The Oldest Fully Preserved Book Printed in Polish "Ecclesiastes"

"Ecclesiastes Xyęgi Salomonowe" (eng. Ecclesiastes The books of Solomon) is the oldest fully preserved book printed in Polish, a translation of the Book of Kohelet. The book comes from Hieronim Wietor’s press in Kraków. Wietor was a pioneer of printing in Poland and a great advocate of publishing in his native language. His publishing house congregated foremost artists and Polish language translators, whom he encouraged to translate popular works. The press began to publish self-contained Polish books in 1522, which was connected with the standardisation of orthography in Polish printed texts. Ecclesiastes is the first printed translation of the Bible text into Polish. The publisher chose the Book of Kohelet because it was close to the spirit of the age – it contained timeless golden thoughts of eternal value, still alive and relevant in the 16th century. Text in Polish.