Aug 26, 2008 15:45
15 yrs ago
22 viewers *
French term

Achevé d’imprimé

French to English Art/Literary Printing & Publishing
I have to admit this is the first time I've been asked to translate this for a book translation. Although I usually work with American or Canadian publishers, and this my first time working with a Paris publisher, so perhaps this is the norm...
I've always understood the "Achevé d’imprimé" to be the colophon, but here is it as simple as:

Achevé d’imprimé en août 2008 sur les presses du XXX
Printed in August 2008 by XXX

Or perhaps there is a "standard" way of putting this that I am not aware of?
TIA
Proposed translations (English)
3 +2 Printed in
4 +2 Published 2008
3 colophon

Discussion

French Foodie (asker) Aug 26, 2008:
You've all been so helpful, and I appreciate it.
Charles's detective work gave me the idea to check a work of English translation published in France. There I found on the back cover: Printed in Italy, summer 2008, by XXX. This appears in addition to the publisher's info. Another book, published in Canada however, says "Printed in Winnepeg by XXX"
I'm therefore feeling pretty safe with this info and the info you've all shared, to go with what I have above.

Proposed translations

+2
48 mins
Selected

Printed in

I'd rather use the "printed in" you suggest, if acceptable in Eng.

"achevé d'imprimer" is being used as a verb here: l'impression s'est achevée, a été complètement réalisée en (was completed on) août 2008.

This 'sentence' (date d'impression) associated with other info do constitute the "achvé d'imprimer" (used as a noun).

I think that "colophon" rather translate the full paragraph with legal info. (date, place, author etc.) i.e. when 'achevé d'imprimé' is used as a noun. (+ this is my understanding of Termium, copied below)


Termium :

1.
colophon Source
CORRECT
achevé d'imprimer Source
CORRECT, MASC

colophon Source
CORRECT, MASC

DEF – In modern bookwork, the production note at the end of a private press book including a statement as to the total number of copies printed, the name of the printer and/or publisher, the typeface and paper used. Source
OBS – In modern, non-private press bookmaking, in English, the title page has largely taken the place of the colophon for recording publication details. Therefore, "achevé d'imprimer" in French (which appears on all books from France for statutory reasons) has no English equivalent when referring to non-private press (i.e. the majority of books). Source

DEF – Texte légal, placé à la fin d'un volume et qui comporte le nom et l'adresse de l'imprimeur ou du libraire, la date de la fin du tirage, le nom des réalisateurs, le numéro et la date du dépôt légal. Source
OBS – Parfois baptisé colophon dans les ouvrages soignés, par maniérisme bibliophilique. Source
OBS – Il n'existe aucun équivalent anglais parfait de l'achevé d'imprimer français. En fait, l'achevé d'imprimer se trouve à la fin de tout ouvrage imprimé tandis que le «colophon» anglais ne se trouve qu'à la fin d'ouvrages publiés par les «private presses» (imprimeries dirigées par un artiste ou amateur éclairé). Source

2. Domaine(s)
Publication and Bookselling
Domaine(s)
Édition et librairie

colophon Source
CORRECT
achevé d'imprimer Source
CORRECT, MASC

DEF – Brief technical description placed at the end of a book, giving information on the typeface and design, the paper used, production facts and printing techniques, or other physical aspects of the work. Source
DEF – Texte placé à la fin d'un volume pour indiquer la date du tirage, le nombre d'exemplaires et éventuellement le nom des réalisateurs. Source

OBS – L'achevé d'imprimer s'est peu à peu substitué au colophon et est devenu une obligation légale liée à celle du dépôt légal. Source

OBS – L'achevé d'imprimer est aussi, et surtout maintenant, l'imprint anglais (qui peut se mettre au début de l'ouvrage). Source

OBS – Le colophon, avant l'imprimerie (par chemin, coder) et au début de l'imprimerie (avec les incunables), servait de note finale d'un ouvrage. Ce qu'il en reste constitue notre actuel achevé d'imprimer, parfois baptisé colophon dans les ouvrages très soignés. Source
OBS – La justification du tirage, qui se rend également par le terme anglais colophon, a une signification quelque peu différente. Source




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Note added at 1 hr (2008-08-26 16:45:55 GMT)
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I tend to agree with Charles' proposal, I hesitated bw published and printed.
"Published' is also the mention I read on an Eng book I have on my desk. But here you have a quite precise 'month+year' date, I'm not sure that the printing and publishing dates would be exactly the same (August).

Must admit that in the end Charles may be right, 'published' was my first idea also and it may be a standard term here,which covers both printing and publishing...




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Note added at 21 hrs (2008-08-27 12:54:53 GMT) Post-grading
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Thank you French Foodie, we all learnt a lot indeed!
Peer comment(s):

agree Euqinimod (X)
2 hrs
merci, Euqinimod
agree atche84
1 day 8 hrs
thank you, atche84
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Hard to choose, for everyone has been so helpful. In the end, I went with my original thought. Thanks so much for all your help!"
34 mins

colophon

According to good old Collins-Robert it is the colophon, as you say.

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-08-26 16:57:21 GMT)
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This might help you: http://www.docbook.org/tdg/en/html/colophon.html
After reading this I thought your 'printed' would be OK- or 'published', as Charles Hawtrey suggests
Note from asker:
Hi Cervin! Yes, I realise the dictionaries say that too, but it just doesn't seem to work here. This is a line appearing on the inside cover of a book. Below it comes: No. d'imprimeur. Thanks for your help though.
Something went wrong...
+2
41 mins

Published 2008

I have in front of me a book translated FR > EN. On the page that lists all the publishers' names, dates etc. there is a line that says "First published in France by XXXX 1988", followed by, on the next line, "This translation first published in Great Britain by YYYY Ltd 1992". This seems to be entirely standard.
The printer's name is given separately near the bottom and says "Printed in Great Britain by ZZZZ Ltd" with its address but no date.
This seems to be entirely standard - the publishing date (only the year) is given, not the printing date.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 51 mins (2008-08-26 16:37:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I have a 100-year old book that gives the printer's name on the last page: "Printed by WXYZ Ltd. London".
The same book ('The Wind in the Willows') gives the publisher's name and address on the cover page with, on the reverse, just the lines: "First published ... October 1908 // Second Edition ... October 1908 // Third Edition ... January 1909".
This seems to be standard before copyright dates, etc. came on the scene.

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-08-26 17:16:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Helen has a good suggestion. As you can easily find, however, on the reverse of the cover page publisher info. is near the top of the page and printer info. is near the bottom. It can be limited to e.g. "Printed in Italy", or give a lot of info. on typeface, typesetter and printer. There is no printer's number I've yet found.
Note from asker:
Thank you Charles. This is very helpful.
Peer comment(s):

agree Helen Shiner : The information re publishing/printing in total is the colophon, but here I agree absolutely with Charles' analysis./Would suggest you say, 'published in Aug 2008, printed by the XXX press.'/My Concise OED includes dates, and this is my experience, too.
30 mins
Thanks, Helen. As I understand it the colophon is the publisher's name on the cover page ("Tail piece in old books ... now placed on cover page" according to my Concise OED). Dates are not necessarily included.
agree Michael GREEN : Absolutely ...
30 mins
Thanks, Michael.
neutral Euqinimod (X) : The publisher should not be confused with the printer. The former deals with the "intellectual content
2 hrs
Thanks, Equinimod. You are of course totally right. My aim here was to point out that in UK, anyway, it's the publishing that is dated, not the printing. Date of printing is secondary to date of publishing, to me anyway.
Something went wrong...
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