Lukan, *Farsalia*, Revived in Pure Language, trans. Jan Alan Bardziński, Oliwa 1691

Title: Lucan’s *Pharsalia*, Revived in Pure Language, This is the Roman Civil War, with the arguments of Severus Sulpicius and various supplements, dedicated to Władysław “Krzywonogi” Łosi, Voivode of Pomerania […]; [co-published:] A Supplement to Lucan’s *Pharsalia* with Petronius Arbiter’s depiction of that war.

Author: Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (39–65 CE)

Translation: Jan Alan Bardziński (1657–1708)

Publisher: The Cistercian Monastery Printing House in Oliwa, under the direction of Jan Jakub Textor

Year of publication: [1691]

Size: 34 cm

Volume: [3] pp. (preface, dedication), 190 pp. of main text; 72 pp. (Supplement). Complete copy.

Binding: contemporary half-leather

“Lukan’s *Pharsalia*, Revived in Pure Polish” is a 17th-century Polish translation of *Pharsalia*—one of the most important Roman historical epics, recounting the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. It was translated by Jan Alan Bardziński, a Dominican friar and one of the leading translators of the Polish Baroque period. In accordance with the monastic custom of not signing secular works, he concealed his identity in a verse acrostic in the preface—the title page states only that the work was translated by a Pole, “whose name is expressed in the following verses.” The volume contains the arguments of Sulpicius Severus as well as a supplement with excerpts from Petronius Arbiter, the author of *Satyricon*. The work was dedicated to Władysław Stanisław Łos from Krzywonoga (d. 1694), the voivode of Pomerania.

The book was printed by the Cistercian monastery press in Oliwa near Gdańsk, run by Jan Jakub Textor—one of the few monastic printing houses in Pomerania, operating at the intersection of Catholic and Protestant influences in Gdańsk. Combining the text of the epic with supplementary material (commentary and an appendix) was a typical editorial practice that made it easier for readers to engage with a classic work in translation.

Condition of the copy: the block is stable; the title page is slightly soiled, with damage to the corners and a former number; the binding is in good condition.