W. C. Firebaugh was the author of two works on the history of
inns
Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...
and
taverns
A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...
, and also of a fine English translation of
's ''
Satyricon
The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius in the late 1st century AD, though the manuscript tradition identifi ...
'', the fragmentary realistic novel of low life under the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
.
The translation was published in 1922 in New York, in a very expensive ($30) limited edition, by
Horace Liveright
Horace Brisbin Liveright (pronounced "LIVE-right," anglicized by Horace's father from the German ''Liebrecht;'' 10 December 1884 – 24 September 1933) was an American publisher and stage producer. With Albert Boni, he founded the Modern Libr ...
, founder of the
Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing Imprint (trade name), imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Moder ...
. Like earlier English translations, but more completely, Firebaugh's ''Satyricon'' includes the spurious
supplements devised by various early scholars and forgers in an attempt to round out the fragmentary story. Firebaugh was however careful to distinguish all these supplements from the real translated text. His is still the only English translation of the supplement by
José Marchena, which, because of its obscenity, had previously been printed only in the original Latin.
The 1923 publication includes a sequence of 100 etchings by the Australian artist
Norman Lindsay
Norman Alfred William Lindsay (22 February 1879 – 21 November 1969) was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxing, boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of hi ...
, originally used in the even rarer 1910 ''Satyricon'' edited by
Stephen Gaselee.
The original text, the etchings, and the Marchena supplement were all arguably pornographic by the strict standards of English-language publishing in the 1920s.
John S. Sumner
John Saxton Sumner (September 22, 1876 - June 20, 1971) was an American anti-vice activist who headed the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV), a New York state censorship body empowered to recommend obscenity cases to the appropri ...
, secretary of the
New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV or SSV) was an organization dedicated to supervising the morality of the public, founded in 1873. Its specific mission was to monitor compliance with state laws and work with the courts and d ...
, obtained a copy before publication and accused Liveright of selling obscene material directed to the public. After a celebrated trial the case was dismissed by the New York court.
Four years after the initial publication of Firebaugh's ''Satyricon'', a version adapted for a general market was published by Liveright in 1927. It was edited by
Charles Whibley
Charles Whibley (9 December 1859 – 4 March 1930) was an English literary journalist and author. In literature and the arts, his views were progressive. He supported James Abbott McNeill Whistler (they had married sisters). He also recommended ...
.
Works
*''The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter. Complete and unexpurgated translation by W. C. Firebaugh, in which are incorporated the forgeries of Nodot and Marchena, and the readings introduced into the text by De Salas''. (New York, Boni and Liveright, 1922)
*''The Inns of the Middle Ages''. (Reprint, Kessinger Publishing, 2005: )
*''The Inns of Greece and Rome, and a history of hospitality from the dawn of time to the Middle Ages'' (Chicago, 1928. Reprint, New York, Benjamin Blom, 1972)
See also
*
Satyricon
The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius in the late 1st century AD, though the manuscript tradition identifi ...
*
Supplements to the Satyricon
Petronius's ''Satyricon'', the only extant realistic Classical Latin novel (probably written c. AD 60), survives in a very fragmentary form. Many readers have wondered how the story would begin and end.
Between 1629 and the present several author ...
Bibliography
*Dardis, Tom, 1995, ''Firebrand: The Life of Horace Liveright'', New York: Random House
*Boroughs, Rod, 2000,
Petronius on trial"in ''The Petronian Society newsletter'' vol. 30.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Firebaugh, W.C.
American historians
Latin–English translators
Year of birth missing
Year of death missing