Zalecenia staropolskich edycji przekładów Księgi Psalmów

Abstract

The article presents various recommendatory peritextual forms that were included in consecutive editions of Polish translations of The Book of Psalms. There are indicated fragments of dedicatory letters emphasizing the positive aspects of the said translations, praising the translators and the patrons of particular editions. In addition, the author of the article points to prefaces and poems to the reader, in which there also were advertised both Catholic and Protestant books of psalms, as well as indicated the particular groups of readers. Some of the recommendatory poems were later reused, with only slight alternations, in different editions of The Books of Psalms (for example in the translation by Salomon Rysiński in the Sebastian Sternacki’s edition). In order to advertise the individual editions, the authority of St. Basil the Great was invoked by quoting his praise of psalms. Recommendatory statements appeared on the books’ title leafs, at beginnings and ends of editions; they also varied in scope: from brief maxims to lengthy arguments by the translators and printers.