Biography

[b]Alexander Lenard[/b], né [i]Lénárd Sándor[/i] (9 March 1910, Budapest — 13 April 1972, Dona Emma, Brazil) was a Hungarian translator, writer, language tutor, poet, and physician. Lenard is best known for [i]Winnie Ille Pu[/i], his Latin translation of [url=https://discogs.com/artist/789302]A. A. Milne[/url]'s celebrated children's book, "[url=https://discogs.com/artist/3073214]Winnie-the-Pooh[/url]" — published in 1961 by [url=https://discogs.com/label/1339465]Methuen Books[/url] / [url=https://discogs.com/label/453426]E.P. Dutton[/url]. An unexpected hit, Lenard's "Winnie ille Pu" became the sole book in Latin to ever appear on the NYT [i]Best Seller[/i] list, with some critics claiming it sparked renewed interest in studying "Classical Latin" in the United States. Lenard immigrated to South America in 1952, working as a teacher at a rural mining community in Brazil. His "magnum opus" began as an innocuous pet project when Alexander wanted to bring something more "contemporary" and engaging to read for pupils in his Latin class; eventually, it took almost seven years to complete the translation, long after Lenard quit his teaching job and relocated to São Paulo. Even though some contemporary prose in Latin was occasionally published at the time — like [a=Daniel Defoe]'s [i]Rebilius Cruso[/i] ("Robinson Crusoe"), translated in 1884 by [b]Francis W. Newman[/b] (1805—1897) — overall, it was still a fairly novel concept and rare oddity for major UK and American publishers. Sporadic books mostly came from reputable Latin academics and classicists, like [b]Arcadius Avellanus[/b] (1851—1935), renowned Hungarian-American scholar and "Living Latin" evangelist who published [a=John Ruskin]'s [i]Rex Aurei Rivi[/i]-"King of the Golden River" (1914) and [url=https://discogs.com/artist/436716]R.L. Stevenson[/url]'s [i]Insula Thesauraria[/i]-"Treasure Island" (1922), or [b]Terrot R. Glover[/b] (1869–1943), [url=https://discogs.com/label/268740]St John's College[/url] fellow and [url=https://discogs.com/label/280159]Cambridge[/url] professor, with his take on Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verses"-[i]Carmina Non Prius Audita …Virginibus Puerisque[/i] (1922). After several houses rejected Lenard's manuscript, he decided to self-publish [i]Winnie ille Pu[/i] in 1958; following the initial success, a few publishers approached Alexander, who ended up signing with Methuen/Dutton. The first edition in 1961, with [a=Winnie The Pooh] and [url=https://discogs.com/artist/7789405]Piglet[/url] in full Roman soldier outfits on the dust jacket, became a major hit in North America. The book spread far beyond actual Latin readers, popular as a gimmicky gift or "conversation starter" coffee-table piece. With over 125,000 copies sold in the US, [i]Winnie Ille Pu[/i] spent 20 weeks on [i][l=The New York Times] Best Seller[/i] list — the first non-English book to gain that status (and the sole Latin text to this day). The commercial success of [i]Winnie ille Pu[/i] triggered a short-lived fad, with several other popular children's books translated into Latin in the early-to-mid-1960s, such as [a=Antoine De Saint-Exupéry]'s "Le petit Prince"-[i]Regulus vel pueri soli sapiunt[/i] (1961) by Auguste Haury (1910—2002), [a=Beatrix Potter]'s "Tale of Peter Rabbit"-[i]Fabula De Petro Cuniculo[/i] published by [l=F. Warne & Co.] in 1962, or [i]Alicia In Terra Mirabili[/i] (1964) and [i]Aliciae Per Speculum Transitus[/i] (1966), Clive H. Carruthers (1891—1980) translations of [a=Lewis Carroll]'s "Alice in Wonderland" published by [url=https://discogs.com/label/913580]Macmillan[/url] / [l=St. Martin's Press]. Over three decades later, in the early 2000s, [b]Peter Needham[/b] (1935—2021) caused a similar "wave" of children's prose in Latin with [a=Michael Bond]'s "Paddington Bear" — [i]Ursus Nomine Paddington[/i] ([url=https://discogs.com/label/1533945]Gerald Duckworth & Co[/url], 1999). He also tackled [url=https://discogs.com/artist/431656]J.K. Rowling[/url]'s celebrated "Harry Potter" series, with the first two volumes published by [url=https://discogs.com/label/87635]Bloomsbury[/url] in 2003 and 2007. Curiously, Needham was among the last contemporary authors to publish his Latin translations via major commercial imprints. Since then, virtually all Latin translators of popular children's, youth, and adult fiction follow Lenard's initial path, self-publishing via on-demand web platforms like [l=Lulu.com] and [url=https://discogs.com/label/43919]Amazon[/url]'s [l=CreateSpace].

Alexander Lenard on Amazon