Kulisy wydania wspomnień Władysława Wagnera Pokusa horyzontu

Abstract

The story of a scout, Władysław Wagner, sailing around the world heated the imagination of the young Poles in 1930s. A 20-year-old sailor made his teenage dreams come true, thanks to his stubbornness, strength of character and hard work. His voyage on the yacht named “Zjawa” (Phantom) and two other vessels lasted from 1932 to 1939. During his journey Wagner published two reports in the form of books: Podług słońca i gwiazd (By the sun and the stars) in 1934 and Pokusa horyzontu (The appeal of the horizon) in 1937. In the New Archive (Archiwum Akt Nowych) in Warsaw, in the section of archive files of Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego (Polish Scouting Association) for the years 1913–1939, there is an interesting set of letters, exchanged between the section of Liga Morska i Kolonialna (Sea and Colonial League) in Katowice and the Scouts Publishing Office “Na Tropie”, based in Warsaw. The letters concerned the publication of the second part of Wagner’s diary, Pokusa horyzontu. The owner of the rights to publication was the Silesian section of LMiK, which purchased the manuscript of the book from the author for 2000 zł. The correspondence, which lasted from February 1937 to January 1938, concerns the negotiations over the publication of the book, specifies the conditions of cooperation of the two institutions involved, includes the editorial calculation (modified a couple of times), and finally contains information on the progress of the editorial and printing works. The surviving archival materials are a rare example of business negotiations concerning a book publication and make an interesting contribution to the studies of the publishing and editorial activity in Poland between the two World Wars.