Artykuły i materiały

Tom 53 (2009)

Recepcja wydawnicza dzieł Karola Darwina w Polsce w XIX wieku

Jakub Jakubowski

Strony: 249 - 268

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Abstrakt

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Reception of Charles Darwin's works in Poland in the 19th century</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Charles Darwin 1809-1882 published 16 academic works, the most important of which was <em>On the Origin of Species by the Means of Natural Selection</em> London 1859. This work completely changed the perception of nature and lay the foundations for modern biological sciences. By the end of the 19<sup>th</sup> century all of Darwin&rsquo;s works from the so-called evolutionist cycle were published in Poland; the publications included 6 works in 13 editions and variants. Darwin&rsquo;s writings were brought to the attention of Polish readers mainly through publications associated with socio-cultural periodicals &ldquo;Niwa&rdquo;, &ldquo;Kraj&rdquo;, &ldquo;Przegląd Tygowniowy&rdquo;. For their editors Darwinism was an important concept that created the framework for a progressive ideological programme. The publishers of the &ldquo;Niwa&rdquo; biweekly began to publish Darwin&rsquo;s works in Poland during a dispute over Darwinism 1872-1876, publishing <em>The Expression of the Emotions</em> Warsaw 1872 and an unfinished <em>On the Origin of Species</em> Warsaw 1873. The second attempt to publish the works by the British naturalist was made in the mid 1880s by the publishers of &ldquo;Przegląd Tygodniowy&rdquo; in collaboration with the young naturalists-translators, J&oacute;zef Nusbaum 1859-1933 and Szymon Dickstein 1858-1884. It came at a time of intensified discussion about the merits of Darwin&rsquo;s theory 1882-1891 and covered four of his works, including the first complete Polish edition of O<em>n the Origin of Species</em> Warsaw 1884. The full biography of Darwin works published in the form of books in Poland by the end of the 19<sup>th</sup> century, included in the article, takes into account for the first time all known publishers&rsquo; and printers&rsquo; variants, and identifies original editions that were the basis of Polish translations.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>