Introduction
1 The Emergnce of a Mass Market for Translation
2 Tracing an Emergent Discourse of Translatorial Labour
3 Tracing Translators in Publishers’ Archives
4 Developing a Legal Framework for the Nineteenth-Century French Literary Translation Market
5 The Economic Lives of Nineteenth-Century Women Translators
6 The Life and Career of Auguste-Jean-Baptiste Defauconprêt, Inventor of the “Lingual Steam Engine”
Coda
Appendix: Translators and Transactions in the Institut mémoires de l’édition contemporaine archives
Biography
Susan Pickford is Head of the English unit at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
"This is a brilliant historical study of the often-overlooked category of professional translators. It skillfully and rigorously weaves together insights from sociology, book history, and translator studies into a compelling narrative that will become a landmark in the history of professional translation, extending far beyond the French context."
- Lieven D'Hulst, University KU Leuven, Belgium
"This beautifully researched and extensively referenced book underlines the Paris-centric nature of the French publishing industry... the fascinating accounts of the lives of individual translators, collectives and agencies and the revelations about rates, working conditions and quality control, will surely resonate with today's professional translators."
- Dr. Amanda Haste, The Linguist magazine's winter 2025 issue
"With an impressive amount and variety of archival, bibliographical and textual data, Susan Pickford tackles the wide gamut of translation as work, as self-image, as creation, as economic enterprise, in 19th century France. Superbly contextualised – both within France and within the broader cultural frameworks of translating and multilingualism as well as cultural economics – the book offers a brilliant and unparalleled inside view of an emerging profession, weaving together past and present."
-Outi Paloposki, Professor of translation at the University of Turku, Finland.
"Considering the signifcant cross-border relations between French and British publishing in the 19th century, I for one know that I will pick it up time and again from my bookshelf for further consulation".
- Michelle Milan, Institute of English Studies, London
