Editorial problems of the edition of Zbiór mniejszy poezji polskich drobniejszych by Józef Epifani Minasowicz

Abstract

The article is a description of the proposal of a critical edition of Zbiór mniejszy poezji polskich drobniejszych by Józef Epifani Minasowicz, a Polish poet of the late Saxon period and the Reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski. The author describes the problems which have to be faced by a publisher of texts from the past, willing to make readers familiar with the legacy of such a prolific writer. Zbiór has over 270 pages and is the smallest volume among the works by Minasowicz, who was an extremely hard-working poet, an interpreter, an editor and a publisher, widely acclaimed by his contemporaries, but almost completely forgotten today. The article presents the most important problems concerning the process of preparing an edition, such as: selecting the type of edition, representativeness of the collection, and rules of edition. A factor worth mentioning is the situation ideal for an editor, in which an author of numerous lengthy volumes of low literary value, and at the same time deserving the attention of contemporary readers, had himself prepared a selection of his works: divided into smaller sections, systematized, and supplemented with explanations. It is only such a selection by the author that allows for preparing a critical edition, and only such an edition is useful in a cognitive sense. The analysis also includes doubts concerning the representativeness of the collection, which the author contradicts against the benefits from describing the character of the 18th century poet.