Pirmoji knyga ir jos adresatas

Abstract

It is pointed out on the title page of Martynas Mažvydas ’’Katekizmas” that the book is published on the 8th of January 1547, but up to now it has been argued that January is comprehended according to the present day calendar, not the old one. If that is true, then January would be present-day December. The conclusion is drawn on the basis of that assumption as well as on Mažvydas’ biography (that the first Lithuanian book was published in December). Naturally, the printing itself must have been started much earlier. Facts of political history, the dedications and pre faces of ’’Katekizmas” support the opinion of Konstantinas Jablonskis and Pranas Skardžius that Mažvydas dedicated the first Lithuanian book to the inhabitants of the Great Lithuanian Duchy in order to convert them to the protestantism.