'Western Europe owes its civilisation to translators.' If you find these opening words of Louis Kelly's excellent book a little surprising, you can confirm their truth by the most casual glance at the Oxford Companion to English Literature. There you will find – and I choose at random – the names of Anacreon, Cervantes, Croce, Dostoevsky, Hegel, Ovid, Racine...

What sort of readership is this book, with its rather awe-inspiring title, aimed at? The working translator may be forgiven if at first he recoils, winces, and mutters to himself: Well, not me, at any rate. But he would do well to conquer any such lily-livered gut reaction because, apart from all the rest, he will find the book highly reassuring. Professor Kelly states categorically:

'Fortunately, good translation has never depended on adequate theory.' 'Its first element is usually instinctive.' Nor do the linguist and his analysis direct the conscience of a translator.' 'Had translation depended for its survival on theory, it would have died out long before Cicero.' Personally, I think this book provides food for reflection for anyone concerned with any sort of writing, whether as producer or consumer, but the people I feel are in desperate