Combloc
Stop Negassing me!!!!!
This is going to be a little longwinded but if you are interested in surplus French firearms and, more directly, collecting accessories for them, please read the entirety of the following.
As some of you folks already know, I've been working on translating some of the old French manuals for a little while now. I've been concentrating on the three French semi-auto rifles, the Model 1953 scope and the Model 1950 pistol as I have those particular firearms and I've spent a couple years now accumulating manuals to translate. For all of these items, the manuals evolved over time so there are multiple editions for each firearm. Then there are various specialty manuals created for different schools, logistics, parts booklets, etc, etc. Long story short, there are a BUNCH of different official publications I've discovered. Some, such as the provisional manuals for the MAS 44 and MAS 49 and Mle 1953 scope are near unobtanium while others, such as the fold out "Summary Technical Guide" for the Model 1950 pistol are common. I'm sure there are various materials out there I've yet to discover too. So, I started a couple years ago on translating these things. I figured if I was going to own them, I might as well know what information they contain. They are also primary source documents, written and published by the French government as THE definitive word on the what and how of each piece of equipment. I hoped they would contain some fresh Historical insight into what the military intended with regards to these items.
Well, I'm glad I started down the path because I've learned more from a technical standpoint than I ever would from any other method. Initially, my number one focus in translating these documents was to get the text as close as possible in English to what was actually written in French. Since the beginning, I've made a conscious effort to NOT correct any of the manuals. If a particular sentence was written clumsily, I tried my best to translate it with that same clumsiness displayed in English. Almost none of the manuals were produced on anything even approaching an 8 1/2 x 11 format but I didn't try to reproduce that. I made every effort to keep the information in the same format and on the same page as it was originally but I just enlarged the print to fit a standard sheet of paper. Again, I was interested mainly in retrieving the information, not producing a reproduction. For example, here are a couple pictures of the MAS 49 provisional manual I did:
This particular manual dates back to September of 1950 and was never intended for mass production. Instead, it was to be just what it says it is, a "provisional" document to be used while the rifle was still undergoing final trials and would serve as a stand in until the final one was produced for standard issue. The organisation/format of the information is the same, the font of the writing is very similar, and all of the information is translated as close to original as I am capable of. However, I made no effort to reproduce the size and colors of the original document. I translated several this way before I even mentioned I was doing this to anyone. Once I did, I got the feeling that I was not alone with regards to my curiosity about these almost forgotten bits of paper. Others might want these translations too and they would probably like it to be a bit more like the original item. So, I decided to give it a go.
Now, I don't have the resources to create exact reproductions. The originals were made many decades ago using non-electronic means. I can't afford to set up a printing press and hire typesetters. I also can't reproduce the paper stock used by the French, nor the colors used for the paper stock. For example, look at the two pictures above. Both of those manuals started life 73 years ago with blue covers. Exactly what shade of blue cannot be known because time and exposure to air has faded one of them to a tan/brown and the other to a two tone blue/tan/brown. The back and inside of both is still blue but I guarantee you it's nowhere near the original shade. Also, the original pages were almost certainly never bright white. They were some shade of off white but it's impossible to know exactly what it looked like new. These details absolutely FASCINATE me; in some ways, more than the firearms themselves. Anyway, I'm now working on making future translations look a little more authentic without getting so hung up on the minutia that all progress stops. Below are a few pictures of the test run of my second effort, the 1959 1st Edition manual for the Mle 1953 scope. My initial proofreading of this has found 20 errors that will be corrected before I print anymore so, you might see one or two here.
The cover,
The original cover is more of a grey/tan than mine but it was the paper I had available to run the test.
For the inside pages, I've used cream colored stock:
I can get things close to the original but again, I'm using a computer so it's only going to go so far.
When I reproduce the pictures, I lose a little bit of resolution but it's still pretty fair. I'm not a professional so there may be better ways of reproducing them that I am not aware of. You have to remember folks, I'm a technoidiot. When I went to college, the microfiche machine was still in common use!
Anyway, here are three more pictures showing six more pages:
I correct nothing; any grammatical errors I find in the original (and there always are some), I make sure to pass them on to the reproduction.
Now, I do not speak French but I DO speak in-depth research. I use multiple online translators and dictionaries and I pour over every single word in an effort to make my translation as close as possible to what was originally written. Sometimes, I'll stop for a couple days to ponder a single sentence and look at it from a number of angles trying to get inside the writer's mind and see it through his eyes. I've learned that written and spoken French in the 1950's was different than that used today, just as is true with English.
Once I've handwritten out the entire thing on notebook paper, I set about assembling it into a word document. I have to figure out font's spacing, formatting, designing, making weird elements that the French typesetters used but Microsoft Word is not necessary designed to do, and a myriad of other minutia. I'm still struggling with cutting the printed pages down to the proper size cleanly and precisely. That many pages at one time is a challenge for a run of the mill paper cutter. All of this takes a LOT of time. The 28 page manual shown above took me about a month from start to finish. My plan is to produce a few more of these, print a small run of each and then sell them for about $15 per manual. I'd welcome any thoughts or suggestions you folks might have, especially with regards to the paper cutter problem. Thank you.
As some of you folks already know, I've been working on translating some of the old French manuals for a little while now. I've been concentrating on the three French semi-auto rifles, the Model 1953 scope and the Model 1950 pistol as I have those particular firearms and I've spent a couple years now accumulating manuals to translate. For all of these items, the manuals evolved over time so there are multiple editions for each firearm. Then there are various specialty manuals created for different schools, logistics, parts booklets, etc, etc. Long story short, there are a BUNCH of different official publications I've discovered. Some, such as the provisional manuals for the MAS 44 and MAS 49 and Mle 1953 scope are near unobtanium while others, such as the fold out "Summary Technical Guide" for the Model 1950 pistol are common. I'm sure there are various materials out there I've yet to discover too. So, I started a couple years ago on translating these things. I figured if I was going to own them, I might as well know what information they contain. They are also primary source documents, written and published by the French government as THE definitive word on the what and how of each piece of equipment. I hoped they would contain some fresh Historical insight into what the military intended with regards to these items.
Well, I'm glad I started down the path because I've learned more from a technical standpoint than I ever would from any other method. Initially, my number one focus in translating these documents was to get the text as close as possible in English to what was actually written in French. Since the beginning, I've made a conscious effort to NOT correct any of the manuals. If a particular sentence was written clumsily, I tried my best to translate it with that same clumsiness displayed in English. Almost none of the manuals were produced on anything even approaching an 8 1/2 x 11 format but I didn't try to reproduce that. I made every effort to keep the information in the same format and on the same page as it was originally but I just enlarged the print to fit a standard sheet of paper. Again, I was interested mainly in retrieving the information, not producing a reproduction. For example, here are a couple pictures of the MAS 49 provisional manual I did:
This particular manual dates back to September of 1950 and was never intended for mass production. Instead, it was to be just what it says it is, a "provisional" document to be used while the rifle was still undergoing final trials and would serve as a stand in until the final one was produced for standard issue. The organisation/format of the information is the same, the font of the writing is very similar, and all of the information is translated as close to original as I am capable of. However, I made no effort to reproduce the size and colors of the original document. I translated several this way before I even mentioned I was doing this to anyone. Once I did, I got the feeling that I was not alone with regards to my curiosity about these almost forgotten bits of paper. Others might want these translations too and they would probably like it to be a bit more like the original item. So, I decided to give it a go.
Now, I don't have the resources to create exact reproductions. The originals were made many decades ago using non-electronic means. I can't afford to set up a printing press and hire typesetters. I also can't reproduce the paper stock used by the French, nor the colors used for the paper stock. For example, look at the two pictures above. Both of those manuals started life 73 years ago with blue covers. Exactly what shade of blue cannot be known because time and exposure to air has faded one of them to a tan/brown and the other to a two tone blue/tan/brown. The back and inside of both is still blue but I guarantee you it's nowhere near the original shade. Also, the original pages were almost certainly never bright white. They were some shade of off white but it's impossible to know exactly what it looked like new. These details absolutely FASCINATE me; in some ways, more than the firearms themselves. Anyway, I'm now working on making future translations look a little more authentic without getting so hung up on the minutia that all progress stops. Below are a few pictures of the test run of my second effort, the 1959 1st Edition manual for the Mle 1953 scope. My initial proofreading of this has found 20 errors that will be corrected before I print anymore so, you might see one or two here.
The cover,
The original cover is more of a grey/tan than mine but it was the paper I had available to run the test.
For the inside pages, I've used cream colored stock:
I can get things close to the original but again, I'm using a computer so it's only going to go so far.
When I reproduce the pictures, I lose a little bit of resolution but it's still pretty fair. I'm not a professional so there may be better ways of reproducing them that I am not aware of. You have to remember folks, I'm a technoidiot. When I went to college, the microfiche machine was still in common use!
Anyway, here are three more pictures showing six more pages:
I correct nothing; any grammatical errors I find in the original (and there always are some), I make sure to pass them on to the reproduction.
Now, I do not speak French but I DO speak in-depth research. I use multiple online translators and dictionaries and I pour over every single word in an effort to make my translation as close as possible to what was originally written. Sometimes, I'll stop for a couple days to ponder a single sentence and look at it from a number of angles trying to get inside the writer's mind and see it through his eyes. I've learned that written and spoken French in the 1950's was different than that used today, just as is true with English.
Once I've handwritten out the entire thing on notebook paper, I set about assembling it into a word document. I have to figure out font's spacing, formatting, designing, making weird elements that the French typesetters used but Microsoft Word is not necessary designed to do, and a myriad of other minutia. I'm still struggling with cutting the printed pages down to the proper size cleanly and precisely. That many pages at one time is a challenge for a run of the mill paper cutter. All of this takes a LOT of time. The 28 page manual shown above took me about a month from start to finish. My plan is to produce a few more of these, print a small run of each and then sell them for about $15 per manual. I'd welcome any thoughts or suggestions you folks might have, especially with regards to the paper cutter problem. Thank you.
