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#1
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Can anyone read German? (0/1)
I have a book here about Wilhelm II by Paul Meinhold, published in
Germany 1912. While looking through the book, I found a letter tucked in which I can't begin to reard. It's in the old handwritten German script, dated Potsdam, 1888 (I think) There is a black border arounf the page, which I am told signified death or funeral correspondence. At the top of the first page is a very regal llooking "W", topped with a crown. The letter is signed but I can't read the name. I did find an image of, Kaiser Wilhelm, father of Wilhelm II. This does appear similar. If anyone give me an idea of what this says I'd appreciate it. I'll try to include some links to images of the letter, but not sure if they'll work. If not, email me and I'll try to send images. I have visions of the letter being from Kaiser Wilhelm, maybe his last will. "I do hereby leave Germany to Junior" Am I close? |
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#2
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On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 18:03:25 -0400, Bob Streeter
wrote: Apparently, after reading this post, I not only can't read German, and can't post links, but I can't type in English. I have a book here about Wilhelm II by Paul Meinhold, published in Germany 1912. While looking through the book, I found a letter tucked in which I can't begin to reard. It's in the old handwritten German script, dated Potsdam, 1888 (I think) There is a black border arounf the page, which I am told signified death or funeral correspondence. At the top of the first page is a very regal llooking "W", topped with a crown. The letter is signed but I can't read the name. I did find an image of, Kaiser Wilhelm, father of Wilhelm II. This does appear similar. If anyone give me an idea of what this says I'd appreciate it. I'll try to include some links to images of the letter, but not sure if they'll work. If not, email me and I'll try to send images. I have visions of the letter being from Kaiser Wilhelm, maybe his last will. "I do hereby leave Germany to Junior" Am I close? |
#3
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#4
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I suggest you look in the yellow pages
under translation services. |
#5
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In article , Bob Streeter
wrote: I have a book here about Wilhelm II by Paul Meinhold, published in Germany 1912. While looking through the book, I found a letter tucked in which I can't begin to reard. It's in the old handwritten German script, dated Potsdam, 1888 (I think) There is a black border arounf the page, which I am told signified death or funeral correspondence. At the top of the first page is a very regal llooking "W", topped with a crown. The letter is signed but I can't read the name. I did find an image of, Kaiser Wilhelm, father of Wilhelm II. This does appear similar. If anyone give me an idea of what this says I'd appreciate it. I'll try to include some links to images of the letter, but not sure if they'll work. If not, email me and I'll try to send images. I have visions of the letter being from Kaiser Wilhelm, maybe his last will. "I do hereby leave Germany to Junior" Am I close? Try a page like this one http://www.omniglot.com/writing/german.htm that has the modern English equivalents of German alphabets in Fraktur (used for printed and written German from the 16th century until 1940). If you can write out your letter in English letters, you could then go to http://www.google.com/language_tools and get a rough translation from Google. (I went through this process translating an old Albertus Magnus book that was printed in Fraktur.) Otherwise, there are translators that will do it for you (for a fee, of course) good luck Pris -- sears at vt dot edu http://filebox.vt.edu/users/sears/ |
#6
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No, it wouldn't be fraktur, as that's only the old German typeset used.
There is, however, an old German cursive alphabet, which is very hard to decipher nowadays even to a native German. I'm German & familiar with such writing, so if you post a link to the letter, I'll do my best to translate it. Best-- pp "Bob Streeter" wrote in message ... I have a book here about Wilhelm II by Paul Meinhold, published in Germany 1912. While looking through the book, I found a letter tucked in which I can't begin to reard. It's in the old handwritten German script, dated Potsdam, 1888 (I think) There is a black border arounf the page, which I am told signified death or funeral correspondence. At the top of the first page is a very regal llooking "W", topped with a crown. The letter is signed but I can't read the name. I did find an image of, Kaiser Wilhelm, father of Wilhelm II. This does appear similar. If anyone give me an idea of what this says I'd appreciate it. I'll try to include some links to images of the letter, but not sure if they'll work. If not, email me and I'll try to send images. I have visions of the letter being from Kaiser Wilhelm, maybe his last will. "I do hereby leave Germany to Junior" Am I close? |
#7
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No, it wouldn't be fraktur, as that's only the old German typeset used.
There is, however, an old German cursive alphabet, which is very hard to decipher nowadays even to a native German. I had to learn it once to decipher some 19th-century German inscriptions. Unfortunately too many letters look just alike -- as I recall, the lowercase E looked very like an N or an R, so a great many words turned into nothing but what looked like mmmmmm or nnnnnn or rrrr. Handwritten Russian (which looks a bit similar) has the same tendency. It helps to have some mnntal tnlnpathy going. There is a recent book called _Deciphering Handwriting in German Documents_, by Roger P. Minert, that may be of some use, reviewed at http://www.pgsa.org/bookrD.htm I couldn't get www.ggrs.com/events/handouts/handout_script.pdf to load just now, but it looked useful. --Helen |
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