MICKIEWICZ Adam - L'Eglise officielle et le messianisme. Vol. 1-2. Paris 1845. imprim. Bourgogne et Martinet. 8,...

MICKIEWICZ Adam - L'Eglise officielle et le messianisme. Vol. 1-2. Paris 1845. imprim. Bourgogne et Martinet. 8, pp. XII, 548; XV, [1], 304. broch.
Cover abrasions, loss of upper margin of rear cover of vol. 1, circled stamp. (?) on back cover of vol. 2. former owner's stamp. Ex. largely uncut, in full format. Transcripts of Mickiewicz's Paris lectures. Vol. 2 was published under the title. "L'Eglise et le messie."
Mickiewicz began his lectures at the College de France in December 1840. Their subject was the history of the literatures of the Slavic countries. Initially, the poet did not see the need to record his lectures in printed form, but the attribution to him of statements he never made led him to change his position. However, before he made the decision to print, the texts of the lectures, translated into Polish from the transcripts, with corrections, changes and additions, began to appear in the pages of the "National Journal" published in Paris, which in time yielded a separate volume. This resulted in extracts from the first two years of the course. The next two were published through the Polish Bookstore in Paris. They reached readers in 1843-1844, but they were not authorized editions. Sand in 1843 published fragments of the French lectures, And it was she who decided on their form with Mickiewicz's acquiescence. In 1844, a German translation was published. In II and V 1845 the two volumes presented here go out in print, at Mickiewicz's express request, and under his supervision, in the language in which the lectures were delivered. They covered the final part of the course. This was the first authorized edition of "Slavonic Literature," Syga describes it as "the original French edition" (Syga 178). "As many as two times it was made into 'new editions,' appending title cards with a new date. These changes have apparently made pieces with the titles of the first edition from 1845 [...] quite rare. Particularly rare is the volume: 'L'Eglise officiele et le messianisme'" (Semkowicz 190) .