Payment
You will receive an invoice. I charge my fixed hourly rate of €50.
You always receive a binding quote in advance, so you know the costs from the start – with no hidden extra costs. For larger projects I am happy to offer a special rate.
Costs
Hourly rate
My hourly rate is €50.
You will always receive a binding quote first, so you can decide at your own pace whether to commission the work. The minimum price per order is €5.
How readable a text is depends on several factors: the handwriting itself, the condition of the original – i.e. the state of the paper and ink – and the use of proper names, numerals and technical terms. For larger projects I'm happy to offer a special rate and will provide a binding quote. For questions, please use the contact form.
Estates often contain handwritten documents. Here it's first a matter of working out which documents should be kept and translated. I'm happy to review your documents by skimming through them, numbering them, and giving a rough summary of their content. You then decide which ones you'd like translated.
Good to know
Payment & postage
Postage
Individual documents and short texts are easily handled by email: you send me your text and I send the finished transcription back the same way.
Longer texts are better sent by post, as originals or copies. You bear the postage costs; for originals this includes insured shipping both ways.
From practice
A few pricing examples
Postcard
€5
Großbottwar, 27.12.14 Dear brother-in-law, sending you the very best wishes and blessings for the new year and hoping you'll be home soon. Greetings from all of us Karoline Seiffer — Corporal Gravenauer Vehicle column no. 5 of the 5th Army's staging-area inspectorate
Seal inscription
€5
The sealing carried out is confirmed by Staabs Keller here, Eberhard Friedrich Erhardten.
Property register
€50
Original
Translation
Inventory
€30
Original
Translation
Explanation (included): On this page from a volume of estate inventories and divisions, the clothing from the estate of a deceased woman is listed along with its appraised value. 18th century. (fl abbreviates the Florentine guilder, x abbreviates the Kreuzer.)
Letter with annotations
€50
Greenfield Huron County, 8 November 1850 Dearest friend Karl Link. Since the authorities have placed their trust in you as administrator of my estate, I will place my trust in you too. I think you will take care of it as well as your duty and obligation require. Sell the estate that has fallen to me soon. It is no longer my wish to go to Germany, so also sell three or four promissory notes as you think best. The promissory notes are to be dealt with at once. When I received this letter from the authorities, I immediately bought land. I have paid the deposit of one hundred and fifty thalers; the remainder of two hundred thalers I must pay in full by the late autumn of 1851. The land is near Conrad Kraft in Richmond County. I could have paid more towards it, but last summer, in the best season, I was ill with fever for 10 weeks, …Read more
which cost me a lot of money, and now I cannot earn anything, as I have to work on my land. The power of attorney was drawn up on the 5th of November. Once you have the money in hand, send it to me by bill of exchange to New York or Baltimore, wherever is most convenient, and from there on to the bank. Dearest siblings, since I now have the opportunity, I would like to write you a few lines as well. I received your letter, which you gave to Gottlieb Haag to take to America, with great joy on 28 July. (The letter) It found me in good health. You also wrote that you are all well except our brother Jacob, who died of pneumonia the year before. Again you report that our mother has died after a long illness and painful suffering….
Explanation (included):
- The “estate that has fallen to him” refers to the money and assets that the writer and his siblings inherited upon their mother's death – the inheritance “fell to” them. As he was not present in Germany, the local court appointed an estate administrator to represent his interests. The letter is addressed to this person.
- “Zieler” are promissory notes due on a set date. The estate administrator is meant to sell the notes on so that the writer quickly receives the money.
- The writer is Swabian: “den Bank” and “die Zeilet” are not spelling mistakes but “Swabian grammar and spelling”. They mean a financial institution and lines of a letter.
- The writer lives in America but presumably speaks little or poor English. He therefore writes place names as he hears them: Greenfield Huron Kaunti – Greenfield Huron County, Neuyork – New York, Baldemor – Baltimore.