And but so I got a big, unexpected package from Macmillan in the post today. Given the way my publishing career has been going, my heart sank as I figured it was a few off the top of some huge pile of returns they were about to pulp. Imagine my surprise and glee when it was actually the Czech edition of The Manuscript.
I was as chuffed as surprised that they not only put Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton on the cover – but they used the Leighton portrait! I've long thought that this painting of Burton, and this one nearly alone (amongst a handful of extant photos and paintings ), makes him look like the complete and utter ass-kicking bad-ass that he so very emphatically was. (*) (You can, as I often do, drop into the National Portrait Gallery off Trafalgar Square and take it in in person.)
Anyway, it's also otherwise a really lovely volume – slick dust jacket and lovely artwork and design and even a bookmark. I'm well-flattered. Of course I have no way of evalutating the translation, but it looks good to me! (The character names seem to be the same, but with some having "ovà" appended – Dana Stecklerovà, Celeste Browningovà. Ha! And Usenet postings look funny in Czech.)
It even seems to be on sale in some places. Here are some, erm, screenshots that I took.
