Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
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Alexander Louis Teixeira de Mattos (Teixeira sometimes spelled Texeira) (9 April 1865 Amsterdam–5 December 1921) was a journalist, literary critic and publisher, who gained his greatest level of fame as a translator.
Teixeira de Mattos moved with his family to England in 1874 and was educated at the Kensington catholic public school. He worked as a correspondent, editor and dramatic critic for several Dutch newspapers. On 20 October 1900 he married Lily Wilde, widow of Oscar Wilde’s brother Willie. During World War I he was head of the intelligence section of the department of war trade intelligence.
He was responsible for many extremely perceptive and well-executed English translations of major French- and Dutch-language literary works, including works by Emile Zola, Maurice Maeterlinck, Alexis de Tocqueville, Jean Henri Fabre, Maurice Leblanc, Gaston Leroux and Louis Couperus. The high quality and readability of his work was such that many of his translations are still in print today; although some of these are over a century old, they have yet to be superseded by a more modern version.
