Ludwik Kondratowicz as a publisher of Old Polish Latin-language writers. Editing issues

Abstract

Ludwik Kondratowicz (1823–1862) first came to prominence in wider literary life as a translator and publisher of works by Polish Latin-language writers of the 16th and 17th centuries. The course of his translation work is known from the translator’s letters, above all to Jozef I. Kraszewski and Antoni Pietkiewicz, with whom he consulted his initiative. The translator’s works were published between 1848 and 1855 in two collections: Translations of Polish-Latin Poetry of the Zygmunt Era [Przekłady poezji polsko-łacińskiej epoki Zygmuntowskiej], and The Country’s Chronicle Writers [Dziejopisowie Krajowi], each comprising six volumes. For both series, Kondratowicz gave an aesthetically pleasing graphic design, as well as valuable editorial content, providing individual works with introductions and factual footnotes (by himself and, among others, Mikołaj Malinowski). The translation and publishing work received relatively considerable recognition from the cultural milieu of Vilnius, but also of Warsaw and Greater Poland, and was meticulously remarked upon above all by the critics of the “Biblioteka Warszawska”. The reviewers’ opinions show the areas of interest of literary historians of the time. However, there was hardly any place for editorial and philological phenomena. Still, Syrokomla’s translation initiative restored forgotten Old Polish writers to literary and social life, and proposed a publishing model that was perpetuated in the following decades.