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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture From: John Briggs <[log in to unmask]> > Christopher Crockett wrote: > > From: Tom Izbicki <[log in to unmask]> > >> You might consult: > >> A Translation of the "Chronicle" of the Abbey of Morigny, France, c. 1100-1150/. Edited and translated by Richard Cusimano. [Mediaeval Studies, Vol. 22.] (Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. 2003. Pp. ix, 233.) >> quite unreliable in its notes and, i think you may find, in the precision of its translation, as well. >> a terribly overpriced, ugly little book, cheaply produced by a kind of academical Vanity Press. >> don't get me started on That One. > At the risk of doing just that, I could add that I have always been perplexed by the business model of the Edwin Mellen Press. They go out of their way to say that the are *not* a Vanity Press, which only reinforces the point that everyone thinks that they are! yes, they definitely Protesteth Too Much. >I suppose they survive by producing cheaply, and selling expensively to academic libraries. yep. the M.C. translation (which is just the translation, no Latin text, even though the early 20th c. ed. of the latter is in the public domain and rather difficult to come by) runs 233pp. and lists for $109.95 from the publisher http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=5481&pc=9 whose site would seem to indicate that it is still available there. but the "used" after market http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&qi=LWgtwPLtYs7KRxIvewBGM3CktzA_9448858289_1:2:3 runs from the Strong http://www.biggerbooks.com/bk_detail.aspx?referrer=bbcj&aid=9467039&pid=284433&isbn=0773466371 to the Excessively Optimistic http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0773466371/ref=dp_olp_1/102-1955534-1064111 in addition to the rip-off price, my objections concerning the publisher are primarily aesthetic. the typography, while not as bad as it could be, i suppose, is basically crap. the pictorial cover (there is no dust jacket) is every bit as tawdry as it looks here http://isbn.abebooks.com/mz/71/77/0773466371.jpg a nauseating pink, a low-res digital photo, painted on cheap cloth which wears white remarkably easily, increasing the cheap, tawdry look. there are three (or perhaps four) "plates" --again very low quality digitals, with a very bad color balance, among the worst i've ever seen in a book-- including (rather inexplicably) one of the 11th c. crypt of *St. Mary's of Etampes*, complete with its rather garish early modern painting, quite similar to this shot http://emmanuel.pierre2.free.fr//FR-Etampes-Notre_Dame_du_Fort-3413-0012.jpg Cuisimano has supplied a shortish introduction which i read a few years ago when it first came out --i simply gave up counting the errors in that after the first dozen-- and the ocassional note (also containg a remarkable number of errors). i had the ocassion to check the translation of a couple of passages and, if my dim memory serves, there were errors which even the most Latiniacally Challenged fellow (like myself) could see. >There is a suspicion that they publish books that no-one else will. mmm... for good or ill. the Catholic University Press published his translation of Suger's The Life of Fat Louis --again without a facing Latin text-- and we may assume that there is considerably more of a market for that one than for the M.C. From: Tom Izbicki <[log in to unmask]> > As a librarian, I have had to deal with the Mellen question on occasion. They go to conventions with a big sign asking whether you have a manuscript for them. set up near me for many years at the 'zoo, during my Book Dealer Incarnation. a nice enough guy. utterly clueless. >That tends to reinforce the perception of them as a vanity press. of course, sans sign, that's what all the publishers are doing at conferences, in addition to hawking their wares --looking for books to publish. they're perhaps just a bit more agressive than most. >They do seem to produce books no one else, at least among the university presses, will take. That is not entirely a bad thing. what, that they will publish the obscure --or the mediocre-- or that the U.P.s won't? >I have seem books from Mellen I would not buy, but I have some in my own collection that are worth having. alas, in the long run, the Cusimano trans. of the M.C. is worth having. if you've got someone else's money to spend to get it and are Aesthetically Challenged and understand that it is inherently unreliable as an annotated text. otherwise, there's always the PhotoCopy Machine. >US university presses have pushed certain types of publications to the margins or overseas. That is not entirely their fault either. Universities have tended to withdraw subsidies from their presses. Few university presses have journal lists, as Johns Hopkins does, to keep them afloat. The vice president of one press told me years ago his outfit tried to find titles with enough sales potential to float those academic titles they thought worthy but hard to sell. i'm not so sure that the U.P.s should be let off so lightly, Tom. seems like, as the technology of book production has exploded exponentially, the cost of the finished product has, rather than gone down, progressed geometrically. as for looking for Block Busters to subsidize the Obscure, I.U. press does that by publishing very nice Coffeeish Table books on suchlike topics as Indiana Courthouses, Birds of Indiana, W.P.A. Frescos in Indiana, etc. and those are very nicely produced, in the main. c ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html