- KURJER LITEWSKI (originally Kuryer
Litewski, The Lithuanian Courier), the first Lithuanian newspaper,
published in Polish from 1760 to 1840 in Vilnius. A government permit
was required to publish a newspaper, and the Academy of Vilnius,
directed by the Jesuits, received one on Feb. 23, 1760 from King
Augustus III. Because only the Jesuits had such a permit, for a time
their newspapers were the only ones in Lithuania and were popularly
called "privileged."
- The first issue of Kurjer Litewski appeared
'on April 18, 1760. It was a weekly paper published on Friday, and a
supplement was published separately under different titles, for example,
Wiadomošci LiteracTcie (Literary News). The first issue of the
supplement came out on Nov. 14, 1760, and it soon became the second
major newspaper in Vilnius. The editor of the two newspapers was the
Jesuit Francis Paprocki, prefect 'of the Academy of Vilnius printing
shop and known for the calendars he published and for his own historical
writings. Contributors were mostly Academy professors whose names have
not survived, for at that time it was not customary to give authors'
names under the articles.
Kurjer Litewski
was considered a political publication, although it’s contents was
more of a social nature. News from abroad came from papers published in
Warsaw and brought to Vilnius, the only source of information at the
time. Local news of Vilnius and other larger Lithuanian cities received
first priority; reported were visits to Vilnius of state officials and
magnates, sessions of the Supreme Tribunal, conventions of the gentry,
the appointment of a new magistrate for Vilnius, as well as other
noteworthy events in the life of the city. Wiadomošci Literackie
did not live up to its title; it was more dedicated to popularizing
learning in general than to literature. This was emphasized in the
vignette decorating it’s heading, which consisted of a spurting
fountain with the Latin aphorism: "Quo plus sunt potae, plus
sitiuntur" (The more there is to drink, the more one is
thirsty). To quench this intellectual thirst the paper offered reports
on the various branches of learning and information about the work of
the Academy of Vilnius. The newspaper, as the cultural supplement of
Kurjer Litewski, ceased publication in Nov. 1763.
- When the Jesuit Order was closed ten years
later, Kurjer Litewski fell into the hands of private publishers,
and in 1789 it was discontinued. It was revived in 1796 in Gardinas,
after the last partition of Lithuania, and moved to Vilnius in the
following year. From 1833 it appeared twice weekly in Polish and
Russian. The name of the newspaper was changed in 1840 to accommodate
the two languages; the Polish part was called Kurjer Wilenski
(The Vilnius Courier) and the Russian, Vilenskii Vestnik (The
Vilnius Messenger). After the 1863-64 uprising only the Russian
newspaper remained.
-
- Bibl.: A. Jocher, Obraz
bibliograficzno-historyczny literatury i nauk w Polsce, I-III,
Wilno, 1839-57; V. Abromavičius, "Pirmieji Vlniaus
laikraščiai," Literatūros ir meno metraščiai, Vilnius,
1961; J. Karosas, "Pirmieji Vilniaus lalkraščiai," Mokslas
ir Gyvenimas. No. 5, 1969 (Vilnius). S.Sui.
-
- Text from the ENCYCLOPEDIA LITUANICA I-VI.
Boston, 1970-1978
