Zecer jako współautor („Listów z podróży do Ameryki”)
A Compositor as a Co-Author (of “Listy z podróży do Ameryki” <“Portrait of America”>)

Summary/Abstract: Henryk Sienkiewicz travelled to America in 1876. He sent letters from his journey to the Warsaw Publishing House of “Gazeta Polska” (“The Polish Gazette”) that published them in column serials. Soon, “Listy z podróźy do Ameryki” (“Portrait of America”) was issued in a book form. A critical edition of the author’s entire output was prepared in 1950 by Julian Krzyżanowski. The letters’ manuscripts are lost. A careful analysis of Sienkiewicz’s account proves that the printed text contains many errors, most probably an effect of the handwriting’s improper deciphering by the Warsaw compositor of “Gazette.” Vast majority of the errors later entered into the subsequent editions, including the critical one by Krzyżanowski. Numerous misprints are visible in the spelling of American toponyms. The 19th c. maps help to eradicate them. Errors are also found in proper names of real figures, and here correction can be helped by the everyday American press from the years of Sienkiewicz’s travels. Contaminations of the “Portraits” with errors allow to state that the anonymous compositor became a co-author of this American report.

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