r/wiedzmin • u/pothkan SPQN • Feb 10 '20

Books Guide to editions of the Witcher books

This is a little project I compiled in last days, being an expansion on my previous covers of the Last Wish post. I wanted to list, and sort, all editions of books in the Witcher series, published in various languages (30 + Polish). Result of that ended in shape of a PDF file (6 MB) - which you can now browse and download!

Here is a sneak peek, if you can't right now (e.g. mobile), but want to see what is inside.

Take in mind, that it's still a WIP (supposed to by updated in future, at least once a year - as we can expect more editions after Netflix boosted series' popularity). So if you have anything to add or correct - please do! E.g. I miss many covers' artist names.

Besides that, here are some specific questions:

  • Which editions are sold in English-speaking countries except UK & USA?. I suppose American editions are sold in Canada, but what about e.g. Australia, South Africa, Singapore, New Zealand?

  • Are there any pirated editions, other than Iranian ones?

  • How is a witcher called in Dutch, Greek, Portuguese (European), Romanian, Swedish and Turkish translations?

  • Last but not least, which edition(s) do you own? :) And what do you think about it, both quality-wise, and translation itself?

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u/bokis Feb 12 '20

Thank you for the time spent gathering all the info. Couple of days ago I was in a bookstore in Serbia and wanted to buy me some Witcher books. Skimmed through a few passages and decided to continue reading the version in English because I did not like the interpretors style and did not agree with his wording in some parts. This Polish to English and then English to Serbian translation is not to my taste. I have so far only read the English translation of "The last wish" and I will continue reading the same set (unless I learn Polish :) )...

Serbian 2019 edition of Witcher

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u/pothkan SPQN Feb 12 '20

This Polish to English and then English to Serbian translation is not to my taste.

Wait, Serbian translation isn't from Polish? You sure about that? And which books, if yes (AFAIK there were 3-4 different translators).

Serbian 2019 edition of Witcher

Besides Last Wish, are any covers different than SR 2?

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u/bokis Feb 12 '20

This was just my impression and I did not check who the translator was, but I could go back to the bookstore and confirm (or disprove) my theory. I will try to provide all of the covers in hi-res.

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u/pothkan SPQN Feb 12 '20

I'd be grateful. Of course, there's no hurry at all. I will revise this thoroughly anyway for the next "version" (in few months probably).

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u/bokis Feb 12 '20

I just checked and it turns out that the books were translated into Serbian - from Polish! The lady that translated them is Milica Markić and she seems to be somewhat of a "go to" person for Polish-Serbian translations. Nevertheless, her expertise in Polish does not mean everyone will like her writing style since no book ever was translated word for word and translation is highly influenced by the translator.

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u/pothkan SPQN Feb 12 '20

The lady that translated them is Milica Markić

All books? I had her as translator of ToC & BoF only. Vesna Milutinović-Đurić for TLW, SoD and BoE (and Milan Duškov for older, 2008 edition of TLW); and Zorana Lutovac for last three books (including SoS). Plus Zorana Perić for Maladie.

Nevertheless, her expertise in Polish does not mean everyone will like her writing style

Sure, I noticed that problem in reviews of some other translations, e.g. Greek one.

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u/bokis Feb 12 '20

I found her name through the ISBN for BoE, did not check other books. I was travelling all night and was doing the research on my phone. It will take me a bit more time to check the other books, but I will do it later:

https://books.google.rs/books/about/Krv_vilenjaka.html?id=pBAHlwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y