We are thrilled to announce the publication of a new volume of Jan Amos Comenius‘ Opera Omnia, by our esteemed colleagues in the Institute of Philosophy at the Czech Academy of Sciences, partners in our ongoing project around the correspondence and networks of Comenius.
The new volume of the critical edition includes the works of Comenius related to the past and present of the Unity of Brethren. The Historia de origine et rebus gestis fratrum Bohemicorum liber octavus, called in Czech Knavrácení se na první opuštěnou lásku is part of a more extensive Latin treatise by the Polish Calvinist aristocrat Jan Łasicki, concerning the history, organisation and ethical habits of the Unitas Fratrum. Comenius published the eighth book of the Latin original and a Czech translation with a summary of the remaining seven parts. The first publication was in 1649, in Leszno, during an emotionally fraught period shortly after the closing of the Peace of Westphalia.
Our partners at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, publishers of the new edition.
The edition of the Historia, both in its Latin and Czech versions, is followed by two Latin treatises, Lesnae excidium (1656) and Acclamatio votiva (1658). Both are related to the Second Northern War, and more specifically to the years 1656 to 1658. The former describes the siege and fire of Leszno and the temporary decline of the local Brethren exile community. The latter addresses the Swedish king Charles X Gustav and appeals to him to sign a peace treaty with Denmark and to follow the virtues of a Christian ruler. As with the earlier volumes, the new volume of Opera Omnia includes detailed editorial comments, information in Latin, Czech and English on all edited works, images of the title page and other pages of the extant printed and manuscript copies of the edited works, and extensive indexes.
Johannis Amos Comenii Opera omnia / Dílo Jana Amose Komenského, vol. 9/II, ed. M. Steiner et al., (Academia, Praha 2013). 444 s. ISBN 978-80-200-2244-8
Orders should be sent to the postal address: Expedice Academia Rozvojová 135 160 00, Praha 6 Czech Republic, or to the email address: expedice@academia.cz. Review copies can be ordered at kermesova@academia.cz.