Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Series editors: Hartmut Berghoff and Uwe Spiekermann (Jan Logemann followed the latter in 2020)
I edited the first ten books of this series from 2010 to 2021, accompanying most of them from the initial book proposal to the final page proofs. Seven of these were edited collections, and three were translated monographs. The translation editing posed particular challenges, but received recognition. See my notes below for The Science of Beauty and Food and Foodways in Italy.
Jewish Consumer Cultures in Nineteenthand Twentieth-Century Europe and North America. 2022. Edited by Paul Lerner, Anne Schenderlein, and Uwe Spiekermann.
Consumer Engineering, 1930s–1970s: Marketing between Expert Planning and Consumer Responsiveness. 2019. Edited by Jan Logemann, Ingo Köhler, and Gary Cross.
Bright Modernity: Color, Commerce, and Consumer Culture. 2017. Edited by Regina Lee Blaszczyk and Uwe Spiekermann.
Food and Foodways in Italy from 1861 to the Present. 2016. By Emanuela Scarpellini.
This book was translated from Italian by Noor Giovanni Mazhar. In my experience, an academic translation is a collaborative process involving at least two major drafts. First there is the work done by the translator, ideally in collaboration with the author, as was the case here. Second, the text needs to be revised in light of readability, taking into account the new publishing context and academic audience. This means additional work for the author, who has to review my many edits and answer my countless questions, often consulting the translator as well. With this in mind, I was especially pleased with the final words of Roger Horowitz’s endorsement on the back cover: “the book is blessed as well with an inspired and at times lyrical translation.”
“The Science of Beauty: Culture and Cosmetics in Modern Germany, 1750–1930. 2015. By Annelie Ramsbrock.
Editing David Burnett’s translation was a collaborative process between me and the author, Annelie Ramsbrock. The German was extremely complex at times, especially given the book‘s wide–ranging source base. I found myself editing not only for readability in a new context but also ironing out ambiguities and potential misunderstandings. It was slow going for me at times, and I had lots of questions for the author, whose acknowledgments included gratitude “to Mark Stoneman for his superb editing of the English text, which went beyond the normal call of duty.” Thus, I was especially gratified by Mary Jo Maynes’ observation:
The quality of the translation . . . needs to be noted. The English is smooth and readable despite the range of sources from which long quotes are drawn, and despite the many vocabularies, including technical vocabularies, that the study navigates.”
Germany History 34, no. 1 (March 2016): 161–63.
Berlin’s Black Market, 1939–1950. 2015. By Malte Zierenberg.
I only edited the introduction and first chapter of this translated monograph. Patricia “Casey” Sutcliffe did the rest.
Globalizing Beauty: Consumerism and Body Aesthetics in the Twentieth Century. 2013. Edited by Hartmut Berghoff and Thomas Kühne.
The Rise of Marketing and Market Research. 2012. Edited by Hartmut Berghoff, Philip Scranton, and Uwe Spiekermann.
The Development of Consumer Credit in Global Perspective: Business, Regulation, and Culture. 2012. Edited by Jan Logemann.
Decoding Modern Consumer Societies. 2012. Edited by Hartmut Berghoff and Uwe Spiekermann.
