Professor Wiesław Wydra from the Institute of Polish Philology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań found an unknown printed edition of the text “Conversations of the Master Polycarp with Death”, published in Kraków in 1542 by Maciej Szarfenberg.

The printed text was discovered in one of the European university libraries and was preserved in its entirety, unlike the previously known version of the conversation of the Płock manuscript, and it is a true philological revelation. The critical edition of “Conversations …” from 1542 will be published in autumn by Wydawnictwo Poznańskie Studia Polonistyczne.

Professor Wydra is the author of over one hundred articles in magazines and collective books as well as several books. The subject of his scientific interests are the history of literature and books in the Middle Ages and the early modern period, research on songs in the late Middle Ages and the edition of unknown or unreleased Polish works from that period. He is also an expert in incunabula and old prints.