Calendars Calendars, or rather
almanacs, compiled by Ivinskis were the first periodical Lithuanian publication in the Russian Empire. In total, Ivinskis published 21 issues of his calendar in Russia: calendars for years 1846–1852, 1855–1864, and 1878 were printed in the Latin alphabet, while the 1865–1867 calendars were printed in the
Cyrillic due to the
Lithuanian press ban. Due to
Russian censorship, the calendars for 1853 and 1854 were not published. Due to the press ban, Ivinskis published at least five calendars (1870, 1874, 1876, 1877, 1879) in
Tilsit,
East Prussia, from where it was
smuggled into Russia. Until the press ban, the calendars were printed by the
Zawadzki printing shop in
Vilnius. Until 1855, Ivinskis financed the publication from his personal funds. It was not a profitable undertaking and, in total, Ivinskis lost about 1,000 rubles publishing the calendars. When the calendars became more popular, the Zawadzki printing shop agreed to finance the publication. The calendars were aimed at Lithuanian peasants. The calendars included astronomical information, lists of religious feasts and important historical events, including from the history of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The calendar was then followed by supplements which included articles on agriculture, medicine, veterinary science, and housekeeping. From 1849 to 1855, the calendars included a religious section. In 1849, Ivinskis published the first literary work (translation of
A Poem on the Last Day by
Edward Young). In 1851, the literary section became a firmly established part of the calendar. The calendar ended with a list of fairs and markets held in various Lithuanian towns, table of sunsets and sunrises, and weather and harvest predictions. The content was original and not borrowed from similar Polish or Russian calendars. They are valued for including a literary section which published examples of
Lithuanian folklore, didactic stories, and original and translated poems. In 1860–1861, the calendars were first to publish the epic poem
The Forest of Anykščiai by
Antanas Baranauskas which has become a classic work of
Lithuanian literature. Other notable published authors included
Silvestras Valiūnas,
Dionizas Poška,
Karolina Proniewska,
Antanas Strazdas, and
Jurgis Pabrėža.
Translations In 1853, Ivinskis wanted to publish a book of translated poetry. He translated excerpts from
Night-Thoughts and
A Poem on the Last Day by
Edward Young and from
Paradise Lost by
John Milton. Ivinskis translated not form the original, but from the 1803 Polish translation by
Franciszek Ksawery Dmochowski. Russian censors particularly attacked
Sūdna diena (translated
A Poem on the Last Day) and order Ivinskis to delete 88 lines due to perceived antigovernmental sentiments. Ivinskis' translation of Young's poems, shortened and edited, were published as separate booklets by
Jonas Žilius-Jonila in the United States in 1897 and 1898. Manuscripts of these translations were exhibited at the
1900 Paris Exposition. Ivinskis' translation of
Paradise Lost was not published. The shortened poem was translated into Lithuanian by Lionginas Pažūsis and published only in 2022. In 1859, Ivinskis published
Genovaitė, a translation of the sentimental didactic story
Genovefa by
Christoph von Schmid. It is an adaptation of the medieval legend about
Genevieve of Brabant. Ivinskis translated the work from Polish, but adapted it to Lithuanian audiences. For example, he changed character names to Lithuanian names, inserted scientific explanations for nature, anatomy, and astronomy, added footnotes for Polish and Latin names of plants and mushrooms. The work became popular and a second edition was published in 1863, becoming the first work of fiction in Lithuanian to be republished. It was later republished by
Martynas Jankus in
Bitėnai in 1896, 1899, 1903, and 1904. It popularized the names Genovaitė and Sigitas (from Siegfried) in Lithuania. It is believed that Ivinskis also translated
Boleslevas, the second part of
Genovaitė about Genevieve's son who participated in the Crusades. It was first published in
Vienybė lietuvninkų and as a separate book in 1889 in
Plymouth, PA. In 1847, Ivinskis translated
Robinson Crusoe from a shortened Polish edition. It included didactic lessons and a 195-word dictionary of less common words. It remained unpublished and its manuscript was discovered only in 1961. In 1853, Ivinskis translated the History of the Old and the New Testaments and dedicated the manuscript to bishop
Motiejus Valančius. Its two parts had 1,079 pages.
Dictionaries Ivinskis started compiling several Lithuanian dictionaries, but they were unfinished and unpublished. His largest dictionary work is the 2,688-page Polish–Lithuanian dictionary up to the letter S. The 2,060-page manuscript of 23,621 words up the letter R was discovered by in 1959 at the library of the
Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in
Kraków. It was gifted to the academy by Maria, wife of , with hopes that it could be published. It is unknown what happened with the 628 pages devoted to the letter S, though they were part of the Ivinskis' manuscript collection once owned by
Petras Kriaučiūnas. Ivinskis used the two-volume Polish dictionary '''' published in 1861 as his primary source for the Polish words. However, there are differences that reflect the variations between the standard Polish and the local Polish used in Samogitia. The Lithuanian words mostly reflect Ivinskis' native
Samogitian dialect, but he also attempted to include elements of the
Aukštaitian dialect. The dictionary is an important source for researchers of both Lithuanian and Polish languages. It was published by the
Institute of the Lithuanian Language in 2010. Ivinskis also compiled a Russian–Lithuanian dictionary and sent 1,193 pages (up to the word ) to the
Russian Geographical Society. He also started compiling a Russian–Lithuanian–Latin–Polish dictionary. He sent the first 96 pages with 358 words up to
Ay to the Geographical Society. This sample contained 145 terms, mostly related to the natural sciences – names of minerals, plants, birds. The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences holds two manuscripts by Ivinskis related to
Lithuanian grammar: Polish tables with descriptions of
Lithuanian declension and verb conjugation and 82-page Lithuanian grammar written in Polish.
Botany and mycology Ivinskis wrote a natural science work titled
Prigimtūmenė was obtained by the
Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków via the Polish botanist
Edward Janczewski. Its first part, 61-page
Žemėmina, describes non-living things in nature – rocks, metals, soil, bodies of water, bogs. The second part,
Žolėmina, is a systemic list of plants and mushrooms based on the classification system of
Carl Linnaeus. The 218-page manuscript describes 219
families and more than 2,500
genera. The names are provided in Latin with translations to Lithuanian, Polish, German. He also compiled alphabetical indexes in all four languages. He planned to write the third part about the animal kingdom, but it is unknown if he was able to start it as its manuscripts have not survived. Since late 1990s, an effort is made to name new plants in Lithuanian using the names listed by Ivinskis in
Prigimtūmenė. In 1873, Ivinskis prepared an atlas of mushrooms. It was selected by a congress of botanists in Warsaw to be exhibited at the
1873 Vienna World's Fair, but it was lost in transit. Ivinskis then worked on a replacement atlas. Two parts of this atlas are known. They contain 226 pages with 769 drawings by Ivinskis. Each mushroom is named in Latin; some names are translated to Lithuanian, Polish, German, Russian, or Czech. The mushrooms are described in Polish by noting their appearance, smell, taste, locations where they grow. It is known that Ivinskis collected Lithuanian plants, mushrooms, and insects. He drew over 2,000 botanical pictures. Some of the collected examples were lost when his carriage rolled over around 1866, but he started over. He gifted some of the collection to his student
Vladimir Zubov and the
Ogiński family, but they have not survived. In 1878, at an agricultural exposition in Rietavas, Ivinskis presented his plans for a
botanical garden based on works by the Austrian botanist
Stephan Endlicher but they were not realized.
Other unpublished works Ivinskis' manuscripts and personal archive were saved by Kajetonas Gadliauskas, who transferred them to
Petras Kriaučiūnas. He then donated the archive to the
Lithuanian Scientific Society (now the
Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore). In 1851, Ivinskis prepared a collection of short stories titled
Pasakos (Tales) for publication, but it was not printed and its manuscript was lost. It is likely that a few of these short stories were later published in his calendar. For the 1855 calendar, Ivinskis prepared and engraved a map of
Telšiai powiat. The map, measuring an
arshin (), would have been the first published map in the Lithuanian language, but it was not published and the map was lost. In 1875, he wrote a 51-page work entitled
Pasauga kiekvieno gyvo sutvėrimo (Care of Every Living Creature), which is considered the first Lithuanian work dedicated to the theme of
environmental protection. It is a collection of 30 short didactic stories about the care and protection of animals, trees, and plants. Russian censors in Saint Petersburg initially approved the publication, but changed their minds when the type was already set. ==Legacy==