Description:

Lewis Mercier was the chaplain of the Foundling Hospital, one of the most prominent charities in London in the 19th century. Almost bankrupt, he was forced to turn to the translating business in extremis to avoid debtor's prison for himsself and his family. His translations deleted 15-20% of Verne's writing, at the publisher's direction. This essay describes the modern detective work which has revealed how Lewis Mercier was forced to create these desecrated translations of Verne's most popular novels which have remained the most published versions for almost 150 years.