Family Name: Morgan
First Name: Joseph
Main places of activity:
Place From To
London 1718 1737
Personal info:
Career

All that is known about Joseph Morgan's life can be gleaned from references in his prefaces. He spent several years in North Africa in the early part of the 18th Century; he took part in the seige of Oran in 1707 and spent several years in Algiers as chancellor to the British Consul Robert Cole. He left Algiers for Tunis in 1719 and he returned to England in 1720.
In England he seems to have been connected to Freemasonry circles.
Financial Situation

His main source of income in England seems to have come from translations and compilations, none of which lasted long. His dedications to various people was doubtless an attempt to acquire patronage. Phœnix Britannicus is dedicated to the Duke of Richmond, Grand Master of the Freemasons; Morgan claims to be a Freemason and calls on the patronage of the Duke and his fellow Masons. Other works were published on subscription. When he was arrested with Radicati di Passerano in November 1732, he was said to be so poor that he would only be able to pay a small amount of bail. He may have found someone to pay it for him as he was not kept in prison.
Translations Other Works

translations activities

Morgan probably did much translation in London, and may have been responsible for more translations than those indicated.

secondary bibliography references

H.Sirr, “J.Morgan and his ‘Phœnix Britannicus’, with notes about his other works”, in Trans. Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 1906, vol.XIX, p.127.

Ann Thomson,    «Joseph Morgan et le monde islamique», Dix-huitième Siècle, n°27 (1995), p. 351-363.

Franco Venturi, Saggi sull' Europa illuminista, I: Alberto Radicati di Passerano, Turin, Einaudi, 1954, p. 204-219.

Translations

  • Tratato secundo de los articulos, que tudo buen Muslim esta obligado a créer y tener por fé

  • Translation Title: Mahometism Fully Explained
  • Original Author: Mohamed Rabadan
  • Original title: Tratato secundo de los articulos, que tudo buen Muslim esta obligado a créer y tener por fé
  • lang: Spanish/Arabic
  • Note:

    Manuscript written in 1603 in a mixture of Arabic and Spanish, bought by Morgan in Tunis in 1719 and donated to Lord Harley's collection in Oxford.
  • Translation: Mahometism Fully Explained
  • Publisher: William Mears
  • N° Editions: 1
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1722
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    The second volume was published by subscription.

    Translation accompanied by notes and commentaries.

    On the author and the manuscript, see H.E.J. Stanley, in Journal of the Roal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1868, p. 81-104, 379-413; 1869, p. 140-177; 1870, p. 119-140, 303-337; 1872, p. 165-196, 204-212.



  • Dissertazione filosofica sulla morte

  • Translation Title: Philosophical Dissertation on Death
  • Original Author: Alberto Radicati di Passerano
  • Original title: Dissertazione filosofica sulla morte
  • lang: Italian
  • Note:

    No copy of an original italian version exists. Contemporary documents cited by Venturi indicate that Morgan translated it from the original Italian.
  • Translation: Philosophical Dissertation on Death
  • Publisher: William Mears
  • N° Editions: 1
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1731
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    As a result of the publication, Radicati, Morgan and Mears were briefly arrested in November 1732 at the request of the Bishop of London.

  • Dissertation sur les Lémures ou les âmes des morts

  • Translation Title: The Heathen Notions concerning the State of the Dead
  • Original Author: Richard Simon
  • Original title: Dissertation sur les Lémures ou les âmes des morts
  • Publ. Year From: Thu, Jan 01, 1970 to:
  • lang: French
  • Note:

    Paper published in the Histoire de l'Académie royale des inscriptions en belles-lettres avec les Mémoires de littérature tirées des registres de cette Académie, Paris, Imprimerie royale,vol.I, 1717, p.33-49.
  • Translation: The Heathen Notions concerning the State of the Dead
  • Publisher: not indicated
  • Pub. Place: not indicated
  • Pub. Date: 1727
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    Contained in: Thomas Burnet, A Re-Survey of the Mosaic System of the Creation. With rules for the right judging and interpreting of Scripture ... Translated from the Latin by Mr. Foxton, p. 50-87. A note indicates it was translated by Morgan and first printed in 1723

  • Manuscript letters to Lady Wharton

  • Translation Title: Whartoniana or Miscellanies in verse and prose
  • Original Author:
  • Original title: Manuscript letters to Lady Wharton
  • lang: French
  • Note:

    The Dedication of the 1st volume of the translation indicates that it is from a manuscript in French addressed before the Revolution to Lady Wharton.
  • Translation: Whartoniana or Miscellanies in verse and prose
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1726
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    Probably the the letters at the beginning of vol.II, p.3-44

  • Traité où l’on démontre l’immobilité de la terre et sa situation fixe au centre de l’univers

  • Translation Title: The Immobility of the Earth demonstrated
  • Original Author: Étienne Lécuyer de Lajonchère
  • Original title: Traité où l’on démontre l’immobilité de la terre et sa situation fixe au centre de l’univers
  • lang: French
  • Note:

    This work may not have been published; Morgan presents it as part of a larger System of philosophy to be published.
  • Translation: The Immobility of the Earth demonstrated
  • Publisher: E. Curll
  • N° Editions: 2
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1728
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    Published as an appendix to: Gilbert Burnet, Archæologiæ philosophicæ: or, the Ancient doctrine concerning the originals of things ... Faithfully translated into English, with remarks thereon, by Mr. Foxton.

  • Histoire d'Angleterre

  • Translation Title: The History of England, vol.II
  • Original Author: Paul de Rapin de Thoyras
  • Original title: Histoire d'Angleterre
  • Publ. Year From: 1723 to: 1726
  • lang: French
  • Note:

    The volume translated by Morgan corresponds to vol.V-VIII in the original (published 1724-5).
  • Translation: The History of England, vol.II
  • Publisher: James Mechell
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1732
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    With added explanatory notes

    Vol.I (1732) was translated by John Kelly, vol. III (1737) has no indication of the translators' name.

  • Voyage pour la rédemption des captifs aux royaumes d'Alger et de Tunis fait en 1720

  • Translation Title: A Voyage to Barbary, for the Redemption of Captives; performed, in 1720, by the Mathurin-Trinitarian Fathers, François Comelin, Philemon de la Motte, and Jos. Bernard
  • Original Author: François Comelin, Philémon de La Motte, Joseph Bernard
  • Original title: Voyage pour la rédemption des captifs aux royaumes d'Alger et de Tunis fait en 1720
  • Publ. Year From: 1720 to:
  • lang: French
  • Note:

    There seem to have been several versions published in 1721 by different printers.
  • Translation: A Voyage to Barbary, for the Redemption of Captives; performed, in 1720, by the Mathurin-Trinitarian Fathers, François Comelin, Philemon de la Motte, and Jos. Bernard
  • Publisher: Charles Corbett, John Brindley, John Joliffe, Thomas Boreman, Samuel Baker
  • N° Editions: 2
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1734
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    Morgan added his own notes and criticisms.
    A second edition was published without Morgan's name by Oliver Payne in 1736 under the title: Several voyages to Barbary. Containing an historical and geographical account of the country... With a journal of the late siege and surrender of Oran. To which are added. The maps of Barbary... by captain Henry Boyde. The whole illustrated with notes historical and critical.

  • Descripcion general de Africa

  • Translation Title: Appendix. Being the history, ancient and modern, of Oran and Al-Marsa
  • Original Author: Luis del Marmol y Carvajal
  • Original title: Descripcion general de Africa
  • Publ. Year From: 1572 to: 1598
  • lang: Spanish
  • Note:

    The first two volumes were published in Grenada in 1573, vol.III in Malaga in 1599.
  • Translation: Appendix. Being the history, ancient and modern, of Oran and Al-Marsa
  • Publisher: Charles Corbett, John Brindley, John Joliffe, Thomas Boreman, Samuel Baker
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1734
  • Note:

    Translation of Bk.V, ch. 18 and 19, published as Appendix to Several Voyages to Barbary

  • Histoire de l'empire des chérifs en Afrique

  • Translation Title: Journal of the Spaniards procedure in those their late African conquests
  • Original Author: abbé Boulet
  • Original title: Histoire de l'empire des chérifs en Afrique
  • Publ. Year From: 1732 to:
  • lang: French
  • Translation: Journal of the Spaniards procedure in those their late African conquests
  • Publisher: Charles Corbett, John Brindley, John Joliffe, Thomas Boreman, Samuel Baker
  • N° Editions: 2
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1734
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    Part of the work was published as an Appendix to Several voyages to Barbary.

  • Histoire du royaume d'Alger

  • Translation Title: A Complete History of the Piratical States of Barbary
  • Original Author: Jacques Philippe Laugier de Tassy
  • Original title: Histoire du royaume d'Alger
  • Publ. Year From: 1724 to:
  • lang: French
  • Translation: A Complete History of the Piratical States of Barbary
  • Publisher: R. Griffiths
  • N° Editions: 2
  • Pub. Place: London
  • Pub. Date: 1749
  • Lang: English
  • Note:

    Morgan knew the author and his work, and quotes some passages in translation in his own History of Algiers, but it is not certain that Morgan was responsible for this publication.

calamaio

By: