James Knapp-Fisher, gest. 1976

mit Bezug zu: Kurt Wagenseil (James Laughlin, Hector Bolitho), Anita von Einsiedel (Roger Hinks), William Taylour (Henry Rushton Hall), "The Bloomsbury Group" (E.M. Forster, Rupert Brooke), Grete Lichtenstein (Rainer Maria Rilke), Wien: Amalthea (Rainer Maria Rilke, Benito Mussolini), Torino: Einaudi (Rainer Maria Rilke, Thomas Mann), Thomas Mann (Amsterdam: Querido, Milano: Feltrinelli, Buenos Aires: Sur), Paris: Obelisk / Olympia Press (Maurice Girodias), Stefan Zweig, Grenzbegriffe "Indien", "Orient"

 

Kurt Wagenseil veröffentlichte im Verlag Sidgwick & Jackson von James Knapp-Fisher 1931-1935 "New Term German Texts", 1948/9 schickt Kurt Briefe von einer Londoner Adresse (29 Wilton Place) aus, die in einem Fall "c/o James Knapp-Fisher" im Absender enthält. Um 1967 hat Christian Wagenseil, Sohn von Kurt, in Knapp-Fishers Verlag ein Praktikum absolviert.

Kurt Wagenseil published "New Term German Texts" with James Knapp-Fisher's publishing house Sidgwick & Jackson 1931-1935. In 1948/9 Kurt sent letters from a London address (29 Wilton Place) which in one case included "c/o James Knapp-Fisher" in the return address. Around 1967, Christian Wagenseil, Kurt's son, completed an internship at Knapp-Fisher's publishing house.

Abb. "29-31 Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London" von Paul the Archivist (2017), unter Creative-Commons-Lizenz CC BY-SA 4.0 (modifiziert).

 

(1) Anthony Curtis: "Gissing and the Betjeman Circle", The Gissing Journal, Volume XXXIII, Number 1, January, 1997, S. 24 [victorian-studies.net, S. 18]: "Watergate Classics was an imprint belonging to Sidgwick and Jackson. The general editor of the series, it now emerges from Mrs. Lycett Green's volumes, was John Betjeman. He had been a friend since undergraduate Oxford days before the war of James Knapp-Fisher, the chairman of Sidgwick and Jackson. [...Knapp-Fisher, writes Mrs. Lycett Green] was a tall bald man of great good humour and charisma, who lent us two Holman Hunt paintings, one of an amaryllis, the other of a girl holding an urn, which hung in the hall at the Rectory. JB always referred to Sidgwick and Jackson as 'the hygienics' because they published a number of extremely dull specialist textbooks on chemistry and medicine. (Letters Vol. 1, p. 370) It was, if one may hazard a guess, the sales of those dull books that funded the uneconomic Gissing reprints. Knapp-Fisher died in 1976 after Sidgwick and Jackson had passed from him in 1970. I used occasionally to see him in the Garrick Club, of which he was a popular member, and can vouch for his charm and bonhomie."

(2) John Calder: "Pursuit. Memories", Richmond: Alma Books 2016, S. 217: "In 1959 he [Maurice Girodias] published the book ['Black Diaries'] in France, and set about looking for an American and a British publisher. Barney Rosset finally took it for America, where the press totally ignored it, while I agreed to publish in Britain, where I knew I was taking a considerable risk. I then discovered to my dismay that some British bookshops were receiving the Olympia Press edition directly from Paris. When I protested, Maurice said the French and European market for such a book in English was non-existent. He had to sell his edition, wherever he could, but that should not stop me. With the Alger Hiss fiasco in mind, I withdrew from the contract. He then signed an agreement with Sidgwick and Jackson, run by a very wily individual called James Knapp-Fisher".

(3) S.a. Corresp. of James Knapp-Fisher as director, Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections, MSS Sidgwick and Jackson 311-14, 1947-55; Letter from E.M. Forster, Cambridge, to J. Knapp-Fisher, 1959 June 29, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.

(4) Gemeinsame Treffen von Knapp-Fisher und Roger Hinks mit dt. Widerstandsvertreter Adam von Trott zu Solz (Kreisauer Kreis) Ende Oktober 1943, für das "Political Intelligence Department" (1939-1943; nach Arbeitskreis Zukunft braucht Erinnerung), "beide nominell Pressesekretäre der britischen Gesandtschaft in Stockholm, tatsächlich aber für den Londoner Geheimdienst tätig" (Carlos Collado Seidel: "Geheimdienste, Diplomatie, Krieg. Das Räderwerk der internationalen Beziehungen", Münster: Lit 2013, S. 35), "tatsächlich aber im 'Political Intelligence Department' beschäftigt" (Clarita von Trott zu Solz: "Adam von Trott zu Solz. Eine Lebensbeschreibung", Berlin: Lukas Verlag 2009, S. 279), "both in fact secret-service officers" (Klemens von Klemperer: "German Resistance Against Hitler. The Search for Allies Abroad 1938-1945", Oxford: Clarendon Press 1994, S. 334), "two political intelligence officers, the art historian Roger Hinks and James Knapp-Fisher, who in peacetime worked for the publishers Sidgwick & Jackson" (Giles MacDonogh: "A Good German. Adam von Trott zu Solz", London: Quartet Books 1994, S. 250; beim MI5 war zeitweilig Brian Howard, beim MI6 William Somerset Maugham aktiv).

Roger Packman Hinks: "The Gymnasium of the Mind. The Journals of Roger Hinks, 1933-1963", Cambridge: Russell 1984, S. 101: "1 November 1943, Birger Jarlsgartan 18, Stockholm. By a miracle Jimmy [Knapp-Fisher] has succeeded in finding a flat which suits us both and which we can have for a year, and possibly longer".

Knapp-Fisher wird eingeführt als "[a] London publisher friend": am 11. August 1938 erreicht Hinks von Stockholm kommend "Stettinerbhf. at 18.13, and found Jimmy Knapp-Fisher and Helene von Nostitz waiting for me at the barrier" (S. 47), "breakfast" (12. August) und "lunch with Jimmy, Helene" (13. August, S. 48). Siehe Artikel Anita von Einsiedel.

Abb. Cover Roger P. Hinks: "Carolingian Art", London: Sidgwick & Jackson 1935, photography "Bronze Statuette of a Carolingian Emperor. Paris, Musée Carnavalet".

(5) Von dem Verlag Sidgwick & Jackson besaß Kurt Wagenseil acht Bücher, Rupert Brooke: "Selected Poems" (1913), Margaret & Robert Bottrell: "College English Verse" (1945), Norman Douglas: "Footnote on Capri" (1952), Hector Bolitho: "The Glorious Oyster" (1960, Übers. durch Kurt 1966), Ralph Hevins: "J. Paul Getty. The richest American" (1961), Rudolf Vrba & Alan Bestic: "I cannot forgive" (1963), Robert C.W. Ettinger: "The Prospect of Immorality" (1965), Oliver Warner: "The Life of Sir Charles Lambe. Admiral of the Fleet" (1969).

(6) Zwischen 1930 und 1948 bei Sidgwick & Jackson erschienen:

1930
Robert Henryson: "Henryson. Selected fables (nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9), The testament of Cresseid and Robene and Makyne", 1930.
Gavin De Beer: "Early travellers in the Alps", 1930.
Charles Frederick Strong: "Modern Political Constitutions. An introduction to the comparative study of their history and existing form", 1930 [archive.org].
Harley Granville-Barker: "Prefaces to Shakespeare", 2. "Romeo & Juliet. Merchant of Venice. Antony & Cleopatra Cymbeline", 1930.
Ashley Dukes: "The man with a load of mischief", Serial "Plays of Today", No. 3, 1930.
Henri Lasalle [i.e. Henry Rushton Hall] & Paul Plantefol: "Sidgwick & Jackson's New Term French Texts", edited by Herbert Norman Adair, 7 parts, 1930-33.
Rupert Brooke: "The collected poems. With a memoir" [Edward Marsh], 1930.*
Rupert Brooke: "Poems", 36. impr. 1930.
A. K. Goard: "Chemical Composition. An Account of the methods of which atomic weights and molecular formulæ have been determined", 1931 [archive.org].
Henri Lasalle [i.e. Henry Rushton Hall] & Kurt Wagenseil: "Sidgwick & Jackson's New Term German Texts", ed. by John Howard Benett, 8 parts, 1931-1935**.
Harley Granville-Barker: "On dramatic method", 1931.
Henry Purefoy: "Letters 1735-1753", 1931.
"Poems of To-Day", 1st and 2nd series, 1931.
Willis Waldegrave Atchley: "Finland", 1931.
Max Mohr: "Philip Glenn", transl. by Nora Purtscher-Wydenbruck, 1932.
Benito Mussolini & Giovacchino Forzano: "Napoleon. The hundred days", adapted by John Drinkwater, 1932.
Graham Hutton: "Nations and the economic crisis", 1932.
Sir Frederick Whyte: "The Future of East and West. An Essay in Surmise", 1932 (S. 1-31 "I. The unchanging East awakes", S. 32-69 "II. India. The central battleground", S. 70-104 "III. The Revolution in China", S. 105-137 "IV. Japan. The Janus of Asia", S. 138-165 "V. The Future. Appeasement or conflict?") [archive.org].
Rainer Maria Rilke: "Stories of God" [Geschichten vom lieben Gott], with an introd. by William Rose, transl. by Nora Purtscher-Wydenbruck and Herter Norton, 1932.
Edward K. Chambers: "Sir Thomas Wyatt and some collected studies", 1933.
Alice Walker: "The Life of Thomas Lodge", 1933.
Rupert Brooke: "The complete poems", 1933.
Robert Swann: "The making of verse. A guide to English metres", 1934.
Josef Loebel: "Whither medicine?" [Medizin oder dem Manne kann geholfen werden], transl. from the original German by L. Marie Bieveking and Ian Morrow, 1934.
Ludwig Marcuse: "Heinrich Heine. A life between past and future" [Heinrich Heine], transl. from the German by L. Marie Sieveking and Ian F. D. Morrow, 1934.***

1935
Robert R. Kuczynski: "The measurement of population growth. Methods and results", 1935.
Roger P. Hinks: "Carolingian Art", 1935.
John Masefield: "The tragedy of Pompey the Great", rev. ed., 1935.
Laurence Houseman: "Little plays of Saint Francis", 3 volumes, 1935.
Levin Ludwig Schücking: "The churchyard-scene in Shakespeare's Hamlet, v. i., an afterthought?", 10 pages, 1935.
"Olympia. Photographed by Walter Hege. Described by Gerhart Rodenwaldt", Introduction: Roger Packman Hinks, gem. mit Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverl. 1936.
"Poems of To-Day", 2nd series, 1936.
Harley Granville-Barker: "Prefaces to Shakespeare", 3. "Hamlet", 1937.
Laurence Housman: "Pains and penalties. The defence of Queen Caroline. A play in four acts", 1937.
"Rainer Maria Rilke. Aspects of his mind and poetry", ed. by William Rose and G. Craig Houston, with an introd. by Stefan Zweig 1938.
Ethel Sidgwick: "Mrs. Henry Sidgwick. A Memoir by Her Niece", Online-Ausgabe Ann Arbor, Michigan: Proquest [2020], 1938.
Rupert Brooke: "The complete poems", 14. impr., 1939 [archive.org].
Kurt von Stutterheim: "The two Germanys", transl. by Moffat Freet, 1939 (S1ff. "Childhood", S. 62ff. "Munich", S. 125ff. "Between France and Germany", S. 162ff. "In the Service of the Press of Rhine and Ruhr", S. 197ff. "England after the war").
[August Weber]: "Hitler calls this living. By a member of the German Freedom Party", transl. by Munroe Frayes, 1939 (S. 1-37 "Letters from Germans", S. 38-40 "An Appeal by Thomas Mann", S. 41ff. "The Condition of the Working Classes").
Hugh Carrington: "The Life of Captain Cook", 1939.

1940
William Teeling: "After The War A Symposium Of Peace Aims", multiple constributors, upon them Captain G. Nicolson, 1940 [archive.org].
[August Weber]: "Uncensored Germany. Letters and news sent secretly from Germany to the German Freedom Party", 1940.
William Shakespeare: "Pericles", facs of edition [Prince of Type. London: Henry Gosson] 1609, 1940.
George Stuart Carter: "A general zoology of the invertebrates", 1940.
Rupert Brooke: "The complete poems", 18. impr., [1941].
Rupert Brooke: "The collected poems. With a memoir" [Edward Marsh], third edition, 1942.
Rupert Brooke: "Twenty poems", Repr., 1942.
John Drinkwater: "Abraham Lincoln. A play", School ed. with notes by F. H. W. Spenlow, 1944.

1945
Henry Wolfgang Donner: "Introduction to Utopia", 1945****.
Margaret & Robert Bottrell: "College English Verse", 1945.
Harley Granville-Barker: "Prefaces to Shakespeare", 1. "Love's labour's lost. Julius Caesar. King Lear", 5. impr., 1946.
Harley Granville-Barker: "Prefaces to Shakespeare", 2. "Romeo & Juliet. Merchant of Venice. Antony & Cleopatra Cymbeline", 5. impr., 1946.
Harley Granville-Barker: "The use of the drama. The substnace of threee lectures delivered at Princeton University, U.S.A., upon the Spencer Trask Foundation in 1944", 1946.
Margaret M. Green: "Ibo village affairs. Chiefly with reference to the village of Umueke Agbaja", 1947.
Rupert Brooke: "Letters from America", 2. impr., 1947.
Harley Granville-Barker: "The use of the drama. The substnace of threee lectures delivered at Princeton University, U.S.A., upon the Spencer Trask Foundation in 1944", 2. print, 1947.
E.M. Forster: "Collected Short Stories", 1947.
William Bliss: "The Real Shakespeare. A counterblast to commentators", 1947.
Henry Charles Duffin: "The way of happiness. A reading of Wordsworth", 1947.
Robert Bauer: "The new catalogue of historical records 1898 - 1908/09", [ca. 1947].

1948
John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld: "The jewel in the lotus. An outline of present day Buddhism in China. Published for the Buddhist Society", 1948.
C. Whitaker-Wilson: "Modern English speech. A guide to pronunciation, construction, and expression", [1948].
Jim Phelan: "Bog blossom stories", 1948.
James Phelan: "The name's Phelan. The first part of the autobiography", 1948.
K. Achinivu: "Otu nimɛ omɛnala nde igbo", [1948].
J. A. Dureke: "Akwɵkwɔ nkɛ mbɵ maka ɵlɵ ɔtɵtɵ. Nwanyɵ n'ala igbo nkɛ", [1948].
J. A. Dureke: "Ɛgwu ɔnwa", [1948].
George Stuart Carter: "A general zoology of the invertebrates", revised ed., 1948.
Henry James: "The Bostonians", 1948.
Harley Granville-Barker: "Prefaces to Shakespeare", 4. "Othello", 1948.
Edmund K. Chambers: "Shakespeare. A Survey", 1948.
Harley Granville-Barker: "Prefaces to Shakespeare", 5. "Coriolanus", 1948.
J.S. Ogunlesi: "Ni ale ojo kan. Die ninu itan awon ile wa", 2 Bände, 1948.
Denys Val Baker: "Writers of to-day", 1948.
E.M. Forster: "Collected Short Stories", 2. impr., 1948.
Francis D. Klingender: "Goya in the democratic tradition", 1948.

Die Digitalisate gehören zur "Public Library of India".

 

[ Anmerkungen. annotations. remarques ]

* Zu Rupert Brookes (1887-1915) Freundes- und Bekanntenkreis gehörten Virginia Woolf, Gerald Shove, George Mallory, Maynard und Geoffrey Keynes. "Zu Beginn des Jahres 1911 verbrachte er drei Monate in München, wo er bei der Malerin Clara Ewald und ihrem Sohn Paul Peter lebte, Bekanntschaft mit dem Kreis um Stefan George schloss und mit dem Gedanken spielte, die Werke Frank Wedekinds ins Englische zu übersetzen. [...] Obwohl er Edward Marsh zu seinem Nachlassverwalter bestimmt hatte, wurde Geoffrey Keynes von Brookes Mutter dazu ernannt. Keynes trug viel dazu bei, die patriotische goldene Patina auf Brookes Namen zu erhalten, indem er unter anderem ausgewählte Briefe und Gedichte nicht veröffentlichte oder zensierte und dabei besonders seine Bisexualität aus der Biographie säuberte" (WP, 2023). Siehe Bloomsbury Group.

** Zu den ersten drei Teilen der "New Term German Texts" heißt es im Journal of Education, Bd. 64, London: W. Stewart & Company 1932, S. 443: "Sidgwick & Jackson's new series of German texts combines advantages of cheapness, clear print, and a limp cover. They resemble the French texts of the same firm, and will prove very popular in schools where economy is essential. German is becoming more popular after its long eclipse, and this series arrives at the right moment".

*** Im Lothar Blanvalet Verlag erschien neben Ludwig Marcuse: "Der Philosoph und der Diktator. Plato und Dionys", 1950 auch Josephine Niggli: "Mexikanische Rhapsodie" [Mexican Village], übersetzt von Kurt Wagenseil, 1951.

**** Luciano García García: "Of Utopia and utopias. Traces of Thomas More's Utopia in the enlightened project of the New Settlements of Sierra", in: Moreana 60.1, Edinburgh University Press, June 2023, S. 1-21 [euppublishing.com], insb. S. 7, Anm. 18: "Henry Wolfgang Donner in his Introduction to Utopia (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1945), 66, affirms that Utopia is a refutation of it [communism]".

 

Register der Überlieferung der Übersetzungen bis 1950
Personenregister (Übersetzungen etc.)
Adressregister
Zurück zum Inhaltsverzeichnis
E-Mail: kriswagenseil [at] gmx [point] de