Citing and typos
I am holding a book (novel) which I wish to cite, and I believe it has a typo. I do not know whether the typo was a spelling mistake in the original manuscript, or introduced during print. Other editions of the book exist, but I do not know if the typo was corrected based on the original manuscript, or in a later edition, or once the book entered public domain. And more importantly, I don't actually have a different copy on hand, I'm just "sure" I saw it written correctly.
How do I cite this novel? Do I follow the recommendations given in this question, but add the details of the particular edition? Or do I just correct the typo, since I'm "sure" it got corrected at some point?
Specifically, I'm looking at an 1853 edition of Les Trois Mousquetaires, (MM. Dufour et Mulat, éditeurs; Paris) which has:
«Think you be easy.» Ce qui voulait dire: Merci; soyez tranquille.
Rather obviously, (both from context, and from the translation of the phrase to French in the same line,) it should have been "Thank you, be easy." But since that's the only copy of The Three Musketeers that I have, do I have any excuse to correct this?
Since people seem to misunderstand, the line is dual-language in the original. It's a note written by an English character to the MC, and translated to French for the sake of the French-speaking readers. That's Dumas's text, as is. And I am interested in citing the original - not translating it.
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Correcting a translation is something different than just correcting a typo. The difference between what's been printed here and what you think it should be seems more like a misinterpretation on the part of the translator than a simple typo.
In this case I would cite it exactly as it is, but point out that you think the translation is wrong. Unless you know for a fact that it's actually a misprint.
As has been clarified in comments and an update to the question, this is the original work by Dumas in French. Dumas, himself, provides an in-text English translation of the French phrase.
If you are going to cite this edition, you need to cite it as it is—although you can add your own commentary to the effect that you think his own translation is wrong.
Only if you can locate a different edition, one in which the English phrase has been changed, can you then directly quote the changed version (and cite the different edition).
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40197. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Are you citing the French edition? (the original) If so, it's perfectly legitimate to make your own translation.
I'm not sure where the English translation is coming from. If it's a duel language book, you still have the right to do your own translation from the original.
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