I'm currently looking for information about the history of the various translations of Asterix in all possible languages. I've been roaming the WWW and found lots of stuff about certain languages (English, German, Indonesian, Romanche...) but very little about many others, including big ones (Spanish, Brazilian, Scandinavia: I'm interested in the early strategy of Guthenbergus in the years 1968-75 and their use of book clubs; details about comics culture in former Yugoslavia are also welcome etc.). If any one has scans of the first Portuguese translation of Asterix the Gaul in Foguetão (May 1961), I'm very interested.
So if you're in a mood to help
please contact me with whatever historical information you have about your — or any other — translation, such as how it started in your country, publisher's strategy (use of weeklies, subscriptions), how popular it has been over the years, sales figures, contacts with translators and publishers (direct name)... You can either post up answers here or send me an email at bernardcros@noos.fr. I can give you more details of what I have / don't have / need/ don't need. THANKS (I know I shouldn't be shouting
) for whatever info you can provide.En français, c'est parfait.
English spoken
Si parla italiano
Se habla español
Português compreendido
Man spricht (schlecht!) Deutsch
Berix91, Paris (over 700 albums in 101 languages — and counting)
PS: I'm posting an announcement about a two-day scholarly conference on Asterix in Paris on Oct. 30 and 31, 2009.