LAMENE F. [actually: Felicite Robert de Lamennais] (1789-1854)
BOOKS OF THE PEOPLE
Through the efforts and publication of the Polish Democratic Society
Translated into the native language
Paris 1838, Poitiers, in the Printing House of F.-A. Saurin, p.100; format 9x14 cm
"In 1834 Aleksander Yelovitsky, before joining the Resurrectionists, published the first translation into Polish of Paroles d'un croyant made jointly with Mochnacki, giving it the title Words of the Bard. Later, a prominent democratic activist of peasant origin, Jan Nepomucen Janowski (1803-1887) translated The People's Books in France, which were smuggled into the Kingdom of Poland and prosecuted by tsarist censorship. Ideas, close to those preached by Lamennais, were alive at the time among activists of the Polish Democratic Society.
This found expression under the pen of J. N. Janowski, who, while preaching the principle of "peasant nationalization," based it on religious motives. He wrote: "[...] the people will only see in happiness and freedom the approaching justice and, as it were, the visible manifestation of God, for, as the lofty spirit of Lamennais says, only there God reveals himself, where justice reigns."
"Today one can describe Words of a Believer similarly to Books of the People, published three years later, as a Romantic catechism. These are small books full of metaphorical images and poetic allegories, written in a preachy style, evoking the implementation of the Gospel precepts, containing a protest against the existing reality. "Not all things in this world are as they should be. There is too much evil, and too much evil. After all, this is not what God wanted. [...] Where does it come from that our fate is so hard and our lives are full of misery? Let's blame it only on ourselves: we have forgotten the laws of nature, we have turned away from its ways. He who deviates from them to climb rocks without help should not complain that his wandering is arduous. [...] There is room on earth for everyone, and God has made it fertile enough to meet the
generously the needs of all. If this one and that one suffers privation, it is because man has disrupted the order established by God, because he has shattered the unity of the primordial family, because the members of that family have first become strangers to one another And then one has become enemies to another." - wrote Lamennais in The Books of the People."
Source: Humanist Annals Vol. XXXIV, Notebook 2 - 1986; Hannaimbs, "Lamennais And The Poles".
Very rare!
HARDCOVER FULL CONTEMPORARY LEATHER, SPINE WITH CONVEX SCROLLS, GILT AND EMBOSSING, STRIKING DECORATION IN THE MIRROR OF THE COVERS. HAND-DYED MARBLED PAPER BOARDS, PAGE EDGES GILT.
BDB-/ BAD condition Pieces.
