Talk:The Annals of the World

Re: " The Annals of the World was updated from the 17th-century original Latin manuscript to modern English and made available to the general public for the first time in 2003."

It was made available to the general public when an English version was printed in the 17th century. You've already corrected this under Biblical Chronology, so I was perplexed to see the same error here.

Roy 11:44, 16 Mar 2005 (GMT)

Master Books commissioned this important literary work to be updated from the 17th-century original Latin manuscript to modern English and made available to the general public for the first time.

http://www.newleafpress.net/db/FullRecord.asp?BookNumb=0890513600&SeriesID=&AuthorID=&AuthorID2=

This may just be a matter of opinion regarding what "available to the general public" means, but I would tend to accept the publishers claim. I doubt the original english version can be found in a public library for checkout, and would assume it was never available in that way. Chances are that prior to now it could only be found in the possession of clergy.

--Chris Ashcraft 02:52, 17 Mar 2005 (GMT)

A little research would have shown you were wrong. There are copies at the Library of Congress and Delaware University, among others. The edition at Canterbury Cathedral was donated by a private owner. A first edition was auctioned last year. All indications are that copies of the original run were sold to private buyers. Roy 11:55, 26 Jul 2005 (GMT)

A rather late response, I guess, but I did have some input to the earlier discussion under Talk:Biblical chronology.

Publishers' remarks often include some hype, and need to be treated with caution (which is not to suggest that this claim is actually wrong). I presume that the phrase "made available to the general public for the first time" refers not to an English translation, but a modern English translation. The Editor of the modern translation says in his preface, that "You hold in your hands the first major English revision that has been done of Rev. Archbishop Ussher's Annals of the World since it was published in 1658&mdash;two years after his death". The box it comes in says, "Considered not only a classic work of literat\ure, but also esteemed for its preciseness and accuracy, The Annals of the World has not been published in the English language since the 17th century. Almost completely inaccessible to the public for three centuries..." Philip J. Rayment 13:23, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

Versions
The 17th century English version was a literal translation from Latin to English and today would be unreadable in places due to the older dialect of English and Latin-type grammatical structures. Larry Pierce retranslated it into today's English as to make it more readable. I remember reading this from the notes of the Annals, but I have loaned mine to another YEC friend so I can't completely verify.

Hope to help.

Ben Fournier Iamnotaparakeet 00:29, 19 January 2008 (EST)


 * Well, I do own a copy of The Annals. (That ought to have been obvious; I myself wrote the internal review on this article.) If I can find Mr. Pierce's exact words on that subject then perhaps I'll put them in.--TemlakosTalk 07:02, 19 January 2008 (EST)


 * Thanks. Should either be in the opening notes or an appendix.Iamnotaparakeet 18:15, 19 January 2008 (EST)