The Origin of History of Polish Literature [Historia literatury polskiej] by Feliks Bentkowski

Abstract

The article discusses the origin of the Historia literatury polskiej wystawionej w spisie dzieł drukiem ogłoszonych [History of Polish Literature presented in the list of published works] (Warsaw Vilna, t. 1–2, 1814) because of this year’s bicentennial anniversary of its publication. The study presents the political situation in the capital of the Duchy of Warsaw, which largely influenced the development of Polish literary historiography, and discusses the initiatives undertaken by the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science community aimed to write and publish a handbook of history of Polish literature. The paper names and characterizes the profiles of authors who were commissioned to prepare the handbook in question. The circumstances of compilation of the History of Polish Literature, whose author was finally to be F. Bentkowski, were shown: the book was initially intended as a school handbook but was finally published as a monumental two-volume work. The concepts of several scholars were analyzed concerning the probable date of when Bentkowski started to prepare the synopsis of History of Polish Literature, and the factors and other works that prompted him to begin work on the book in question. The scholarly methodology employed by F. Bentkowski when gathering materials for the future History of Polish Literature (i.e. research in the book collections of six libraries, including five in Warsaw) was presented and the bibliographic materials made available to him by other scholars, upon which he drew while working on the book, were specified. It was emphasized that the History of Polish Literature [Historia literatury polskiej] brought Bentkowski fame, awards, and honors, but despite its favorable reception in Warsaw’s academic community and its great significance for bibliography and Polish literature, it id not have a second edition in the 19th century. It was reissued only once in the 1980 s.