London Times & Seasons
April 3, 1847
Editors and Publishers Announcement
The Editors and Publisher of the Times & Seasons take great pleasure in announcing the serialization of one of the most important books of the year, and perhaps the decade. We are talking of the book Roman Grand Domestic: Memoirs of Andronicus Constostephanus.
Lord Constostephanus was, until his recent death, the Private Secretary and Official Recorder, or Grand Domestic, for Prince Alexios Cantacuzenus, Imperial Governor of Roman Hindustan. Our Foreign Editor had become a close friend and confidant of Constostephanus over the years at the Imperial Governor's Court; at the state funeral the Constostephanus estate directed that this book be given to our Mr. Smith-Rainey for transportation to England, and then translation and publication for the English-speaking world.
We can speculate for many months (and we are sure that many will) on the reasons for this “gift”. The Roman Empire is the source of our word byzantine, and there will no doubt be speculation that this act was part of a grand design to accomplish many hidden things. To each his conspiracy theory, in other words! Perhaps the one on our readers' minds is an effort to bring British (and perhaps American?) interests more closely into alignment with those of the Roman Empire. Certainly this paper believes that England continues to miss a critical opportunity by refusing to develop a closer relationship with this great and ancient country. While we have our own ideas (which for now we will keep private), we are pleased to offer this translation to our reading public for the following reasons:
• Celebration and Public Relations: The Roman Emperor, Konstantinos XIV, has declared this a Grand Year of Celebration throughout his dominions in commemoration of the 2,600th anniversary of the Founding of Rome. While the Empire long ago abandoned Rome for Constantinople, we see this as an opportunity to commemorate the truly amazing fact of Roman civic continuity for over two and a half millennia. We also see, in the funding of celebrations in Rome, efforts by the Empire to maintain (and enhance?) cordial relations with the Austrian Empire.
• Influencing World Opinion As we mentioned above, this paper, and many our leaders in business and government, deplore the current state of war with the Roman Empire. We certainly believe that our own nation’s misguided diplomacy drove the Romans into the arms of the French-Polish alliance. Under different circumstances (and with different leaders at the helm of the ship of state) we might be in a very different world: one where we would stand shoulder to shoulder with the Roman Empire, Sweden and Portugal to guarantee the peace of Europe and the economic success of this country’s trade around the world. Imagine a world in which the the French-Polish Alliance is surrounded (contained) by allies committed to world peace! We can only hope that with the publication of this book we are able to accelerate the transformation of our policies and attitudes to the country that for a millennium ensured the survival of Western civilization.
• Insight into the Roman Mind Finally, this book will provide an important view into the workings of the Roman mind. Andronicus Constostephanus oversaw, for over two decades, the production of the definitive summary of Roman History, from the founding of Rome to the early 1800s. Prince Alexios announced it in the early 1800s, and work progressed for over two decades. It currently resides in the Imperial Library in Constantinople. Not only did the Grand Domestic of Prince Alexios oversee the production of this mammoth set of volumes, he coordinated and wrote many of the volumes dealing with the almost miraculous rise of the Roman Empire from the dark days of the early 1400s to today. This personal memoir details, in the combined spirit of Thucydides, Procopius (The Hidden History), Michael Psellus (14 Roman Rulers) and Anna Comnena (The Alexiad), his own views of the Empire and the Emperors, the palace intrigues and battlefield outcomes, and the world around the Empire as Rome moved through the centuries. We are confident that this memoir will reveal many secrets of the imperial world, with all its glitter, glamour and truly byzantine splendour. And we are confident that you, our readers, will emerge from this Historic Opportunity with a newfound understanding and respect for the complex, baffling, byzantine world of yesterday's and today’s Roman Empire.
The serialization will begin in tomorrow’s paper, and will run for an as-yet-to-be-determined number of installments. We are happy to say that we have been able to obtain, both with the book and from private sources in England many illustrations and maps that we believe will enhance the pleasure and informative value of this important serialization. As always, your Letters to the Editor on this topic are welcome, and will be responded to as we are able.
We wish you excellent reading!
Sincerely, the Editors and Publisher
April 3, 1847
Editors and Publishers Announcement
The Editors and Publisher of the Times & Seasons take great pleasure in announcing the serialization of one of the most important books of the year, and perhaps the decade. We are talking of the book Roman Grand Domestic: Memoirs of Andronicus Constostephanus.
Lord Constostephanus was, until his recent death, the Private Secretary and Official Recorder, or Grand Domestic, for Prince Alexios Cantacuzenus, Imperial Governor of Roman Hindustan. Our Foreign Editor had become a close friend and confidant of Constostephanus over the years at the Imperial Governor's Court; at the state funeral the Constostephanus estate directed that this book be given to our Mr. Smith-Rainey for transportation to England, and then translation and publication for the English-speaking world.
We can speculate for many months (and we are sure that many will) on the reasons for this “gift”. The Roman Empire is the source of our word byzantine, and there will no doubt be speculation that this act was part of a grand design to accomplish many hidden things. To each his conspiracy theory, in other words! Perhaps the one on our readers' minds is an effort to bring British (and perhaps American?) interests more closely into alignment with those of the Roman Empire. Certainly this paper believes that England continues to miss a critical opportunity by refusing to develop a closer relationship with this great and ancient country. While we have our own ideas (which for now we will keep private), we are pleased to offer this translation to our reading public for the following reasons:
• Celebration and Public Relations: The Roman Emperor, Konstantinos XIV, has declared this a Grand Year of Celebration throughout his dominions in commemoration of the 2,600th anniversary of the Founding of Rome. While the Empire long ago abandoned Rome for Constantinople, we see this as an opportunity to commemorate the truly amazing fact of Roman civic continuity for over two and a half millennia. We also see, in the funding of celebrations in Rome, efforts by the Empire to maintain (and enhance?) cordial relations with the Austrian Empire.
• Influencing World Opinion As we mentioned above, this paper, and many our leaders in business and government, deplore the current state of war with the Roman Empire. We certainly believe that our own nation’s misguided diplomacy drove the Romans into the arms of the French-Polish alliance. Under different circumstances (and with different leaders at the helm of the ship of state) we might be in a very different world: one where we would stand shoulder to shoulder with the Roman Empire, Sweden and Portugal to guarantee the peace of Europe and the economic success of this country’s trade around the world. Imagine a world in which the the French-Polish Alliance is surrounded (contained) by allies committed to world peace! We can only hope that with the publication of this book we are able to accelerate the transformation of our policies and attitudes to the country that for a millennium ensured the survival of Western civilization.
• Insight into the Roman Mind Finally, this book will provide an important view into the workings of the Roman mind. Andronicus Constostephanus oversaw, for over two decades, the production of the definitive summary of Roman History, from the founding of Rome to the early 1800s. Prince Alexios announced it in the early 1800s, and work progressed for over two decades. It currently resides in the Imperial Library in Constantinople. Not only did the Grand Domestic of Prince Alexios oversee the production of this mammoth set of volumes, he coordinated and wrote many of the volumes dealing with the almost miraculous rise of the Roman Empire from the dark days of the early 1400s to today. This personal memoir details, in the combined spirit of Thucydides, Procopius (The Hidden History), Michael Psellus (14 Roman Rulers) and Anna Comnena (The Alexiad), his own views of the Empire and the Emperors, the palace intrigues and battlefield outcomes, and the world around the Empire as Rome moved through the centuries. We are confident that this memoir will reveal many secrets of the imperial world, with all its glitter, glamour and truly byzantine splendour. And we are confident that you, our readers, will emerge from this Historic Opportunity with a newfound understanding and respect for the complex, baffling, byzantine world of yesterday's and today’s Roman Empire.
The serialization will begin in tomorrow’s paper, and will run for an as-yet-to-be-determined number of installments. We are happy to say that we have been able to obtain, both with the book and from private sources in England many illustrations and maps that we believe will enhance the pleasure and informative value of this important serialization. As always, your Letters to the Editor on this topic are welcome, and will be responded to as we are able.
We wish you excellent reading!
Sincerely, the Editors and Publisher
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