New edition of Kroniki tygodniowe by Bolesław Prus. Examples of editorial investigations

Abstract

The article describes the work on the new edition of Kroniki tygodniowe by Bolesław Prus, which were originally published in “Kurier Warszawski” and “Nowiny”. Explaining the names, events and dates, curiosities and details which are incomprehensible at first, as well as the need to precisely locate the quotations which Prus provided from memory, has many times turned out to be a detective’s adventure. The analysis includes the “cases” which are both the most interesting and diverse, demonstrating numerous hurdles one can stumble upon during investigation. The guiding thought here was pointing to the most effective method to solve a particular mystery. Another aspect worth emphasizing is the necessity to arduously collect quotations from press, non-serial publications, and other available sources, which after the stage of meticulous “collecting” could provide relevant information to be used in the final commentary. Four cases have been presented: Mikołaj Sankowski, Carl Hermann, Michał Siemiradzki (play with dates), press trifles and troublesome descriptions. All of them demonstrate the ways to ultimately formulate footnotes, which – as agreed – should be brief, but always treated individually. The examples of editorial investigations discussed in the article present an excerpt of the work which is invisible to and unappreciated by the readers, thanks to which a published text becomes comprehensible by means of the added comments.