Aušra, the first Lithuanian-language periodical that was published between 1883-1886, will be reprinted in a brand new edition.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by Gytis Vaškelis, head of the Publishing Centre of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore.
According to him, the periodical will be published in four volumes and an accompanying book with commentary.
The fifth volume will also contain an “anthology of texts” rewritten in modern Lithuanian in order to be more accessible to school students.
Additionally, all the volumes will be published in searchable e-book formats so that “readers are able to open them at any time and look them up on the Internet”, said Vaškelis.
The planned run of the edition is 1,200 copies.
“They will go to Lithuanian schools, libraries, colleges, and universities,” he said.
There are no plans to sell the books yet.
The republication of Aušra on its 140th anniversary is financed by the scientist and businessman Pranas Kiznis.
“So that some of that wisdom is preserved and can be used in life,” commented the sponsor.
President Gitanas Nausėda, who attended the press conference, said that Aušra was the first periodical publication “that fundamentally shook our society”.
“It was the source of our national revival,” Nausėda said.
Aušra, or Auszra as it was originally spelled (“Dawn” in Lithuanian) was the first Lithuanian-language monthly newspaper and is regarded as a landmark in the Lithuanian national revival.
The newspaper was published from March 1883 to June 1886 in Lithuania Minor, in Ragainiai and Tilžė, then part of East Prussia.
The publishers were former students of the Marijampolė Gymnasium and Lithuanian students of Moscow and St. Petersburg universities. Jonas Basanavičius signed as the publisher of the first issue.
At its heigh, the circulation of the newspaper reached 1,000 copies, and in all 40 issues were published in 29 volumes.
Aušra was reissued in 1983 in Chicago, USA, on the occasion of its centenary.
The newspaper’s declared mission was to mobilise Lithuanians and raise national consciousness.
The publication was mainly concerned with the education and prestige of the Lithuanian language, Lithuanian folk culture and folklore. It also contained fiction by 19-century Lithuanian authors as well as translations from other languages.
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