20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

154 Ilie RadRǎdulescu), Bukovina (Mihai Cuciureanul), Bessarabia (Al. Donici) andBanat (D. Bojâncǎ), a principle that will become of major significance tothe subsequent volumes of The Reader (Lepturariul).The second volume 13 , for the third year of junior secondary school,published one year later (1863), brings a significant change in the profile ofthe book, meaning that the content (274 pages) is divided in two sections:A. Poems and B. Prose. Only the first 8 paragraphs (no more than 12 pages)of the total 66 contained in the volume are printed in Cyrillic characters,which represents a remarkable progress compared to the previous volume.Another novelty is that a large section is dedicated to popular literature:out of the poems collected and edited by Vasile Alecsandri, we find Movilalui Burcel, Codreanul, Mihu Copilul, Negru Voda and Manole or TheMonastery of Arges; as well as two carols signed by George Sǎulescul andfive poems authored “by a villager” or “by a Romanian woman”. Otherpoems belong to names such as Gh. Asachi, Anton Pann, I.H. Rǎdulescu,Negruzzi, Al. Donici, I. Raţiu, N. Zǎboreanul, S. Neagoe, Georgiu Mǎrcişiu,Justin Popescul, H. Grandea, Mihai Porfiriu, Nicolae Istrati, NicolaeBurchi, while several other texts are extracts from the journal Paper for theMind, Heart and Literature (Foaie pentru minte, inima si literatura).The prose section is represented by Paul Vasici, Gh. Asachi, IuliuBǎrǎşiu, and also by various translations. The term prose should not beconsidered as fiction in this case, because the texts actually containhistorical information (The Egyptian Signs, The Cause of the Trojan War),geographic information (The Baths of Menhaden, The Eruption of Vesuviusin the First Century after Christ) etc. At the end of the volume, there is alist of 47 typographical errors (“sminte de tipariu”), which is a premiere, asit suggests a certain preoccupation with philological accuracy.The second part of the volume is designed for “the fourth year ofjunior secondary school”. Although it features a title page and a new pageformat, the two parts were printed in a single volume, for reasons which areprobably strictly editorial.The structure of the second part is identical to the first one: A. Poetryand B. Prose. None of the poems appears in Cyrillic characters, but ten“prose” texts are still dependent on this much hated alphabet. The numberof poets increases in this section: G. Sion, J. Popescul, C.D. Aricescul,13Rumanian Reader Featuring Rumanian Authors, Commissioned by the HighMinistry of Instruction, for Usage by Third Year Junior Secondary Students, by ArunePumnul, Professor of Rumanian Language and Literature at the Plinariu SecondaryCollege in Chernovtsy. 1863, Tome II, Part I, Subsidised by the G.O. Religious Fund inBukovina. Vienna: C.R. Publisher of Educational Books.