Interpreters 18th century
Richard Alsop was an 18th-century American writer and poet.
Alsop was one of the founders of the later famous literary group, the Hartford Witters. He wrote poetry in the journals The Political Greenhouse and The Echo, the latter soon becoming primarily concerned with satirical parodies of public speeches and articles of a political nature.
Alsop also published various translations from French and Italian.
Jacques Basnage de Beauval was a French theologian and historian, diplomat and writer.
His father was a prominent lawyer and his grandfather and great-grandfather were pastors, Jacques studied theology and languages at the Academy of Saumur, then at Geneva and Sedan. In 1676, Jacques Basnage was appointed pastor at Rouen during the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, was forced to flee France for Holland, where he worked as a theologian, polemicist, historian, and diplomat in the service of the Grand Pensioner Hensius.
In 1717, on behalf of Holland, Basnage was sent to sign the treaty of the Triple Alliance (France, Holland, England). In the Annals of the United Provinces (1719-1726), compiled from the peace negotiations held at Münster, he displays breadth of vision, wisdom, and impartiality.
About 1719 Jacques Basnage was appointed historiographer of the Dutch states. He wrote several books on the Bible, the history of the Church, and the history of the Jewish people. Among the best known of these are his History of the Religion of the Protestant Denominations (1690), History of the Church of Jesus Christ to the Present Time (1699), written from Protestant positions, and History of the Jews (1706), as well as Jewish Antiquities, or Critical Notes on the Republic of the Jews (1713).
Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Breton de la Martinière was a French stenographer, journalist, translator and writer.
Breton was a founding member of a group of stenographers of the Legislative Assembly and stenographed debates from 1792. He became parliamentary reporter in 1815 and remained so until his death. He was also one of the founders of Le stenographer of the Chambers and the Gazette des tribunals. A polyglot and knowing almost all the languages of Europe, Breton often acted as an interpreter in the courts.
Breton de la Martinière published books on China, as well as on Egypt and Syria, where he used materials by the scholar Jean-Joseph Marcel, who accompanied Napoleon to Egypt in 1798. The text contains much information on the customs, religion, and antiquities of Egypt, as well as a fascinating description of the recent French occupation.
Mathurin Jacques Brisson was a French zoologist, ornithologist, naturalist and physicist, a member of the Academy of Sciences.
He is known for his published works in natural history: Le Règne animal ("The Kingdom of Animals", 1756) and Ornithologie ("Ornithology", 1760), in which he described 1,500 species of birds grouped into 115 genera, twenty-six orders, and two classes. Brisson was one of the first to come close to the concept of "type" in zoology, although he does not use the term, but his classification was used for about 100 years. He translated a number of important books on zoology for his time into French.
Brisson's works in physics are related to the measurement of specific gravity of various bodies, the study of gases and refraction of light, mirrors, magnetism, atmospheric electricity, and barometers.
Johann Friedrich Meckel the Younger was a German anatomist, biologist and professor of anatomy.
Meckel came from a family of physicians; his grandfather and father were physicians and anatomists and had their own anatomical museum at home. Meckel studied medicine at the universities of Halle and Göttingen, writing his doctoral dissertation on congenital anomalies of the heart. As a pathologist, he specialized in the study of congenital malformations and aspects of lung and blood vessel development. He also described Meckel's diverticulum, which he discovered during a pathologic examination, and became the founder of the science of teratology.
After Napoleon's occupation, the University of Halle reopened in May 1808, and Meckel was appointed professor of surgery, normal and pathological anatomy, and obstetrics. He taught throughout his life, continued to conduct research in pathology, and collected specimens for his collection. The scientist was the author of numerous articles and several multi-volume treatises, including one on pathologic anatomy and an atlas depicting human anomalies. His principal labors were devoted to the comparative morphology of vertebrates. In 1810 he completed the translation of Cuvier's (1769-1832) five-volume Leçons d'anatomie Comparée from French into German.
Meckel was a member of the German Academy of Naturalists "Leopoldina," a corresponding member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Society of London.
William Munford was an American legislator and court reporter, writer, poet, and translator.
After receiving a law degree, Munford entered politics, represented Mecklenburg County in the Virginia House of Delegates, and was elected to the state Senate. Munford was also a legal reporter for decisions of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, for which he prepared six annual issues a year.
He also published collections of poetry and engaged in translations of classical works, including Homer's Iliad.
Johann Gottfried Richter was a German journalist and translator.
Without finishing his studies at the University of Leipzig, Richter in 1787 went to Moscow to work as a governess. Soon he mastered the Russian language well and thanks to his literary abilities made acquaintances with publishers and writers, in particular, with Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin.
After spending 16 years in Russia, Richter returned to Germany in 1803 and, at Karamzin's request, became an advisor to Duke Carl August and Imperial Counselor for Russia. In 1808 he moved to Eilenburg, where he spent the last two decades of his life.
Richter was an important conduit of Russian culture in Europe, refuting European perceptions of Russians as slumbering savages. In collaboration with the illustrator Christian Gottfried Heinrich Geisler, he described Russian manners and customs and translated Karamzin's works, Russian fairy tales and poems into German. Together with the Riga publisher Johann Friedrich Hartnoch the Younger, Richter published the journal Russian Miscellaneous, from which European readers learned about the Russian way of life, the history and geography of the Russian Empire, and Russian literature.
Christian Friedrich Schwarz was a German Lutheran missionary to India, a polyglot and diplomat.
Schwarz knew many languages, including Hebrew, Greek, Sanskrit, and Persian. Very young, he set out on a mission to India in early 1750 and was very successful. Schwartz was favorably received by Indian royalty, he taught Raja Serfoji of Tanjore, and was greatly respected by the local people for his good works.
The results of Christian Schwartz's missionary work exceeded all expectations. Schwartz founded several schools in India and had a significant impact on the establishment of Protestant Christianity in southern India. He lived in India until the end of his life and was buried with honors at St. Peter's Church in Maharnonbuhavadi, Thanjavur.
Frederic Shoberl or Frederick Schoberl was a British journalist, editor, translator, writer and illustrator.
Along with publisher Henry Colburn, Schoberl was the creator and co-owner of the New Monthly Magazine, which began publication on February 1, 1814. He acted as editor for a time, publishing original articles and reviews. Frederick Schoberl worked closely with publisher Rudolf Ackerman (1764-1834) for a long time, editing his Vault of Art from March 1809 to December 1828. He also kept Ackerman's English yearbook, Nezabudka, from 1822 to 1834, and worked on many other publications.
In addition to his editorial work, Frederick Schoberl produced excellent illustrations, for example for the book The World in Miniature: Hindustan, which was published in London by Ackerman in the 1820s.
