Prawda Ruska. Vol. I - II

Rakowiecki, Ignacy Benedykt

Published by Warsaw, 1820

About this Item

2 volumes in 8vo (23 cm): [8], XVIII, 278 pp.; XII, 320 pp. Contemporary leather-backed boards, spine gilt, red leather label with gilt title (bindings rubbed; interleaved with author's (?) notes, newspaper and journal clippings; folded margins of some leaves filled with manuscript annotations; lacking folding table). In Polish. "Russkaya Pravda, that is, the laws of the Grand Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich . alongside a Polish translation" is the principal contribution to Slavic studies by the Polish historian and philologist Ignacy Benedykt Rakowiecki (1783-1839). The book was published by the author and dedicated to Emperor Alexander I of Russia. The first volume, printed in 1820, contains a historical outline of the customs, traditions, religion, laws, and language of the ancient Slavs, particularly the East Slavs of Kievan Rus', and includes a chronological list of Rus', Moscovite, and Russian rulers from Rurik to Peter the Great. The second volume, published in 1822, presents parallel texts in Old East Slavic and Polish translation of the Russkaya Pravda, the legal code of Kievan Rus' and its principalities from the early 12th century, as well as the treaties of Olga and Igor, Grand Princes of Kiev, with the Greek emperors, and of Mstislav Davidovich, Prince of Smolensk, concluded with Riga and Gotland; its second part contains a historical outline of the origins and development of Slavic and Polish languages. This copy, composed of quires printed on different grey and blue paper and with numerous additions, notes, and corrections, is likely the author's working copy, bound in 1839 or later (the latest clipping from Kurjer Warszawski dated February 25, 1839, shortly before Rakowiecki's death on July 22, 1839). A very unusual copy of an uncommon and important book.

Seller Inventory # 009564

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Prawda Ruska. Vol. I - II
• Publisher: Warsaw
• Publication Date: 1820
• Language: Polish
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • History