Joan Gili i Serra (), also known as John Gili (1907 – 6 May 1998), was a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

antiquarian book-seller, publisher and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

. Joan Gili was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 1907. His father, Lluis Gili, ran a religious publishing house which also published a cookery book, ''Sabores'', written by his mother, which became a bestseller. While working for his father's company, he developed an interest in English literature, which he wrote about in the Catalan newspaper ''La Publicitat''. In 1933, he was invited to visit

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and enjoyed the freedom he experienced there so much that he returned in 1934 to live. He opened the Dolphin Bookshop just off Charing Cross Road in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, specialising in Spanish and Latin American books and manuscripts. Some of the manuscripts on Spanish and Catalan history he collected are now in the Houghton Library at Harvard. He began publishing books himself in 1938. These included textbooks and literary studies, and translations of

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical essa ...

Luis Cernuda Luis Cernuda Bidón (September 21, 1902 – November 5, 1963) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. During the Spanish Civil War, in early 1938, he went to the UK to deliver some lectures and this became the start of an exile t ...

Juan Ramón Jiménez Juan Ramón Jiménez Mantecón (; 23 December 1881 – 29 May 1958) was a Spanish poet, a prolific writer who received the 1956 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which in the Spanish language constitutes an example of high ...

and Pablo Neruda. In 1939, he and

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by th ...

translated a selection of

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936), known as Federico García Lorca ( ), was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblemat ...

’s poems, one of the first books to introduce Lorca to an English-speaking audience. In the 1950s,

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Catalan language Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as ''Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern ...

, which at this time was largely suppressed by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

authorities. In 1943, he produced an Introductory Catalan Grammar which long remained in print. He also published translations, many done by himself, of Catalan poets. These included

Carles Riba Carles Riba i Bracons (; 23 September 1893 - 12 July 1959) was a Catalan poet, writer and translator of Spanish nationality. He was born in Barcelona and studied Law and Philosophy at the Universitat de Barcelona. In 1916 he married the poet Cleme ...

(''Poems'', 1964; ''Tankas of the Four Seasons'', 1991; ''Savage Heart'', 1993; ''Bierville Elegies'', 1995),

Salvador Espriu Salvador Espriu i Castelló (; 10 July 1913 – 22 February 1985) was a Catalan poet. Biography Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia, Spain. He was the son of an attorney. He spent his childhood between his home town, Barcelon ...

(''Forms and Words'', 1980) and

Josep Carner Josep Carner i Puigoriol (; born Barcelona 9 February 1884 - died Brussels 4 June 1970), was a Spanish poet, journalist, playwright and translator. He was also known as ''the Prince of Catalan Poets''. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Lit ...

(''Poems'', translated by

Pearse Hutchinson Pearse Hutchinson (16 February 1927 – 14 January 2012) was an Irish poet, broadcaster and translator. Childhood and education Hutchinson was born in Glasgow. His father, Harry Hutchinson, a Scottish printer whose own father had left Dublin to ...

, 1962; ''Nabí'', 1996-8). He was a founding member and later president of the Anglo-Catalan Society. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he moved the bookshop to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where it grew to two floors in a building that had once belonged to the painter Whistler. At first he lived in Park Town in

North Oxford North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College. Overview The le ...

. From 1945–69, he lived at 14

Fyfield Road Fyfield Road is a residential road in North Oxford, England, on the Norham Manor estate. At the northern end of the road is a junction with Norham Road and at the southern end is a junction with Norham Gardens, was the University Parks oppo ...

, also in North Oxford, with his family, then moving to

Cumnor Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3½ miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon. The parish includes Cumn ...

west of Oxford. In 1948, he became a

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

British citizen, but although he officially changed his name to John Gili, his friends and family continued to call him Joan. His role as "unofficial consul of the Catalans in Britain" lead eventually to honours, the

Creu de Sant Jordi The Creu de Sant Jordi (, in English ' St George's Cross') is one of the highest civil distinctions awarded in Catalonia (Spain), surpassed only in protocol by the Gold Medal of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It was established by the Generalit ...

, from the

Catalan government The Generalitat de Catalunya (; oc, label= Aranese, Generalitat de Catalonha; es, Generalidad de Cataluña), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia politically organizes its self-government. It is formed ...

, and the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

from the

Spanish government gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , da ...

. However he was reported to be most satisfied by an honorary MA from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. He worked until the very end of his life, into his nineties. He married Elizabeth McPherson in 1938. She later produced a translation of his mother's cookery book. They had three children:

Jonathan Gili Jonathan Gili (19 April 1943 – 1 October 2004) was a film-maker, editor and director, who produced numerous and wide-ranging television documentary and features programmes, mostly for the BBC. Education The son of Catalan publisher and translat ...

(a documentary film maker), Martin Gili (who carried on, and developed Dolphin books), and Katherine Gili (a sculptress).

References

External links

Papers of Joan Gili
held at

Senate House Library Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum. The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gili, Joan 1907 births 1998 deaths People from Barcelona Catalan-language writers Catalan–English translators Spanish–English translators Translators from Catalonia Spanish expatriates in the United Kingdom Spanish emigrants to the United Kingdom People associated with the University of Oxford 20th-century translators