The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953 Page: 176
641 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
which characterizes the work, leaving the impression that a qual-
ity product was issued at an intermediate stage of fabrication.
Because the history of the Floridas is a bewildering facet of
sinuous international, colonial rivalry, any specialized treatment
like the present should be anchored at the outset to the essential
perspective provided by historical background. The introduction
to the documents does not fulfill this indispensable requirement,
either for the specialist or for the "casual reader" toward whom
it was aimed. Nor can the obligation be sidestepped by a citation
of sources where such information is available. Furthermore, the
reviewer is not in agreement with the translator who asserts that
the documents "themselves tell a sufficiently vivid, and on the
whole, connected story."
Another unfortunate omission was a simple sketch map for
easy identification of the numerous place names mentioned
throughout the various segments of the work. Artistic as it may
be, the map which forms the end pieces is totally inadequate for
the purpose, and the same applies to the map on page 7, which
is too small and too cluttered with river tributaries.
As previously noted, the documents are well selected and rich
in varied material, but the translations are literal to a point of
distortion, and the fault extends not only to word conversion but
to word order and punctuation. Admittedly, wide tolerance
should be made for a translator with an exacting conscience and
for the difficult materials with which he worked; however, the
result is archaism, obscurity, and ungrammatical construction,
all of which contribute to tedious reading. The reader frequently
discovers that he is forced to translate the English translation.
The location and method for footnoting are perhaps matters
of personal preference, but after much experimentation no sub-
stitute has been found for the bottom of the page and complete-
ness. In the present study the notes are placed at the conclusion
of each section, and the sources include only the authors' names
with the dates of publication. Consequently, to check a citation,
the reader faces three steps: (1) retain his place in the text;
(2) locate the note; and (3) check the bibliography for the title.
A little of this exercise is tiring; a great deal is exhausting; and176
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953, periodical, 1953; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101145/m1/196/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.