A Proposal to Include Book History in Translation Studies. Illustrated with German Translations of Scott and Flaubert

The systems approach of book history should be applied to the study of translations, because it sheds light on the agents who influence their genesis and distribution – such as mediators, translators, publishers, censors and readers. In the 1820s, which saw a significant increase in book production and translation, the translation of Walter Scott's works was mainly carried out as ‘hackwork’ by ‘speculative’ publishers unhindered by international copyright protection. In Austria, translations of his work were censored in order to conform to religious and political standards. Despite such interventions, Scott quickly became a favourite of the German reading public, as reflected in unprecedented print runs. Flaubert shared a similar fate: integrated into a popular novel series, the first German translation of Madame Bovary abounds with traces of the translator's self-censorship.