Alfred Elwes

Elwes was born in 1819 at Woolwich, Kent.Allibone, S. Austin. A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors Living and Deceased, from the Earliest Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century. London, Trübner & Co., 1871, vol. III, p. 2781 (a digression under the entry for Joseph Wilson). In his education Elwes attained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.{{Cite book |last=Kirk |first=John Foster |year=1891 |title=A Supplement to Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors |location=Philadelphia |publisher=J. B. Lippincott Company |page=555}} He studied at Leiden in the Netherlands.

Subsequently Elwes was Professor of English at Leghorn, Tuscany. His earliest known work, Il Nuovo Vergani (1845), a grammar in Italian for the study of English, was probably written and published during his tenure in this position, as was, no doubt, his earliest known translation, A new and complete Italian grammar by Vergani (1846), which would have performed the same office in English for the study of Italian.

Later, after returning to England, Elwes served as President of the British Literary Society in a term beginning in 1857The British Controversialist, and Literary Magazine, n.s., v. 5, 1858, London, Houlston and Wright, 1858, p. 279. and running through 1858.The British Controversialist, and Literary Magazine, n.s., v. 6, 1858, London, Houlston and Wright, 1858, p. 192.The Literary and Education Year Book for 1859, London, Kent and Co., [1858], p. 274. In 1868 he served, along with Samuel Neil, as one of the two vice-presidents of the newly established British Literary Union.The Quarterly Journal of the British Literary Union, Preliminary Number, April 1868, London, Longmans, Green, & Co., p. [34]. In 1870 he held the position of Official Translator of Modern Languages in London.

He died in December 1888 in Kensington.{{cite web|url=http://www2.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/districts.pl?r=80674738&d=bmd_1368513983 |title=Kensington Vol.1a p.109 |work=Death Certificate Index |publisher=FreeBMD|accessdate=28 May 2013}}

Elwes' interests in Continental languages and travel are reflected in most of his works. He both wrote and translated travel literature, and much of his children's fiction details the lives or adventures of young protagonists in European locales.

In addition to his works published in book form, Elwes contributed prose and verse to various periodicals.

Elwes was the compiler of a number of English/Romance dictionaries, as well as Romance language grammars for the use of students learning the languages, all reissued in various editions into the twentieth century.

• My Own Book of Beasts (1853)
• The Adventures of a Bear and a Great Bear Too (1853) ([https://archive.org/details/adventuresabear00elwegoog Internet Archive e-text])
• The Adventures of a Dog and a Good Dog Too (1854) ([https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20741 Project Gutenberg e-text])
• The Adventures of a Cat and a Fine Cat Too! (1857) ([https://archive.org/details/adventuresacata00elwegoog Internet Archive e-text])
• Funny Dogs with Funny Tales (1857) (with Robert Barnabas Brough, James Hannay, Edmund F. Blanchard and illustrator Harrison Weir)
• Adventures of a Bear, Cat, and Dog (1860; omnibus of his previous animal adventures books)

• Giulio Branchi: the Story of a Tuscan, related by Himself (1857)
• Paul Blake, or, The Story of a Boy's Perils in the Islands of Corsica and Monte-Christo (1858) ([https://archive.org/details/paulblakeorstor00elwegoog Internet Archive])
• Frank and Andrea, or, Forest life in the Island of Sardinia (1859)
• Ralph Seabrooke, or, The Adventures of a Young Artist in Piedmont and Tuscany (1860)
• Guy Rivers, or, A Boy's Struggles in the Great World (1861) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=_m0OAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 Google e-text])
• Luke Ashleigh; or, School-life in Holland (1863)
• Minna Raymond; a tale that might have been true (1864) ([https://archive.org/details/minnaraymondors00elwegoog Internet Archive])
• The Legend of the Mount; or, The Days of Chivalry (1866)
• Swift and Sure; or, The Career of Two Brothers (1872) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=VwwCAAAAQAAJ Google e-text])
• Perils Afloat and Brigands Ashore (1886) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=1q0sAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA276 Google e-text])

• Ocean and her Rulers; a Narrative of the Nations which have from the Earliest Ages held Dominion over the Sea, comprising a Brief History of Navigation, from the Remotest Periods up to the Present Time (1853) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=jF1LAAAAMAAJ&q=ocean+and+her+rulers Google e-text])

• The Richmonds' Tour Through Europe (1851)
• Through Spain by Rail in 1872 (1873) ([https://archive.org/details/throughspainbyra00elwerich Internet Archive])

• Il Nuovo Vergani [a grammar in Italian for the study of English] (1845)
• A grammar of the Italian language (1852) ([https://archive.org/details/agrammaritalian00elwegoog Internet Archive])
• A grammar of the Spanish language, in a simple and practical form (1852) ([https://archive.org/details/agrammarspanish00elwegoog Internet Archive])
• Dictionnaire français-anglais: French-English dictionary (1852) ([https://archive.org/details/dictionnairefra00elwegoog Internet Archive])
• Dizionario italiano, inglese, francese; A concise dictionary of the Italian, English, & French languages (1853)
• A dictionary of the Spanish and English and English and Spanish languages (1854)
• Mr. Henry's Spanish Course (edited, 1866)
• A grammar of the Portuguese language in a simple and practical form (1876) ([https://archive.org/details/agrammarportugu00elwegoog Google e-text])
• A dictionary of the Portuguese language (1876)
• A triglot dictionary of the Italian, English, and French languages as written and spoken (1879)
• A dictionary of the Portuguese language in two parts (1888)
• A dictionary of the Spanish language in two parts (1888) ([https://books.google.com/books?id=UnkXAAAAYAAJ&dq=Alfred+Elwes&pg=PP7 Google e-text])

• A new and complete Italian grammar by Vergani, by Angelo Vergani) (1846)
• Stories of an Old Maid related to her nephews and nieces, by Mme. Émile de Girardin (1851)
• Food for gossip! a comedy in three acts (Oste e non-oste) (1855 – acted, but possibly not published)
• Jaufry the Knight and the Fair Brunissende: A Tale of the Times of King Arthur, by Mary Lafon (1856) ([https://archive.org/details/jaufryknightand00unkngoog Google e-text])
• How I crossed Africa, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, through unknown countries; Discovery of the Great Zambesi Affluents, &c., by Alexandre de Serpa Pinto (1881)([https://archive.org/details/howicrossedafric02majo Google e-text])
• From Benguella to the Territory of Yacca; Description of a Journey into Central and West Africa, comprising narratives, adventures, and important surveys of the sources of the rivers ... and a detailed account of the territories of Quiteca N'bungo, Sosso, Futa, and Yacca : Expedition organised in the years 1877–1880, by Hermenegildo Capelo and Roberto Ivens (1882)([https://archive.org/details/frombenguellato00capegoog Internet Archive])

• "Introductory Remarks," May 1859, in A Sketch of the Comparative Beauties of the French and Spanish Languages, by Manuel Martinez de Morentin, London, Trübner & Co., 1859, pp. [iii]-viii.
• "To the Members of the British Literary Union" (address), 19 March 1868, in The Quarterly Journal of the British Literary Union, Preliminary Number, April 1868, pp. 11–12.

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Category:1819 births

Category:1888 deaths

Category:19th-century British writers

Category:French–English translators

Category:Italian–English translators

Category:19th-century British translators