Alfred Elwes was a nineteenth-century British author of children's literature, academic, philologist, and occasional translator of French, Italian and Portuguese literature into English. He is perhaps best remembered for his translation of the medieval Arthurian romanceJaufry the Knight and the Fair Brunissende; a Tale of the Times of King Arthur.
Life and career
Elwes was born in 1819 at Woolwich, Kent. In his education Elwes attained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He studied at Leiden in the Netherlands. Subsequently Elwes was Professor of English at Leghorn, Tuscany. His earliest known work, Il Nuovo Vergani, a grammar in Italian for the study of English, was probably written and published during his tenure in this position, as was, no doubt, his earliest known translation, A new and complete Italian grammar by Vergani, which would have performed the same office in English for the study of Italian. Later, after returning to England, Elwes served as President of the British Literary Society in a term beginning in 1857 and running through 1858. In 1868 he served, along with Samuel Neil, as one of the two vice-presidents of the newly established British Literary Union. In 1870 he held the position of Official Translator of Modern Languages in London. He died in December 1888 in Kensington.
Literary works
Elwes' interests in Continental languages and travel are reflected in most of his works. He both wrote and translated travel literature, and much of his children's fiction details the lives or adventures of young protagonists in European locales. In addition to his works published in book form, Elwes contributed prose and verse to various periodicals. Elwes was the compiler of a number of English/Romance dictionaries, as well as Romance language grammars for the use of students learning the languages, all reissued in various editions into the twentieth century.
Ocean and her Rulers; a Narrative of the Nations which have from the Earliest Ages held Dominion over the Sea, comprising a Brief History of Navigation, from the Remotest Periods up to the Present Time
A triglot dictionary of the Italian, English, and French languages as written and spoken
A dictionary of the Portuguese language in two parts
A dictionary of the Spanish language in two parts
Translated works
A new and complete Italian grammar by Vergani, by Angelo Vergani)
Stories of an Old Maid related to her nephews and nieces, by Mme. Émile de Girardin
Food for gossip! a comedy in three acts
Jaufry the Knight and the Fair Brunissende: A Tale of the Times of King Arthur, by Mary Lafon
How I crossed Africa, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, through unknown countries; Discovery of the Great Zambesi Affluents, &c., by Alexandre de Serpa Pinto
From Benguella to the Territory of Yacca; Description of a Journey into Central and West Africa, comprising narratives, adventures, and important surveys of the sources of the rivers... and a detailed account of the territories of Quiteca N'bungo, Sosso, Futa, and Yacca : Expedition organised in the years 1877–1880, by Hermenegildo Capelo and Roberto Ivens
Short pieces
"Introductory Remarks," May 1859, in A Sketch of the Comparative Beauties of the French and Spanish Languages, by Manuel Martinez de Morentin, London, Trübner & Co., 1859, pp. -viii.
"To the Members of the British Literary Union", 19 March 1868, in The Quarterly Journal of the British Literary Union, Preliminary Number, April 1868, pp. 11–12.
