Knygotyra ISSN 0204–2061 eISSN 2345-0053
2022, vol. 78, pp. 80–110 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15388/Knygotyra.2022.78.107

How Did the Translation of Genovefa by Christoph von Schmidt Become the 19^th-Century Lithuanian Vestseller?

Aušra Navickienė
Vilnius University, Faculty of Communication,
Department of Book Science and Publishing
3 Universiteto St., LT-0513, Vilnius, Lithuania
Email: ausra.navickiene@kf.vu.lt

Summary. This article analyses the repertoire of nineteenth-century Lithuanian fiction to identify cases of bestsellers and to reconstruct their publishing history. The concept of nineteenth-century Lithuanian fiction publication is broadly understood. It includes fiction printed in the Lithuanian language in Lithuania, Lithuania Minor and the Lithuanian emigration from 1795, when the third partition of Poland and Lithuania took place and the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were annexed by Russian empire, until 1904, when the ban on printing in Latin script, which lasted for four decades after 1864, was lifted. The history of the translation and publication of German writer Christoph von Schmidt’s work Genovefa was selected as a study case. A study was conducted to find answers to various issues: Does this publication with its fifteenth editions qualify as the Lithuanian bestseller? What factors led to the large number of new editions of this title? How did contrafactions (publications with intentionally false imprints) contribute to book sales during the ban on publishing in Latin characters in Lithuania? The research findings reveal publishing trends characteristic of Europe in a phase of modernisation (new business models of the publishing industry, growing public literacy and changing public demand for reading material). In addition, they show the peculiarities of nineteenth-century book publishing and the book trade in the European regions involved in a struggle against occupation and for the preservation of their national identities.

Keywords: publishing history, Lithuania, nineteenth century, Christoph von Schmidt, Genofeva, contrafactions.

Kaip Christopho von Schmidto lietuviškasis Genovefos vertimas tapo devynioliktojo amžiaus bestseleriu?

Santrauka. Straipsnyje yra analizuojamas devynioliktojo amžiaus grožinės literatūros lietuvių kalba leidybos repertuaras, siekiant nustatyti didžiausią komercinį pasisekimą ir skaitytojų auditorijos pripažinimą sulaukusius leidinius ir rekonstruoti jų leidybos istoriją. Sąvoka devynioliktojo amžiaus lietuviškas grožinės literatūros leidinys yra suprantama plačiai, apimant Lietuvoje, Mažojoje Lietuvoje (Prūsijoje) ir išeivijoje išleistus grožinės literatūros kūrinius lietuvių kalba laikotarpiu nuo trečiojo Lenkijos ir Lietuvos valstybės padalijimo 1795 m. iki spaudos draudimo panaikinimo 1904 m. Kaip atvejo tyrimas pasirinkta vokiečių rašytojo Christopho von Schmidto Genovefos vertimų į lietuvių kalbą ir jų leidybos istorija. Remiantis retrospektyviosios bibliografijos šaltiniais, taip pat pačiais XIX a. vertimų leidiniais ir juose leidėjų pateikta informacija, išlikusia knygos veikėjų korespondencija, cenzūros įstaigų dokumentais, leidybos įmonių archyviniais dokumentais, knygų prekybos katalogais, XIX a. carinėje Rusijoje valstybės iniciatyva pradėtais leisti informaciniais statistiniais rinkiniais bei susistemintomis ir apibendrintomis žiniomis iš lietuvių bibliografų, knygotyrininkų, filologų, istorikų XIX a. leidybos istorijos darbų, straipsnyje siekiama rekonstruoti pasirinkto leidinio leidybos istoriją ir atsakyti į klausimus: ar šis penkiolikos laidų sulaukęs leidinys gali pretenduoti į bestselerio titulą? Kokie veiksniai lėmė didelį šio leidinio kartotinių laidų skaičių? Kaip kontrafakcijos (leidiniai su tyčia suklastotais leidimo duomenimis) prisidėjo prie knygų pardavimo sėkmės spaudos draudimo lotyniškaisiais rašmenimis laikotarpiu? Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidžia leidybos tendencijas, būdingas moderniųjų laikų Europai (nauji leidybos verslo modeliai, augantis visuomenės raštingumas ir besikeičiantis skaitymo poreikis). Be to, jie parodo XIX a. knygų leidybos ir prekybos knygomis ypatumus Europos regionuose, įsitraukusiuose į kovą su okupacija ir už savo nacionalinio tapatumo išsaugojimą.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: leidybos verslas, Lietuva, devynioliktasis amžius, Christophas von Schmidtas, Genovefa, kontrafakcijos.

Received: 2021 11 07. Accepted: 2022 04 09
Copyright © 2022 Aušra Navickienė. Published by Vilnius University Press. This is an Open Access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Introduction

Christoph von Schmidt, a German writer and pedagogue of the first half of the nineteenth century, enjoyed great popularity in Europe. He studied theology, became a priest and, while working in different parishes, taught children and wrote didactic literature for young people promoting Christian values. His novellas Genovefa (1810), Die Ostereyer (1816), Das Blumenkörbchen (1823), Rosa von Tannenburg (1823) and Der Weihnachtsabend (1825) rank as his most popular titles. His works were translated into many different languages and published all over Europe during the author’s lifetime. The Basket of Flowers (Das Blumenkörbchen) circulated in English-speaking countries, whereas the novella Genofeva (Genevieve), based on a well-known thirteenth-century legend about Siegfried’s wife who was falsely accused of adultery and lived for six years together with her son in a cave in a forest, was popular in Lithuania. Genovefa’s popularity was not an exclusively Lithuanian phenomenon. Translations began in 1815 and it was read in the languages of both large and small European nations. Its first Lithuanian translation appeared in 1838 and complemented a limited number of publications of fiction, which accounted for five per cent of the total number of books produced in the Lithuanian language in the nineteenth century.¹ Fiction publishing in Lithuanian started at the beginning of the eighteenth century with the translation of Aesop’s fables by Johann Schultz, printed in Karaliaučius (Königsberg, now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1706², but acquired more distinctively original features and systematic character in the nineteenth century. However, such publications of fiction were usually financed by the authors themselves, so their small print runs reflected the financial capacities of their authors and they were seldom reprinted. Vaclovas Biržiška, Danutė Petkevičiūtė, Domas Kaunas and Aušra Navickienė³, who have studied the history of publishing in Lithuania, noticed that unlike the majority of publications of fiction of that time (a large part of which consisted of works of classical and romantic poetry and works of didactic prose) the Lithuanian translation of Genovefa was exceptional for the abundance of repeated editions.

The aim of the present article is to ascertain all the editions of the Lithuanian translations of Genovefa published in the nineteenth century, to establish who financed their publishing, the size of their print runs, who produced and distributed them, and what advertising measures were used by the publishers, as well to compare the singularity of the translations published in Lithuania, Lithuania Minor and in the diaspora.

On the basis of retrospective Lithuanian bibliographical sources⁴, I have drawn up a list of the translations of the work published between 1795 and 1904. This forms the basis for the investigation and is presented at the end of the article as an appendix. In order to reconstruct the history of these editions, other different sources were used: the publications themselves and the information provided therein by the publishers, the surviving correspondence⁵ between the translators and publishers, documents of censorship institutions⁶, archival documents of publishing companies⁷, book trade catalogues⁸ and periodical publications of statistical data that were first published on the initiative of the state in nineteenth-century Tsarist Russia⁹. Insights acquired from works by Lithuanian bibliographers, bibliologists, philologists, historians Vaclovas Biržiška¹⁰, Danutė Petkevičiūtė¹¹, Domas Kaunas¹², Vladas Žukas¹³, Dalia Gargasaitė¹⁴, Vytautas Merkys¹⁵ and Aušra Navickienė¹⁶ helped to reveal general trends in the publishing and distribution of Lithuanian books in different periods of the nineteenth century.

In tracing the publishing history of translations of Genovefa into Lithuanian, I adopted the periodisation commonly used in works on the history of Lithuanian publishing. Lithuania’s nineteenth century began after the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795 and lasted until the lifting of the press ban in 1904. It coincided with the dissolution of the state and the first century of Russian occupation. The start of the ban on the use of the Latin alphabet in the Lithuanian press in 1864 can be considered a turning point that divided the period into two parts, each of them characterised by fundamentally different circumstances for book publishing. In this article, Lithuanian book titles are given in their original orthography as they were published at the time. In the nineteenth century, the standard Lithuanian language was undergoing a process of formation and titles therefore reflect a variety of characters and spelling.

The publishing history of Christoph von Schmidt’s Genofeva in Lithuanian up to 1864

During the first two thirds of the nineteenth century, Lithuanian books¹⁷ were published either in Lithuania¹⁸, the Lithuanian ethnic territory annexed by the Russian Empire, or in Lithuania Minor¹⁹, a territory inhabited by the so-called Prussian Lithuanians (or lietuvininkai) on the left and right banks of the River Nemunas (a part of Prussia and, after 1871, of the German Reich). In 1795–1864, a total of 1076 Lithuanian printed items were issued, including 588 books printed in Lithuania. They accounted for 54.6% of Lithuanian books, brochures and other small publications printed during that time.²⁰ Due to the events that shook the country’s political and social life (the loss of statehood, the war against Napoleon, uprisings) and the problems related to organising and financing the publication of Lithuanian books, the publishing industry developed unevenly. The quantitative growth of publishing that started at the end of the 1830s was unprecedented. The number of publications that appeared in the period between 1853 and 1865 equalled the total number of all publications printed during the earlier decades starting with the beginning of 1795.²¹ Professional publishers started to take a commercial interest in publishing Lithuanian books and their contribution increased significantly. Until the nineteenth century, Lithuania Minor outdid the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the field of publishing, which enjoyed national independence and larger material and intellectual resources – the first Lithuanian book Catechismus by Martynas Mažvydas (Mosvidius) was printed there in 1547. This was mainly determined by the ideology of the state of Prussia, established on the basis of Protestantism and the tolerance of the Church towards the languages of ethnic minorities. In the middle of the century, due to various political, legal, religious and intellectual influences, the main strength of authors and publishers of Lithuanian books began to be concentrated in Lithuania itself. For the first time since the beginning of Lithuanian printing, Lithuania caught up with and outstripped Lithuania Minor. However, even after the change had taken place, Lithuania Minor continued Lithuanian book publishing as an independent business area, though due to the priority given to commercial and religious interests, the content of the repertoire suffered and the process of its secularisation slowed down. Both territories inhabited by Lithuanians were separated by the borders of the Russian Empire and Prussia and by religious and cultural differences; consequently, the worlds of their Lithuanian books were independent and remained fairly isolated from each other.

Readers of Lithuanian books first became acquainted with the creative work of Christoph von Schmidt in Lithuania Minor. Prussian publishers were very active not only in printing books by their compatriot Christoph von Schmidt in their original language, but they also tried to ensure that they were translated into Lithuanian. In 1838, an unknown person handed in the translation of the novella to the owner of the Tilžė (Tilsit, now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia) printing house Johann Post, and most likely the translated novella was printed there under the title Amʒiaus Apraßims tos tobulas Growenes Genowewos (Description of the Life of that Perfect Countess Genevieve)²² in the same year (the date was not indicated on the title page). That was the first Lithuanian edition of Genovefa, and its publication meant that Lithuanians overtook the Estonians and Latvians.²³ Genovefa in Estonian languages spread rapidly after 1840, and it became the most favourite book of Latvian society in the epoch of New Latvians (Latvian: jaunlatvieši) (1865‒1870). As mentioned in the foreword to Amʒiaus Apraßims tos tobulas Growenes Genowewos, Johann Post had tried to publish Genovefa in Lithuanian several years before, but the earlier translation was so poor that he could not bring himself to allow the manuscript to go into print.²⁴ It is not surprising that the above-mentioned typographer of Tilžė undertook the task of publishing the novella. The printing house established in 1816 was one of the five most important printing enterprises of Lithuania Minor in terms of the volume of Lithuanian production.²⁵ Between 1816 and 1891, it printed 233 books and brochures and two periodical publications in the Gothic script, the content of which reflected mainly Protestant ideology and they were intended for Lithuania Minor.²⁶ The novella Genofeva was its first Lithuanian publication of fiction. Such literature would later constitute a large part of the enterprise’s production: the reworking of Nybelungų giesmė (The Song of the Nibelungs) Dywni priſitikimai ir karǯygiſʒki darbai ragůtojo Zygwrydo (The amazing adventures and valiant deeds of Zygwryd the Horned) (1850?)²⁷, intended for popular consumption, and competing with Genofeva in terms of the number of editions, and other didactic short stories, were issued there.²⁸ The Posts traded in their own Lithuanian productions as well as Lithuanian books issued by other printers in their bookshop in Tilžė²⁹ on a regular basis, so one could find there the poem Metai (The Seasons) by Kristijonas Donelaitis printed in Karaliaučius for the first time (together with its translation into German)³⁰ and Genofeva. Since Prussian Lithuanians (lietuvninkai) bought the book, the printer started reprinting it.

The second edition of Amʒiaus Apraßims tos tobulas Growenes Genowewos also appeared in Lithuania Minor twenty years later. Though compilers of national bibliography failed to find a single surviving copy of the book printed in Tilžė in 1859, and the publication was recorded on the basis of bibliographical sources (the source only gives the title and the year of publication), we can only guess that the book was reprinted on the initiative of the same printer Post who actively continued to produce Lithuanian books in high demand. Both the first and the second editions circulated in the territory of Prussian Lithuania and failed to reach Lithuania whose readers read Lithuanian publications printed in the Latin script that was widespread in a large part of Europe at that time.

The third and fourth Lithuanian translations of Genovefa were already printed in Latin script. The novella reached the readers of Lithuania at the end of the 1850s and at the beginning of the 1860s, through the efforts of a Lithuanian intellectual, the author and publisher of Lithuanian books, enlightener and educator, compiler of the first Lithuanian calendars Laurynas Ivinskis, and a publisher, typographer and bookseller of Vilnius, Adam Zawadzki.³¹ In 1855, Laurynas Ivinskis translated it and Józef Zawadzki’s company printed it in 1859 and 1863. In this way Laurynas Ivinskis’ translation became the first work of fiction in Lithuania, which was repeatedly printed, though the history of its publication was not as smooth as the case already discussed in Lithuania Minor.

There is no doubt that Laurynas Ivinskis translated the novella, like other works of fiction, from Polish rather than from the original language.³² This is clear from his correspondence. In February 1853, while living in Nociūnai (Kėdainiai parish, located in the centre of Lithuania), Ivinskis asked Adam Zawadzki, who had printed Lithuanian calendars for him and with whom the author cooperated for almost a decade, to send him the Polish edition of Genovefa. However, neither this letter nor earlier research could tell us what edition of the Polish translation it was. The literature researcher Danutė Petkevičiūtė compared the text translated by Laurynas Ivinskis to the Polish text of the novella in books circulating widely in Lithuania at that time and which are now part of Lithuanian print heritage and are preserved in Vilnius libraries; unfortunately, she failed to find an exact equivalent. In the opinion of this scholar, the Polish edition of 1836³³ is closest to the text translated by Laurynas Ivinskis, though some differences were noticed even there.³⁴

As correspondence with Adam Zawadzki shows, Laurynas Ivinskis translated the novella in 1855. In his letter of 27 August 1854 the translator wrote³⁵ that he was completing a fair copy of Genawejte (Genevieve) in Lithuanian and, on 11 January 1855, he assured Zawadzki that soon he would send him a neatly written fair and exact copy of the translation.³⁶ There were plans to publish the translation in 1855, because in his letter of 3 April 1855 he informed the publisher that Bishop Motiejus Valančius, who censored the book, liked the novella³⁷; that the censor of the Secular Censorship Committee could rely on the approbation of ecclesiastical censorship because the work contained no statements opposed to the foundations of either the state or religion; that it was purely homiletic, educative and intended exclusively for rural people; that the novella was well-known to everybody and was being translated into many other languages; and that the translation corresponded to the original text. To shorten the process of censorship, the translator advised the publisher not to forward it to an additional secret special censor of Lithuanian books, a former ethnic-Lithuanian Catholic who converted to Orthodoxy, Antanas Petkevičius, who resided far from the Censorship Committee in Pažaislis (the monastery near Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania, located in the centre of the country about 100 kilometres from Vilnius), because manuscripts were kept in Kaunas for a very long time and sometimes even got lost, and it was too much hassle to find them in the office.³⁸ The translator also asked him to pass that letter, together with the manuscript, over to the censors so that it should be treated as a written promise to write nothing against the authorities or any other religion, and not to touch on political issues. As the translator had been badly hit by censorship several years previously, it was not by chance that he devoted so much attention to issues relating to it in his letter³⁹. Unfortunately, preliminary attempts to protect himself against the obstacles posed by Russian censorship were to no avail.

The manuscript of Genawejte signed by Motiejus Valančius as an ecclesiastical censor on 26 February 1855 was examined by the Vilnius Censorship Committee. The file of 1856 of the Censorship Committee survives in the Russian Central State Archives. In it, Danutė Petkevičiūtė discovered a list of censored Lithuanian manuscripts and books with the above-mentioned translation of Genawejte made by Laurynas Ivinskis amounting to 240 pages received on 8 June 1855.⁴⁰ During a meeting held on the same day, the staff censor Pavel Kukolnik⁴¹ gave Genawejte his signature of approval, allowing it to go to press. However, the novella did not appear in 1855 because, as the entry in the minutes of the meeting shows, it was decided to take the view of the special censor Antanas Petkevičius on the publication of the book.⁴² The novella prepared for publication was retained in the Censorship Committee for three years, until circumstances changed and Viktoras Aramavičius took over the duties of special censor of Lithuanian and Samogitian books⁴³. The growing discontent of authors and publishers, the appointment of Bishop Motiejus Valančius himself as guardian of Vilnius Educational district in 1856, and especially the period of ‘political thawing’ after the death of Nicholas I of Russia when Alexander I came to power, led to the dismissal of Antanas Petkevičius from the post of special secret censor. In the same year, the Minister of National Education agreed to appoint Viktoras Aramavičius, a secretary of Vilnius Evangelical Reformed College, temporary censor and pay him a salary of 200 roubles per year.⁴⁴ Viktoras Aramavičius worked in this capacity from 1857 to 1865, and during that period publishers of Lithuanian books breathed a sigh of relief, and even tried to obtain an authorisation to issue the first Lithuanian newspaper (unfortunately unsuccessfully). The plans to publish the Genevieve novella were also implemented.

The manuscript was once again reconsidered by the Vilnius Censorship Committee in 1858. As Viktoras Aramavičius had no objections to it, approval was signed on 19 December by the above-mentioned Pavel Kukolnik, and the earlier authorisation given by ecclesiastical censorship was declared valid.⁴⁵ The book was published under the title Genawejte. Pasaka wiena tarp graźiauśiu ir werksmingiauśiu. Apej jos wargus, rupesnius ir stebuklingus Diewa pariedimus, kajp giariems uźmok giaru, o piktiems atiduoda piktu (Genevieve. One of the Most Beautiful and Sad Fairy Tales. About her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Orders of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil). The exact date of publication remains the subject of debate, on account of different data presented by the publisher. The date indicated on the cover of the book is 1860 but the date on the title page is 1858. Danutė Petkevičiūtė who wrote a monograph on Laurynas Ivinskis claimed that it was hardly possible to publish the book in 1858, with only ten days left before the end of the year.⁴⁶ When preparing their publication about Lithuanian books published between 1862 and 1904, the compilers of the new retrospective bibliography of Lithuanian books based their decision on the information presented on the cover of the book (1860).⁴⁷ Next to the bibliographical entry about the publication they presented a summary explaining that the printing house most likely delayed the publication in 1858 and the book, which began to be published in 1858, appeared only in 1860.⁴⁸ However, new facts discovered in archival documents encourage me to return to this question. I managed to find consignments of Genawejte […] dated 1859 in the register of books printed by Józef Zawadzki and sent to Varniai (centre of the Samogitian diocese, a town in the western part Lithuania) and Šiluva (an important Catholic pilgrimage site in the central part of Lithuania).⁴⁹ This means that in 1859 Zawadzki was already selling the publication. The entry in the register of works reviewed by the Vilnius Censorship Committee and accepted for dissemination, preserved in the Lithuanian Historical State Archives,⁵⁰ was also found stating that on 10 October 1859 the publication of Genawejte […] produced in the printing house of Zawadzki was delivered to the Committee, and on the same day censor Pavel Kukolnik signed the authority to distribute the book. Hence, having re-examined the arguments of historians, and having assessed the reliability of the new data, I think that the publishing date of Genowejte […] should be considered as 1859. The year 1858 on the title page was most likely a proofreading error (authors of Lithuanian books often complained to Adam Zawadzki that he either had no correctors or made no use of their services when publishing their books), and the year 1860 indicated on the cover of the book could be related to marketing measures because the main part of the print run was distributed in 1860. One of the first trade catalogues of Lithuanian books issued by the publisher Józef Zawadzki in 1863 also mentions Genawejte […], indicating the year 1860 as the date of its publication and its price as 12.5 kopecks.⁵¹

Both the translator and the publisher of the book who financed its preparation and production contributed significantly to the success of Genawejte […] as a bestseller. Supporting the initiative of publishing the novellas, Laurynas Ivinskis did not seek to make a profit from them and as a translator he limited himself to small royalties in kind – the publications sold in Zawadzki’s bookshops (this issue was discussed in his letters written to the publisher on 15 January, 18 May, 20 July and 11 December 1856⁵²). It might very well be that at first Laurynas Ivinskis planned to publish the novella at his own expense and looked for sponsors. Most likely he expected to receive support for publishing from Matilda Kobilinskaitė-Zabielienė whose children he taught on her estate in Zabieliškiai (a manor in south-eastern Lithuania) from 1852 to 1863, and he had prepared a text dedicated to her (in his letters to Adam Zawadzki written on 3 April and 23 October 1855 and on 20 July 1856 Laurynas Ivinskis discussed the issue of the dedication to her⁵³). However, after the situation had changed, the translator gave up these publishing plans. Adam Zawadzki started publishing Lithuanian books at the beginning of the 1850s after he had founded the first bookshop in the province of Lithuania and turned it into the main distribution centre for Lithuanian publications. Shortly after this the publication of Lithuanian books became an important part of his business and, in 1854–1865, Lithuanian production already constituted almost one fifth of all the company’s publications, or one third of all Lithuanian books published at that time.⁵⁴ Continuing the activities of the company set up by his father, and encouraged by Motiejus Valančius, he regarded Lithuanian books as a commercial asset. He could have been inspired to undertake publishing Genowejte […] by the successful experience of publishing Lithuanian ABC books, calendars and various religious publications. Genowejte […] became the first fiction publication that he financed and the fact that in 1863 Zawadzki undertook the publication of its second edition suggests that the book was in demand and the publisher had not been mistaken about its success.

No archival documents about the print run of the publication have survived, but I would suppose that it could have amounted to 2000 copies. As compared to the earlier print runs of works of fiction, it could be regarded as exceptional because until that time the print runs of works published mainly through the efforts of the author ranged from between 200‒500 and 1500‒2000 copies. When financially stronger publishers appeared, especially when either companies or the Catholic church undertook their funding, the publication of didactic works of fiction started to reach as many as 5000 copies at the end of the 1860s and the beginning of the 1870s.⁵⁵ In the middle of the century, the print runs of religious publications in public demand printed by Adam Zawadzki also ran to 2000 to 5000 copies.⁵⁶ The publisher regarded Genawejte […]as a publication in public demand because otherwise he would hardly have invested funds in publishing it.

Zawadzki sold Genawejte […] in Vilnius and Varniai bookshops. The price of 12.5 kopecks was in line with consumers’ possibilities. The publisher sold Lithuanian calendars at a higher price – 15 kopecks per item, and calendars published on higher quality paper cost 25 kopecks each.⁵⁷ (For comparison we present the information about prices of foodstuffs at that time. As shown by the data published in statistical periodicals which started to be issued in the Russian Empire in the middle of the century, one could buy either 40-60 eggs, or 3-6 pounds of beef, or a bucket of sauerkraut, or about three pounds of fish for 20-30 kopecks in the market of Kaunas.⁵⁸)

The novella became very popular; soon it was sold out and widely read. In 1863, Adam Zawadzki decided to reprint it, and the print run of its second edition seems to have reached 3000 copies⁵⁹, i.e. it was 1000 copies larger than the first edition. Seeking to distribute the print run as successfully as possible, the publishers used different measures. Information about Genawejte […] is found in Adam Zawadzki’s catalogue of Lithuanian books of 1863, which advertised Lithuanian books sold in the bookshop in Vilnius.⁶⁰ It was also included in the lists of Lithuanian books Knigas žiamajtiškas, išduotas kaštu ir spaustuvi Juzupa Zawadzkia Vilniuje (Samogitian books, published by the Józef Zawadzki printing house in Vilnius), which were printed on the covers of Zawadzki’s Lithuanian publications at the beginning of the 1860s.⁶¹ Publications of Genowejta […] themselves also served to advertise Lithuanian books, and the already mentioned lists of Lithuanian publications distributed by the company are found on the back covers.

I can suggest that readers enjoyed Zawadzki’s Genawejte […] both for its content and the acceptable translation. Laurynas Ivinskis knew that he was preparing the book for peasants and he Lithuanianised the proper names of all persons who appeared in the novella. The translator left place names unchanged. In his translation of Genovefa, Laurynas Ivinskis, in his turn, provided a scientific explanation for species of trees, berries, plants and mushrooms (Polish editions contain no such explanations). In the footnotes the translator presented the Lithuanian, Latin and Polish names of plants and mushrooms. The names of plants were reproduced quite exactly in the novella. In the footnotes of the book Laurynas Ivinskis explained geographical names, and the names of animals that are not found in Lithuania. He placed synonyms next to the words whose meaning, in the translator’s opinion, would not be clear to every reader. Ivinskis translated the novella quite creatively, not word for word, often conveying the meaning in his own words. In the opinion of literary scholars, Laurynas Ivinskis’ translation of Genovefa was comparatively good, suggestive and picturesque.⁶² Laurynas Ivinskis tried to recreate the novella in a language understandable to both Lithuanians and Samogitians, so that all Lithuanians of Lithuania could read it.

Publishing Genofeva in Lithuanian during the years of the press ban (1864‒1904)

In the second half of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the Tsarist authorities seeking to curb rebellious Lithuania and after a ban had been imposed on all Lithuanian language publications in the Roman alphabet, which lasted until 1904, the flow of Lithuanian book publishing increased. The presses of Lithuania Minor (Prussia) had old traditions and published works for the local population mainly in Gothic characters; books intended for Lithuania were also published mainly in Lithuania Minor after the ban on all Lithuanian language publications had been imposed; and publications by American Lithuanians appeared in 1874. The largest flow of publications consisted of books intended for Lithuania. After the Lithuanian publishing centre in Vilnius fell into decline due to the Lithuanian press ban, books intended for Lithuanians were published first of all in the Prussian territory inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians (lietuvninkai).⁶³ All in all, a total of 2687 Lithuanian books and small publications (excluding periodicals) appeared in Lithuania Minor, half of them intended for Lithuania. Publications in Tilžė, Priekulė (Prökuls), Bitėnai (Bittehnen, Bitten), Klaipėda (Memel) and Karaliaučius were particularly significant. The most important printing houses of the prohibited Lithuanian press were those of Julius Reyländer, Otto von Mauderode, Julius Schoenke in Tilžė, and Martynas Jankus’ printing house in Bitėnai.⁶⁴ In 1874, Lithuanian emigrants started publishing Lithuanian books in the USA. A total of 712 publications (excluding periodicals) were printed there up to 1904. The largest numbers appeared in Pennsylvania, Plymouth, Mahanoy City PA, Shenandoah, New York, Brooklyn and Chicago.⁶⁵ Some of these publications reached Lithuania and Lithuania Minor.

The publication of the fifth Lithuanian edition of Genovefa by Christoph von Schmidt was financed by the Lithuania Minor publishing company Julius Reyländer and Son. Expanding their business, the Reyländers, like the Posts, looked for publications in demand, and the novella belonged to this category. The Reyländers’ printing house started operating in Tilžė in 1840 and functioned until 1934.⁶⁶ All in all, the Reyländers published a total of 342 Lithuanian books and brochures mainly of Protestant content, and nine periodical publications⁶⁷ intended for Lithuania Minor in Gothic characters. Compared to other publishers in Lithuania Minor, they published a lot of translations of works of fiction. (In 1841, the first anthology of poetry in the Lithuanian language Giesmes linkſmybei ir prietelyſtei paliecavotos (Hymns for fun and friendship) appeared,⁶⁸ comprising verses by German authors and a Lithuanian teacher who did not indicate his name⁶⁹). In 1872, the Reyländers published Genofeva, translated from German into Lithuanian, under the title Gywaſties apraßimas wieǯlyboſes Growienes Genowefas (Description of the Life of Noble Countess Genovefas), in Gothic script.⁷⁰ This was the third version of the translation of the novella into Lithuanian made by an unknown person in Lithuanian Minor. The publication date of the novella coincided with the beginning of the illegal production of Lithuanian publications intended for Lithuania by that company. Between 1872 and 1885, about 100 publications were issued⁷¹, including the first contrafaction of works of fiction⁷² ‒ the novella Pałąngos Juze (Juze from Palanga) by Motiejus Valančius.⁷³ They were financed mainly by the Provost of Tilžė Catholic parish, Johann Zabermann,⁷⁴ a compiler of Lithuanian Catholic books in Lithuania Minor and publisher and distributor of the banned press intended for Lithuania, and Motiejus Valančius, the already mentioned Bishop who contributed greatly to organising the production of the Lithuanian religious press in Lithuania Minor and its illegal distribution in Lithuania. The Reyländers’ publication of the Genevieve novella, like the publication by the Posts, was popular with Prussian Lithuanians residing in the German Empire and had two editions – in the years 1875‒1880 and in about 1890. The Reyländers sold the publication in their bookshop (founded in 1872) at 0.20 pfennigs each. A comparison with the amounts of foodstuffs that could be bought for 0.20 pfennigs proves that the book was sold at a reasonable price. (Information provided in Domas Kaunas’ book about the history of publishing in Lithuania Minor testifies to the following: in 1896, one kilogram of rye cost 8.4 pfennigs, and one kilogram of potatoes three pfennigs.⁷⁵

Chronologically the ninth edition of the novella appeared through the efforts of Lithuanian emigrants in the USA. In 1895, the printing house of Juozas Paukštys operating in Plymouth published it under the title Gyvenimas Genavaitės. Pamokinanti ir labai sujudinanti apysaka iš senovės laikų (Life of Genevieve. Moralistic and very Moving Novella from Olden Times) at its own expense.⁷⁶ The mass emigration of Lithuanians to the USA had begun in the 1860s. At first emigrants from Lithuania went mainly to the state of Pennsylvania to build railway lines or work in coalmines there. The oldest colonies of Lithuanians were formed in Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, Plymouth, Scranton and Shamokin. At the end of the nineteenth century, Plymouth became an important Lithuanian publishing centre (all in all, about 160 Lithuanian books and small printed items were published in Plymouth⁷⁷). Tradesmen Juozas Paukštys and Antanas Pajautis founded a printing house there in 1886, and on 10 February they began publishing the newspaper Vienybė lietuvninkų (Unity of lietuvininkai), following the motto Vienybė, zgada, meilė artimą ir tikras gyvenimas krikščioniškas (Unity, concord, brotherly love and true Christian life). This weekly appeared without interruption for several decades, and rallied lots of well-known workers of the Lithuanian press and writers of different views and convictions. Many works of fiction were published in its pages before appearing as a separate book (for example this happened to Gyvenimas Genavaitės […]). In 1889, the continuation of the Genofeva novella, or its second part Boleslavas, arba Antra dalis Genovefos (Boleslaw, or the Second Part of Genevieve),⁷⁸ which depicted the life of Genevieve’s son Boleslaw and his participation in the crusades in Jerusalem, was published in the volumes of Vienybė lietuvninkų.79 In the same year, at the same printing house, a separate book titled Boleslavas, arba antra dalis Genovefos was published.⁸⁰ Seven years later, in 1895, before the company passed into the hands of Juozas Paukštys’ relatives (in 1897, it became J.J. Paukštys and Co.), the fourth edition of the Genevieve novella appeared therein. The 1895 edition of Plymouth differed from earlier Lithuanian editions of Genovefa because it contained an expanded variant of the translation supplemented by the second part of the novella describing Boleslaw. The authorship of the fourth translation is attributed to Brother Augustine Zeytz, a public figure born in 1828 in Balbieriškis (the town in central Lithuania), who withdrew from Lithuania to Poland (Krakow) after the 1863 uprising, and emigrated to the USA in 1872.⁸¹ He obtained permission to build a friary in the USA and he also founded a school. While living in America he made lots of translations from Polish and German, was one of the founders and co-workers of the first Lithuanian newspaper in the USA Gazieta lietuviška (Lithuanian newspaper)⁸², and wrote for Vienybė lietuvninkų. Augustine Zeytz translated Christoph von Schmidt’s novella from Polish. Compared to earlier translations, the last chapters of the novella were shortened and changed, and included the second part – Boleslavas, which was translated by the same Augustine Zeytz from the book Bolesław, czyli dolszy ciąg Genowefy. When publishing Gyvenimas Genavaitės […] in 1895, Juozas Paukštys doubled its print run as compared with the print run of the 1889 publication from 1500 to 3000 copies, and sold them at a reasonable half a dollar price. The book published in Latin script could be read not only in the diaspora but also in Lithuania through the mediation of the booksellers of Lithuania Minor.

When Russia put down the 1863–1864 uprising in Lithuania, Mikhail Muravyov’s repessive measures to restrict literature in Lithuanian and Polish led to the prohibition of the publishing and dissemination of texts in the Latin alphabet. This put a stop to publishing in Lithuanian in Lithuania and, in the words of Viktoras Biržiškos, ‘delayed the development of Lithuanian culture for twenty years’.⁸³ Exploiting the circumstances, a favourable geographical position and somewhat greater freedom for commercial activities, the publishers of Lithuania Minor residing in the territory of the German Reich started to publish books intended for Lithuania. In 1896, the first contrafaction publication of the Genevieve novella appeared in Bitėnai, published in the printing house of Martynas Jankus, entitled Istorija apie Genovaite, jos vargus, rupesnius ir stebuklinga parēdyma dievo, kaip geriems užmoka geru, o piktiems atidůda piktu (Story about Genevieve, her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Order of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil).⁸⁴ The publisher indicated false data suggesting that the book was printed in Józef Zawadzki’s printing house in Vilnius in 1879.⁸⁵ Martynas Jankus worked in the book trade for 46 years and was one of the most active publishers of Lithuania Minor supplying Lithuania with Lithuanian publications. A total of 414 books, brochures and small printed items, and 27 periodical publications in Lithuanian, German, Sorbian, Polish and Belarussian were published by his printing company. Jankus’ Lithuanian production was devoted to all three parts of Lithuania: Lithuania, Lithuania Minor and the diaspora. Domas Kaunas, who wrote a fundamental monograph about Jankus, distinguished several stages of his activities distinguished by different aims, possibilities for carrying out these activities, the productivity and effectiveness of the company, the significance of its production and a change in jobs. Martynas Jankus was engaged in publishing the Genevieve novella during the second period, or between 1889 and 1912, when his printing company operated in Bitėnai and when the intensive publishing, production and marketing of publishing products was carried out.⁸⁶ As demand for the book did not decline, Jankus published Istorija apie Genovaite […] four times between 1896 and 1904. Repeated editions were published in 1899, 1903 and 1904. The edition of Genawejte. Pasaka wiena tarp graźiauśiu ir werksmingiauśiu. Apej jos wargus, rupesnius ir stebuklingus Diewa pariedimus, kajp giariems uźmok giaru, o piktiems atiduoda piktu translated by Laurynas Ivinskis from Polish and published in Vilnius was selected. Jankus’ publication differed from the earlier ones (in 1859 and 1863) in the following ways: the title was somewhat shortened, the language and spelling were corrected, contrafactual publishing data were indicated on the title page, it contained no official approvals, footnotes or numbering of sections, and the content differed. An educated client of the illegal printing house of Bitėnai made corrections or at least gave advice on how to do so.⁸⁷

At the end of the century, production of the Genevieve novella destined for Lithuania became more active. In 1899, Martynas Jankus’ rival, the owner of Tilžė printing house Julius Schoenke, produced another contrafactual translated edition Istorija apie Genovaite, jos vargus, rupesnius ir stebuklinga paredyma dievo, kaip geriems užmoka geru, o piktiems atiduoda piktu. Isz lenkiszko iszgulde Laurinas Ivinskis (Story about Genevieve, her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Order of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil)⁸⁸ intended for Lithuania. He also made use of Genawejta […] published in Vilnius. Julius Schoenke, who started his publishing business in bookbinding and book publishing, bought the bankrupt printing house of Ernest Weyer and Louis Arnold in 1889. He published some dozen books in Lithuanian in Gothic script intended for Lithuania Minor and the newspaper Lietuvos paslas (The Lithuanian Envoy) (1896‒1898). Seeking to profit from the Lithuanian press ban, he mainly published books intended for Lithuania: about 370 books of songs, prayer-books, descriptions of the lives of the saints, religious didactic literature and calendars (mostly contrafactual ones).⁸⁹ The businessman regarded Istorija apie Genovaite […] as a book in public demand and during the period under discussion its print run reached 4000 copies. (I think this was an average print run for publications intended for Lithuania at the end of the century).

To ensure a return on investment, both Julius Schoenke and Martynas Jankus, like other publishers of Lithuania Minor who published books for Lithuania, had to master the fundamentals of illegal business, create a network of distributors who could cross the state borders of Germany and Russia guarded by the Russian Empire and overcome the internal border controls. Such a model had already been created during the first decades of the Lithuanian publication ban; now it had to be adapted. It encompassed the activities not only of publishers, printers and booksellers but also those of book-hawkers and people who stored the publications. Different distribution methods were adopted. Illegal distributors of Lithuanian books and periodical publications from Lithuania (book-hawkers, smugglers) and the people who legally stored the production (most often owners of bookshops, shops and inns on the border with the Russian Empire) in Lithuania Minor took part in the dissemination of printed production intended for Lithuania. The bookshop owners responsible for storing the books, seeking profit, often looked for book-hawkers themselves thus facilitating the publishers’ task. After the book-hawkers (main organisers and executors of distribution) had crossed the border of the Russian Empire and had delivered their load to the people and hiding-places known in advance, the illegal distribution network in Lithuania assumed responsibility. In the first half of the 1880s, standard postal services were used to deliver small quantities of prohibited Lithuanian publications to the Tsarist Empire. In the second half of the 1880s, the postal service in the border zone inspected all suspicious printed matter and if Lithuanian items were found, they were not only destroyed but the police were notified of the addressees and ordered to examine them. Thenceforth the route that the postal items took was almost completely closed.⁹⁰

Engaged in both legal and illegal business, the publishers of Lithuania Minor needed to spread information about the distribution of their publications. Most often they used advertisements printed in their own periodical publications or those of other publishers, placed bibliographical lists of publications offered to the market in books of different content and in periodicals, or they also issued catalogues in the form of a book. Martynas Jankus and Julius Schoenke also printed catalogues systematising and choosing information intended for trade with Lithuania and Lithuania Minor. Summaries announced in periodicals were sometimes critical towards publications. This happened to Istorija apie Genovaite […] too. In his synthesis of the history of publishing in Lithuania Minor, Domas Kaunas cites the opinion of the most productive annotator of Lithuanian books, Ansas Bruožis, about this publication, which he publicised in the supplement Kaimynas (The Neighbour) to Naujosios lietuviškos ceitungos (New Lithuanian newspaper) in 1903: ‘Rodos, vertėtų šio čėso lietuviams svarbesnį peniukšlą paduoti, o ne vis tokias menk verčios turinčias pasakas’ (It seems to be more appropriate to offer Lithuanians of this time some food rather than worthless fairy tales).⁹¹ However, buyers were not discouraged. Julius Schoenke and Martynas Jankus as well as other publishers grew wealthy from the Lithuanian illegal press. In his reminiscences Martynas Jankus wrote that Otto von Mauderode and Julius Schoenke sold Lithuanian prayer-books and earned 70‒80 thousand marks a year.⁹² It is difficult to speak about the price of the illegally published Istorija apie Genovaite […] and prices of other illegal publications. In spite of the complicated conditions that prevailed during the Lithuanian publication ban, such as the persecution of book-hawkers and the police measures undertaken by the Prussian authorities, representatives of different distribution channels profited from illegal publication. Book-hawkers paid the price fixed by the publishers for their production in Tilžė, and upon delivery to Lithuania sold the publication wholesale to the distributors at prices that were five or more times higher; the latter managed to sell the products to the buyers at a price that exceeded tenfold the initial price charged by the publisher⁹³.

The last publications of Genovefa in Lithuanian translation in the period under discussion were repeated editions published by Martynas Jankus under the title Amǯiaus Apraßymas nekaltay kentējusios Growēnēs Genowaitės. Iß naujo perǯiurēta ir ißleista per M. Jankų, Bitēnuose (Description of the Life of Countess Genevieve who Suffered Innocently)⁹⁴, intended for readers in Lithuania Minor. Having made minor corrections to spelling and added his own foreword, Martynas Jankus published the novella in 1903 and 1904. He made use of the shortened translation prepared by the unidentified translator mentioned above and published in Tilžė in around 1890. Although the title page indicated that the book had been revised, a comparison of its text with the text of the 1890 publication showed no differences.

Conclusions

Although the first bestseller lists originated in the late nineteenth century and they are a phenomenon of a contemporary publishing, book historians use the bestseller concept in different historical contexts, using a variety of sources and different methods of calculating bestsellers. In the historiography of nineteenth-century Lithuanian publishing, the publications that were commercially successful and were acclaimed by the reading public are usually named as bestsellers and have been identified by analysing the entire publishing repertoire in the period and by highlighting the publications that were reissued and printed in more than an average number of editions. Following the tradition, this approach has also been followed in the analysis of the publishing history of Genovefa’s Lithuanian translations.

A total of 15 editions of Genovefa by Christoph von Schmidt appeared in Lithuanian translations between 1795 and 1904. Publication began at the end of the 1830s and became more intense in the middle of the century; at the end of the century and in the first years of the twentieth century it reached its highest intensity. It is not surprising that the printers of Tilžė were the first to translate and publish it in the Lithuanian language. The main publishers engaged in the business of publishing not only German but also Lithuanian books were concentrated in Tilžė, a town in Eastern Prussia known as the capital of Lithuania Minor. They did their utmost to translate Genovefa from the original language, to print it in the Gothic script and to distribute it among Prussian Lithuanians. Readers living in the territory of ethnic Lithuania, occupied by Russia in the nineteenth century, got the opportunity to become acquainted with the work several decades later when Adam Zawadzki, one of the most important publishers of Vilnius, started publishing Lithuanian books and decided to finance the new translation of the novella prepared by Laurynas Ivinskis. Due to the scope of repeated editions and print runs (2000‒3000 copies), the Lithuanian editions of Genovefa published in the middle of the century in Gothic script, and in Latin script as well, could already be called bestsellers. During the years of the Lithuanian publication ban, the publishers of Tilžė made the most of the situation and reaped big profits by publishing Lithuanian books in Latin script and distributing them in Lithuania. They became the main publishers of the novella. At that time, not only did the number of repeated editions of Genovefa increase but also the size of print runs expanded from 2000–3000 copies, reaching as many as 4000 copies. On the whole, the dynamics of the novella’s publication reflected general trends in the growth of Lithuanian book publishing in the nineteenth century, even though a number of factors inhibited the development of publishing activities in the second half of the century. Books were published in the territory of another state, in conspiratorial working conditions, spontaneously and without any general plan. There were no direct contacts between the authors and publishers or printers. The publication of books was constricted by material difficulties and the illegal distribution of published products.

A new category of publishers, that is, professional publishers, had already turned Genovefa into a Lithuanian bestseller in the middle part of the century. Henrich Post, Adam Zawadzki, Julius Reyländer, Juozas Paukštys, Martynas Jankus and Julius Schoenke were the so-called ‘Verlegers’, able to make the most of the reading public as a collective patron and to use both legal and illegal publishing business models. They based themselves on private capital concentrated in the hands of the family, on combining book publishing, printing and distribution activities, the ability to assess market needs and to bring their products closer to their consumers, adapting themselves to changing business conditions and making use of different forms of distribution and book market information channels. They represented communities of publishers operating in three different countries and the lists of their Lithuanian bestsellers differed in both their authors and the titles of the publications; however, every list of the most popular books published in Lithuania, Lithuania Minor and the diaspora contained Genovefa by Christoph von Schmidt.

The abundance of variants of translations of Genovefa into the Lithuanian language and the peculiarities of its publications (different characters – Latin and Gothic – and adaptations of translations were used) testifies to the fact that the worlds of books of Lithuania, Lithuania Minor and the emigration were closed ones. The fact that the novella was translated both from German and Polish reflected the general trends of the period in translating foreign literature into Lithuanian. Laurynas Ivinskis’ translation was destined to become the most popular one not only because of its quality, but also because Martynas Jankus and Julius Schoenke chose this text that had already become a favourite with readers in the first half of the century and republished it during the Lithuanian press ban, when contact was established between Lithuania Minor and Lithuania in the sphere of mass communication.

Publishing fiction that was popular in Europe in the nineteenth century can be considered a new phenomenon in the context of publishing books in Lithuanian. It reveals qualitative changes in the list of Lithuanian bestsellers when fiction is set alongside ABC books, catechisms, prayer-books, hymn books and publications designed to develop the moral and religious qualities of their readers. Judging from the number of editions and print runs it did not keep up with the marketability of such educational or religious publications. Nevertheless, it was a clear sign that publishing Lithuanian books was becoming more secularised and modern.

The Lithuanian Genovefa remained on the list of bestsellers for some time after the lifting of the Lithuanian publication ban in 1904. At the beginning of the twentieth century, amateur actors performed the novella on the stage. In 1914, Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis wrote a four-act play Genovaitė based on this novella. Owing to Laurynas Ivinskis’ translation, the names Genovaitė and Sigitas (her husband) became popular in Lithuania. As early as the first half of the twentieth century, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas compared the significance of the translation of Genovaitė in Lithuanian literature to the role of Bednaja Liza by Nikolai Karamzin in Russian literature⁹⁵, regarding the novella as an example of the trend towards sentimentalism.

Appendix
The chronological list of publications of Genovefa by Christoph von Schmidt published in the Lithuanian language between 1795 and 1904

1. Amʒiaus Apraßims tos tobulas Growenes Genowewos [Description of the Life of that Perfect Countess Genevieve]. Tilžė: H. Post Publishing House and Printing House, [in foreword 1838]. 62 [+?] p.; 16×10 cm. Gothic script.

2. Amǯiaus apraßims growienes Genowewos [Description of the Life of Countess Genevieve]. Tilžė: 1859. Gothic script. [Description based on bibliographical sources].

3. Genawejte. Pasaka wiena tarp graźiauśiu ir werksmingiauśiu. Apej jos wargus, rupesnius ir stebuklingus Diewa pariedimus, kajp giariems uźmok giaru, o piktiems atiduoda piktu. Isz lenkiszka lieżuwia Iszguldita par Ł. Iwiński [Genevieve. One of the Most Beautiful and Sad Fairy-tales. About her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Orders of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil]. Vilnius: Funds and Printing House of J. Zawadzki, 1858. 187 p. 15×9 cm.

4. Genawejte. Pasaka wiena tarp graźiauśiu ir werksmingiauśiu. Apej jos wargus, rupesnius ir stebuklingus Diewa pariedimus, kajp giariems uźmok giaru, o piktiems atiduoda piktu. Isz lenkiszka lieżuwia Iszguldita par Ł. Iwiński [Genevieve. One of the Most Beautiful and Sad Fairy-tales. About her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Orders of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil]. Vilnius: Funds and Printing House of J. Zawadzki, 1863. 187 p. 15 cm.

5. Gywaſties apraßimas wieǯlyboſes Growienes Genowefas [Description of the Life of Noble Countess Genovefas]. Tilžė: J. Reyländer Publishing House and Printing House, [about 1872]. 60 p. 19 cm. Gothic script.

6. Gywaſties apraßimas wieǯlyboſes Growienes Genowefas [Description of the Life of Noble Countess Genovefas]. Tilžė: J. Reyländer and Son Publishing House and Printing House, [about 1875‒1880]. 60 p. Gothic script.

7. Amǯiaus apraßims tos tobulas growenes Genowewos [Description of the Life of that Perfect Countess Genevieve]. Tilžė: J. Reyländer and Son Publishing House and Printing House, [about 1890]. 64 p. 17 cm. Gothic script.

8. Gyvenimas Genavaitės. Pamokinanti ir labai sujudinanti apysaka isz senovės laikų [Life of Genevieve. Cautionary and Very Moving Story from the Olden Times]. [Iš lenkų k. vertė A. Zeicas]. Plymouth: Funds and Printing House of J. Paukštis („Vienybės lietuvninkų“), 1895. 200 p. 21 cm.

9. Istorija apie Genovaite, jos vargus, rupesnius ir stebuklinga parēdyma dievo, kaip geriems užmoka geru, o piktiems atidůda piktu. Isz lenkiszko iszguldē Laurinas Ivinskis [Story about Genevieve, her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Order of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil]. Vilnius: [J. Zawadzki Printing House,] 1879. [Bitėnai: M. Jankus Printing House, 1896]. 132 p. 15 cm.

10. Istorija apie Genovaite, jos vargus, rupesnius ir stebuklinga paredyma dievo, kaip geriems užmoka geru, o piktiems atiduoda piktu. Isz lenkiszko iszgulde Laurinas Ivinskis [Story about Genevieve, her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Order of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil]. Vilnius: [J. Zawadzki Printing House], 1899. [Tilžė: J. Schoenke Printing House]. 109 p. 17 cm.

11. Istorija apie Genovaitę, jos vagrus, Rupesnius ir stebuklingą parēdymą Dievo, kaip geriems užmoka geru, o piktiems atidůda piktu. Isz lenkiszko iszguldė Laurinas Ivinskis [Story about Genevieve, her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Order of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil]. Bitėnai: Funds and Printing House of M. Jankus, 1899. 152 p. 17 cm.

12. Amǯiaus Apraßymas nekaltay kentējusios Growēnēs Genowaitės. Iß naujo perǯiurēta ir ißleista per M. Jankų, Bitēnuose [Description of the Life of Countess Genevieve who Suffered Innocently]. [Foreword by editor (M. Jankaus), p. 3]. Bitėnai: M. Jankus Publishing House and Printing House, 1903. 48 p. 17 cm. Gothic script.

13. Istorija apie Genovaitę, jos vagrus, Rupesnius ir stebuklingą parēdymą Dievo, kaip geriems užmoka geru, o piktiems atidůda piktu. Isz lenkiszko iszguldė Laurinas Ivinskis [Story about Genevieve, her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Order of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil]. Bitėnai: Funds and Printing House of M. Jankus, 1903. 139, [1]. 18 cm.

14. Amǯiaus Apraßymas nekaltay kentējusios Growēnēs Genowaitės [Description of the Life of Countess Genevieve who Suffered Innocently]. Bitėnai: M. Jankus Publishing House and Printing House, 1904. 46 p. Gothic script. [Description based on bibliographical sources].

15. Istorija apie Genovaitę, jos vagrus, Rupesnius ir stebuklingą parēdymą Dievo, kaip geriems užmoka geru, o piktiems atidůda piktu. Isz lenkiszko iszguldė Laurinas Ivinskis [Story about Genevieve, her Hardships, Anxieties and the Wonderful Order of God that He who did Good will be Rewarded and Evil People will be Repaid with Evil]. Bitėnai: Funds and Printing House of M. Jankus, 1904. 124 p. 15 cm.

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Giesmes linkſmybei ir prietelyſtei paliecavotos. Tilžė: J. Reyländerio spautuvė, 1841. VIII, 48 p. 

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KAUNAS, D. Mažosios Lietuvos knyga: lietuviškos knygos raida 1547–1940. Vilnius: Baltos lankos, 1996. 764 p. ISSN 9986-813-28-X.

KAUNAS, D. Mažosios Lietuvos knygynai (iki 1940 m.): žinynas. Vilnius, 1992. 293 p. ISBN 5-89942-580-6.

Kniga o biletakh, vydannykh na vypusk sochineniy. 23 aprelya 1854–1863. Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas (Lithuanian State Historical Archive), f. 1240, ap. 1, b. 108.

Kniga registratsii otpravlennykh knig v Vorni i Shidlovo. 1853–1863. Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas (Lithuanian State Historical Archive), f. 1135, ap. 7, b. 106.

Knigas źemajtiszkas iszduotas kasztu ir spaustuwi Jozapa Zawadzkia Wilniuje, o kurios gal kiekwienas pirkti Warniusie kniginiczio to paties Jozapa Zawadzkia. [Vilnius], [1858]. [2] p.

Knygotyra: enciklopedinis žodynas. Vilnius: Alma littera, 1997. 413 p. ISBN 9986-02-352-1.

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Lietuvių literatūros istorija. XIX amžius. Sudarytojas ir vyriausiasis redaktorius J. Girdzijauskas. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas, 2001. 901 p. ISBN 9986-513-69-3.

Lietuvos TSR bibliografija. Serija A. Knygos lietuvių kalba, T. 1: 1547–1861. Vilnius: Mintis, 1969. LXIII, 728 p. 

Lietuvos TSR bibliografija. Serija A. Knygos lietuvių kalba, T. 2: 1862–1904. Kn. 1: A–P. Vilnius: Mintis, 1985. 957 p.

Lietuvos TSR bibliografija. Serija A. Knygos lietuvių kalba, T. 2: 1862–1904. Kn. 2: R–Ž. Vilnius: Mintis, 1988. 854 p. ISBN 5-417-00140-6.

Lietuvos bibliografija. Serija A. Knygos lietuvių kalba. T. 1: 1547–1861: Papildymai. Vilnius: Mintis, 1990, 152 p. ISBN 5-417-00204-0.

Lietuviškieji kontrafakciniai leidiniai, 1865‒1904 m.: bibliografijos rodyklė. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla, 2004. 264 p. ISBN 9986-19-686-8.

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MEDIŠAUSKIENĖ, Z. Rusijos cenzūra Lietuvoje XIX a. viduryje. Kaunas: Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto leidykla, 1998. 301, [3] p. ISBN 9986-501-28-8.

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Spis dzieł dla pierwiastkowego kształcenia przeznaczonych, znajdujących się w Księgarni pod firmą Józefa Zawadzkiego w Wilnie [Vilnius], [1863]. 8 p.

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