Elizabeth; or, the Exiles of Siberia. A Tale, founded upon Facts. Newly translated from the French of Madame Cottin

Book Description

London: Published by Thomas Tegg, [1810]. 144pp., 12mo. Engraved frontispiece, additional title with vignette, and two plates by Armstrong after Thurston. Fine in contemporary half calf, spine gilt. “Tegg’s Edition, Edited by Miss Burney,” so stated on the printed title; the engraved title supplies the publication date. Sophie Cottin’s novel was first published in Paris in 1806 and almost immediately translated into English, with rival versions by Mary Meeke and, it seems, Fanny Burney appearing in 1807. After that both versions were reprinted right and left, always without edition statements. I say “it seems” about the 1807 Burney translation because, unlike Meeke’s, the translator’s name was not immediately given - not, apparently, until this Tegg edition three years later. How reliable Tegg’s statement is I cannot say, but he was not operating in the upper echelons of the Regency book trade. NCBEL II, 1109, notes the 1807 translation “attributed to Fanny Burney,” but erroneously dates Mrs. Meeke’s as 1817 instead of 1807. Seven copies of this edition in OCLC, with COPAC adding one more, at the Metropolitan Library, London.

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