregon
About Downtown Brown Books, ABAA
Every book holds a clue. Shop open to the public by appointment only.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- BAL
- Bibliography of American Literature (commonly abbreviated as BAL in descriptions) is the quintessential reference work for any...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...