This being a spectacularly collective effort, there are many people to thank. Some people have to be thanked a number of times in their different capacities. I shall take it chronologically. Firstly, the Société Française d’Etude du XVIIIe siècle (SFEDS) and its President Catriona Seth for their vision in putting together the volume in the first place. Nicole Masson co-ordinated the original edition, soliciting texts and calibrating the whole with great insight and acumen. It was her tireless energy that saw it through to publication. Texts were contributed by SFEDS members Jean-Christophe Abramovici, Patrick Cardon, Yann Caudal, Alain Cernuschi, Yves Citton, Hélène Cussac, Luigi Delia, Olivier Ferret, Aurélia Gaillard, Christian Gilain, Laurence Guellec, Juan Manuel Ibeas, Claude Jaëcklé-Plunian, Gérard Laudin, Marie Leca-Tsiomis, Sophie Lefay, Laurent Loty, Florence Magnot, Christophe Martin, Jean Mondot, Nicole Masson, Christiane Mervaud, Irène Passeron, Elise Pavy-Guilbert, Aymeric Péniguet de Stoutz, Odile Richard, Gaël Rideau, Jean-Pierre Schandeler, Catriona Seth, Jean Sgard, Michel Termolle, Pierre Testud, Eric Vanzieleghem, Lydia Vázquez. The initial lay-out was done by Mélody Bellier.
The British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (BSECS) was quick to suggest that we show support for our French colleagues by organising a panel to discuss it at our annual conference, and equally quick to suggest that we ought to translate it. Financial support and much energy has gone into these two intertwining endeavours. Many thanks therefore to BSECS President Matthew Grenby, the members of the BSECS Executive Committee, to Emma Salgard Cunha for her help and logistical nous when organising the BSECS panel, and to the panellists themselves – Timothy Garton Ash, Karma Nabulsi, Catriona Seth, and Kate Tunstall – for so generously giving their time.
The Sub-Faculty of French at the University of Oxford, and its Chair, Tim Farrant, were enthusiastic in their support of this project: I’m extremely grateful to them for allowing me even to propose that we undertake a collective translation of this sort. Translation is perhaps not always given its due in the wider world, but it can be a real excitement, and is certainly a real skill. We translate in and out of our various languages every week in Oxford, and I hope that this project makes visible some of that intellectual and linguistic creativity which we think is so important and which our students have in abundance. Hats off therefore to all ONE HUNDRED AND TWO translators! Fifteen colleges took part: the name of the tutor and college precedes the list of students. Here they all are:
Jake Wadham and Brasenose College: Rebecca Borthwick, Emily Cunningham, Margherita De Fraja, Alison Jones, James Mooney, Mahoro Seward, Antonia Skinner.
Edward Still and Exeter College: Annie Hamilton, Lidia Gasiorek, Ella Harold, Georgina Lee, Charlotte Cato, Charlotte Holmes.
Katherine Lunn-Rockliffe and Hertford College: Josie Dyster, Rebekah Jones, Vedrana Koren, Emily Longshaw, Rebecca May, Gregory Mostyn, Jessica Quinn, Freya Rowland, Huw Spencer.
Caroline Warman and Jesus College: Jack Evans, Isobel Hamilton, Bethan Jones, Seana Moon White, James Warrington.
Michael Hawcroft and Keble College: Jerome Foster, Thomas Hamilton, Charles Hierons, Katherine Millard, Tommy Siman, Rosie Thomas, Felix Wheatley.
Sam Ferguson and Lady Margaret Hall: Aidan Clark, Imogen Lester, Frances Timberlake, Helena Walters.
Ian Maclachlan and Merton College: Hristo Boshnakov, Henry Hodson, Georgiana Jackson-Callen, Catherine O’Leary, Lizzie Ormerod, Anna Pyregov.
Tim Farrant and Pembroke College: Ashley Cooper, Kenny Dada, Jess Kempner, Karolina Rachwol, Katharine Roddy.
Simon Kemp and Somerville College: Ruth Akinradewo, James Aldred, Emma Beddall, Sarah Bridge, Pauline Chatelan, Harriet Dixon, Harriet Fry, Jonny Lawrence, and Beverley Noble.
Jake Wadham and St Edmund Hall: Nadia Bovy, Lucie Carpenter, Katherine Cowles, George Grylls, Valentine Maumon, Alexander Midgley, Naomi Polonsky, Sophie-Marie Price, Esther Rathbone.
Jenny Oliver and St John’s College: Garance Casalis, Michael Rizq, and Samuel Thomas.
Daron Burrows at St Peter’s: Cora Coomasaru, Caroline Roden, Joseph Rowntree.
Jonathan Mallinson and Trinity: Ellen Fitzgerald, Helena Kresin, Megan Jones, Laetitia Nappert-Rosales, Alice Thorp.
Francesco Manzini and University College: James Martin.
Kate Tunstall and Worcester College: Gail Braybrook, Elizabeth Dann, Nicki Hubbard, Oli Kelly, Kate Murrant, Helen Rumford, Charlotte Wren.
Tutors Sam Ferguson, Melanie Florence, Francis Lamport, Francesco Manzini, Kate Tunstall, and Caroline Warman all also translated passages by themselves, even without the help of the students: in some cases they took on quite a few. Thank you! Francis Lamport, German Fellow Emeritus of Worcester, was particularly kind in undertaking to sort out the Lessing for us. Melanie Florence fitted translation around her day job for the Bodleian Library.
When it came to revising, I was again lucky to have a lot of help. Thank you for the eagle eyes of Catriona Seth, Susan Seth, Kate Tunstall, Christopher Warman, Mary Warman, Eric Willcocks, Joyce Willcocks.
Nick Hearn, librarian extraordinaire at our wonderful Modern Languages Library, the Taylorian, tracked down books, references and images, and put together an exhibition to celebrate the publication of this volume.
And last but by no means least, fervent thanks to the whole team at Open Book Publishers – Heidi Coburn, Ben Fried, Bianca Gualandi – and in particular to Alessandra Tosi, OBP’s Managing Director, who welcomed this project with open arms, was unphased by the tight time-scale, and has herself contributed materially to the finished product by researching the authors and adding images and links to the original editions. We couldn’t have asked for a better or more visionary publisher to spread the word, literally, physically, and digitally.
