Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

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Interaxus
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Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by Interaxus »

A few years ago an English university library felt unable to make a copy of an early work of Ritchie for me without having hard evidence that the author had died over 70 years ago. The fact that most of Ritchie's other works, most famously Fabulae Faciles, were out there in the public domain didn't satisfy their rigorous standards of proof at all.

I searched in vain for the required info but neither libraries nor publishers nor modern editors had a clue.

Then on the Internet I came across an old English newspaper page from 1917 with Ritchie's obituary.

Fabulae Faciles is not mentioned by name but the article states: "Mr Ritchie was a most successful writer of school books for boys, many of which are used on the Continent, and also very extensively in America".

The article also mentions Ritchie's time as a headmaster in a school in Sevenoaks, a town frequently appearing in the prefaces to his books. There can be no doubt that this is the author of Fabulae Faciles.

It would be a shame if this hard-to-find data fell off the radar once again - but I have no idea which authority to pass it on to.

I'm hoping some kind textkitten will come up with an answer or maybe even do the job for me. Ultimately, a line or two in Wikipedia wouldn't be out of place now there is a valid source to cite.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know. If you'd like to see the full obituary, send me a private message with an email address and I'll send you a pdf.

(Initially I tried to insert an image of the obituary here but failed miserably. Even with the kind help of jeidsath.)

Valete!
Int
Last edited by Interaxus on Sun Dec 02, 2018 11:26 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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jeidsath
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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by jeidsath »

Upload the image to imgur.com, and link it with the [img]...[/img] tags.
“One might get one’s Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato." "In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go. The German scholars have improved Greek so much.”

Joel Eidsath -- jeidsath@gmail.com

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jeidsath
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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by jeidsath »

I'm sorry, but I had to get to my computer to do this (I have been phone-only the last few days). The trick, after uploading to imgur, is to hover your mouse over the image, click the down arrow, click "Get Share Links", and then click "BBCode (Forums)". It will provide the link you need.

I've also improved the image resolution as much as I was able to.

Image
Image
“One might get one’s Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato." "In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go. The German scholars have improved Greek so much.”

Joel Eidsath -- jeidsath@gmail.com

Interaxus
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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by Interaxus »

Many thanks, jeidsath!

Now at least it's on Textkit and may thus survive in some future WayBack Machine long after Textkit's demise.

Int

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bedwere
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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by bedwere »

Interaxus wrote: Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:33 am Many thanks, jeidsath!

Now at least it's on Textkit and may thus survive in some future WayBack Machine long after Textkit's demise.

Int
Monumentum aere perennius!

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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by Interaxus »

bedwere:

You got it! Schoolmaster and poet reach back to us out of nothingness.

"Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade".

(Can't you put that into Latin and Greek for me à la bedwere?).

Int

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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by jeidsath »

Numqvam vana suis te Mors adscripserit umbris

(Sabrinae Corolla, "K." Described in The Athenaeum as "a well-known gem by B. H. Kennedy")

Nec te funerea clausam feret Orcus in umbra

(T. A. Marshall, M. A.)
“One might get one’s Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato." "In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go. The German scholars have improved Greek so much.”

Joel Eidsath -- jeidsath@gmail.com

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bedwere
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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by bedwere »

Mors nihil ipsa suis de te iactabit in umbris

Alfred Thomas Barton

Interaxus
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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by Interaxus »

jeidsath and bedwere:

Thanks for reminding me of the existence of the Latin versions of Hastamquatienti sonnets.

Come to think of it, there's a Latin version of Gulielmi 'Julius Caesar' out there too (kudos to Charlie Raeticus).

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46768/46 ... 6768-h.htm

AND there's an Illustrated Classics Comic version using the original text, just waiting to be bedwerized - or at least to have its speech balloons filled with Denisoni Latin. But I guess one can't have everything. μηδὲν ἄγαν ... ne quid nimis ... spem longam reseces ... and all that.

At least I can look forward to receiving my copy of Aladdin In Latin that I ordered from Lulu a day or two ago.

Ut valeatis!
Int

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bedwere
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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by bedwere »

Thank you, Interaxus: you are very generous. However, although I bought into the argument against intellectual property, I think that llustrated Classics Comic is still protected by copyright law, which I intend to respect.

Interaxus
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Re: Frank Ritchie 1847-1917

Post by Interaxus »

I quite understand.

Int

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