I agreed to use the Sources Chrétiennes Greek text of Eusebius’ Quaestiones with the editors. This will appear opposite the English translation that I commissioned, when I publish the book.
Well, the contract from Les éditeurs du Cerf has arrived! It’s all in French, of course, but is only three pages.
In fact it’s a sensible contract, designed to facilitate business; that much I can see at once. You see, I get to see a lot of contracts, professionally. They get offered to me to sign when I do a freelance job. Most of those are deeply unfair, and have one-sided clauses in them which one has to try to mitigate as best one can. The Cerf contract has none of that rubbish. All the clauses I have read so far seem reasonable, and designed only to protect them against a rogue, rather than to screw the translator.
Now I need to read it very, very carefully and make sure it won’t stop me doing what I need to do, which is put the English translation online under a Creative Commons license eventually. I can’t do that with a thumping headache, so I will put off doing so for a day or two.
I wonder if we can call the board of directors the “Cerf board”! I love that pun. And they seem to be a good company, and one doing a great work for patristics. All of us, you know, live in what people will one day call the “age of the Sources Chrétiennes”. Long may they flourish.
All of us, you know, live in what people will one day call the “age of the Sources Chrétiennes”.
I think this wins the prize for the best quote I’ve read all day!
Thank you, although I’m not sure I understand why. But when we look back on the great scholarly achievements of the past, like Migne, well, it’s the same sort of thing.