Harry B. Oesman

OUR BOOKS We publish new translations and editions of works by noted Catholic writers, generally books that we have read, liked, and found useful for spiritual development. Most titles are either out of print, or have never been available in English. WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT OUR EDITIONS? We think the greater readability and accessibility. Our new editions are not facsimile prints. We reset the content and lay it out in a format optimized for the least eye strain, and maximized for legibility. If the original book is in English, we translate any foreign language text, provide explanations and descriptions for names, places, and terms that may be unfamiliar in everyday discourse. We also document quotes, references, and allusions, providing citations to sources that were available at as near the times the book first appeared, hoping thereby to make the original more comprehensible and accessible to the average reader, without compromising the fidelity to what was plainly written by the author. If the book is in a foreign language, we use today's received grammar and syntax. For works in French, Italian, and Spanish, we endeavor to be as comprehensive in the notes we provide as we do in the ones in English; but given our non-existent facility with Latin, the books we publish in that ancient tongue, we reproduce in our format the edition we choose, and correcting only for obvious spelling mistakes. Be careful when you read some translations of devotional books. Not a few were made by our separated brethren, who seem to have an aversion to the teachings of the Church, particularly on the Holy Sacrament, Communion of Saints, and the veneration due Mary most holy, our Blessed Mother. They gloss over or delete everywhere there is any mention of Church teachings on them. The sincerest among them do say that they have omitted them, but the greater number stay silent, and leave it up to the reader to discover whether or not the translations are faithful to the author’s intentions or the teachings of the Church. Some have even left out entire chapters. Our translations are new. They are complete versions of the original books. We use modern American English, while preserving as much as possible the rhetorical qualities of the original. We adhere to the terms employed by the Church in the expressions of her teachings, as found in the approved English version of her pronouncements, as well as in the works of her Doctors, Saints, and faithful theologians.