The Spanish language started attracting widespread attention in Britain in the 19^th century, when “Great Britain’s attitude to Spain was softening, and former prejudices were giving way to a new understanding” (The emergence and growth of Hispanic studies in British and Irish universities, 2018.11.705).

Modern languages were officially introduced in the 19^th century in universities such as King’s College London and University College London, and later, in the so-called Redbrick universities (Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and Bristol) – the term “redbrick” was coined by an influential English Hispanist, Edgar Allison Peers, Professor at Liverpool and founder of the Bulletin of Spanish studies (1923). These newer universities were more open to the study of modern languages than the historic universities, such as Oxford and Cambridge.

Oxford and Cambridge had a strong tradition in the study and teaching of classic languages and were therefore reluctant to introduce modern languages into the curriculum. Once they did, Spanish had a further obstacle: it had to compete against French and German, which had become more quickly established. However, by the end of the 19^th century, Spanish had made its start at Oxford. Note that in those days, any academic qualification was required to teach languages, so Spanish professors were often amateur Hispanophiles. Cambridge took longer to introduce Spanish; although French, Italian and German were taught in Cambridge during the 19^th century, there is no evidence of Spanish teaching. Then in 1913, the University appointed its first Spanish teacher, J. M. Villasante, who was a Spanish native with no known qualifications. In 1919, Frederick A. Kirkpatrick was appointed in the first Readership position in Spanish. Eventually, in 1933, a Chair of Spanish was established and Professor John Brande Trend was elected to the role.

1850.4.64

2017.7.369

2017.7.369

Regarding the study of Spanish in secondary education, it was offered by few schools in the first decades of the 20^th century; French or German were by far the most common choices at that time. Eventually, the potential for Spanish as a commercial language was regarded as an advantage for its study, particularly for business relations with Latin America. Nowadays, of course, Spanish is widely taught in both higher and secondary education in the UK.

It should be noted that the range of books for studying a modern language in the mid-19^th century was very limited. Today two books are being highlighted, both different in scope and quality. The first is a bilingual phrase book for students or travellers and the second is a Spanish grammar for university students.

The phrase book was published in the mid-19^th century by Bradshaw’s, known for their railway timetables and travel guides (Bradshaw’s complete Anglo-Spanish phrase-book for travellers and students. 1850.4.64). This book was part of their Continental phrase books series, which comprised titles in French, German and Italian, with facing pages containing the English translations. At first, all were written by the same person, Edward Emanuel, “professor of the modern languages”. Unfortunately, his level of Spanish was not good enough for the task. The book has many mistakes, including the Spanish translation of the title.

The University Library holds a later edition of this phrase book by Bradshaw’s (2017.7.369), which is clearly an improved version of the first one, but does not state a particular author. The new edition “completely revised and corrected”, was published in the early 20^th century. It includes interesting additions such as vocabulary for cycling, motoring and photography, and tables at the end of the book (weights and measures, foreign currencies, etc.) The great advantage of these phrase books was the pocket size (only 18 cm high), very convenient for travellers, as noted in the title.

Now we focus in a less popular and rarer book, but of much higher quality: A grammar of Spanish language for the use of the students in King’s College (1833. Ant.d.88.42). It was written by José María Jiménez de Alcalá, Professor at King’s College London, and is the first university textbook for Spanish language teaching published in the UK. Jiménez de Alcalá was formerly a Professor of Natural History in Seville. He also wrote two books on religious history.

This grammar book was an advanced work for its time, covering comprehensive explanations of the use of parts of speech and idiomatic expressions, with explanations of orthography and punctuation, etc. In addition, Jiménez de Alcalá did not include dialogues, extracts and treatises on versification, which were common at the time.

The 2^nd edition (1840) of his grammar book was reprinted as a facsimile edition in 1998, with an introduction by Professor David Hook (L773.c.19.1).

Manuel del Campo

Further reading

-Proceedings of the symposium “Remembering J.B. Trend: the quiet internationalist”, convened by Professor Alison Sinclair and Karen Arrandale; held at Cambridge and Madrid, April 22-23 and 25, 2013. C212.c.7322

-Emanuel, Edward. Bradshaw’s complete Anglo-Spanish phrase-book for travellers and students: with a vocabulary of the most useful words in English and Spanish; the modes of addressing the dignitaries of England and Spain; letters; notes of invitation, etc. London: W. J. Adams ; Manchester: Bradshaw and Blacklock, 1850. 1850.4.64

-Frost, Ann. The emergence and growth of Hispanic studies in British and Irish universities. Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland, 2018. 2018.11.705

-Jiménez de Alcalá, José María. Grammar of Spanish language for the use of the students in King’s College. London: printed for Whittaker & Co., 1833. Ant.d.88.42 (2nd ed. available in facsimile L773.c.19.1)

-Smith, Colin. The Department of Spanish. In The magazine of the Cambridge Society, 8, 1981, p. 16-22. Cam.c.21.102.2