Eugène Rambert

6th April 1830 Sâles VD - 21st November 1886 Lausanne

The Marmot with the Collar
Diary of a Philosopher

Conrad Gessner’s Thierbuch (1563) provides the masthead for our work to restore the Tablets of the Philosophical Marmot to readers of today.

The Philosophical Marmot “tweets” occasional excerpts from the Tablets (chosen by lot) @phil_marmot.

Translator's Preface

Here is presented a neglected classic of nineteenth century Swiss literature, Eugène Rambert’s La marmotte au collier (1889), together with its German translation by M. Rambert’s fellow Swiss, Alfred Graber, Das Murmeltier mit dem Halsband (1929). For the first time the Tablets of the Philosophical Marmot appear also in English.

Both Titivillus and distance from a French library will have left their mark. However, I think it best to publish this trilingual edition of The Marmot with the Collar now and to revise over the coming months and years, as the pandemic and commitment elsewhere afford leisure for Marmotology.

RLH
Feast of the Assumption * 2020

* Dry Moon,
Fourth Day of the Last Quarter

EDITION

Edition / Auflage

La marmotte au collier

E. Rambert

Lausanne (1889)

Das Murmeltier mit dem Halsband

A. Graber

Munich (1929)

The Marmot with the Collar

R. L. Hewitt

Mtunthama (2020)

Gentle Reader

(To whom the Gods have revealed the way to this Cave of the Crystals of Violet) –

Our fathers’ fathers had learned from the elders of their time that a Man (likewise abroad from England) once addressed his aftercomers thus:

Hic, rogo, pauxillum veniens subsiste viator,

Et mea scrutare pectore dicta tuo.

Here, I pray thee, o pilgrim that passest, stand for a short space,

And in thy heart turn o’er words that I utter in death.

Would that all Men who are Friends of Marmots might repay this Diary the same courtesy!

Your Eternal and Philosophical Marmot
Twelfth Day * 2022

* The "Long Night"

PART I

Partie I / Teil I

Premier été

Erster Sommer

First Summer

Clover Moon

Lune du trèfle / Kleemond
M.01.04.04.01 / M.001 - M.01.04.04.04 / M.003
Part 01.01 (Français)
Part 01.01 (Deutsch)
Part 01.01 (English)

Dry Moon

Lune sèche / Trockenmond
M.01.05.01.01 / M.004 - M.01.05.04.07 / M.020
Part 01.02 (Français)
Part 01.02 (Deutsch)
Part 01.02 (English)

Moon of Fatness

Lune de graisse / Fetter Mond
M.01.06.01.02 / M.021 - M.01.06.04.07 / M.035
Part 01.03 (Français)
Part 01.03 (Deutsch)
Part 01.03 (English)

Unhappy Moon

Lune triste / Trauermond
M.01.07.01.01 / M.036 - M.01.07.03.04d / M.057
Part 01.04 (Français)
Part 01.04 (Deutsch)
Part 01.04 (English)

PART II

Partie II / Teil II

Deuxième été

Zweiter Sommer

Second Summer

Moon of Avalanches

Lune des avalanches / Lawinenmond
M.02.01.03.07 / M.058 - M.02.01.04.07 / M.062
Part 02.01 (Français)
Part 02.01 (Deutsch)
Part 02.01 (English)

Moon of Love

Lune d'amour / Liebesmond
M.02.02.01.06 / M.063 - M.02.02.04.07 / M.085
Part 02.02 (Français)
Part 02.02 (Deutsch)
Part 02.02 (English)

Withered Moon

Lune flétrie / Magerer Mond
M.02.03.01.01 / M.086 - M.02.03.04.07 / M.101
Part 02.03 (Français)
Part 02.03 (Deutsch)
Part 02.03 (English)

Clover Moon

Lune du trèfle / Kleemond
M.02.04.01.02 / M.102 - M.02.04.04.07 / M.119
Part 02.04 (Français)
Part 02.04 (Deutsch)
Part 02.04 (English)

Dry Moon

Lune sèche / Trockenmond
M.02.05.01.01 / M.120 - M.02.05.03.04 / M.131
Part 02.05 (Français)
Part 02.05 (Deutsch)
Part 02.05 (English)

Moon of Fatness

Lune de graisse / Fetter Mond
M.02.06.01.01 / M.132 - M.02.06.03.07 / M.146
Part 02.06 (Français)
Part 02.06 (Deutsch)
Part 02.06 (English)

[Unhappy Moon]

[Lune triste] / Trauermond
M.02.07.01.01 / M.147 - M.02.07.03.04b / M.163
Part 02.07 (Français)
Part 02.07 (Deutsch)
Part 02.07 (English)

PART III

Partie III / Teil III

Troisième été

Dritter Sommer

Third Summer

Moon of Avalanches

Lune des avalanches / Lawinenmond
M.03.01.03.03 / M.164 - M.03.01.04.07 / M.174
Part 03.01 (Français)
Part 03.01 (Deutsch)
Part 03.01 (English)

Moon of Love

Lune d'amour / Liebesmond
M.03.02.01.01a / M.175 - M.03.02.04.06 / M.203
Part 03.02 (Français)
Part 03.02 (Deutsch)
Part 03.02 (English)

Withered Moon

Lune flétrie / Magerer Mond
M.03.03.01.05 / M.204 - M.03.03.04.01 / M.220
Part 03.03 (Français)
Part 03.03 (Deutsch)
Part 03.03 (English)

M.034

The eyes of Men speak always two things at once.

master_badger
cow

Thanks

Dr. Stephen Marsh (qd. Kamuzu Academy) and Messrs. Tomali Banda and Andrew Goodson (Kamuzu Academy) kindly assisted with details in the French.

 

Mr. Barnaby Probert (Plymouth) proved an indefatigable collaborator in the search after the identity of the flora known to the Philosophical Marmot.

 

Dr. Marsh and Mr. Probert also read drafts of the English translation, as did Ms. Daisy Belfield Santos (qd. Kamuzu Academy).

"Jacopo Ligozzi, A Marmot with a Branch of Plums, 1605, brush with brown and black wash, point of the brush with black and brown ink and white gouache, and watercolor, over traces of graphite on burnished paper, sheet: 33 x 42.3 cm (13 x 16 5/8 in.) (paper edge slightly covered by the old mount), Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Purchased as the Gift of Helen Porter and James T. Dyke, 2007.111.121"

Illustrations

The Diary is illustrated from the Wellcome Collection (London), together with AstroPixels and the National Gallery of Art (Arizona and Washington DC) and the Albertina (Vienna).

E. Rambert: La marmotte au collier (1889)

The Marmot with the Collar
A Trilingual Edition

Richard L. Hewitt
Kamuzu Academy, Malawi

2020 - 2022