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[EXPLAINING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE] Rus’-Ukraina i Moskovshchyna: Istorychna rozvidka [Rus’- Ukraine and Muscovy: A Historical Essay]

TSEHELSKYI, Lonhyn

Item #2900

Lviv: Z drukarni Naukovoho Tovarystva im. Shevchenka pid zariadom K.Bednarskoho, 1901. 92, [4] pp. ads. 18.5×13 cm [7 1/4×5 1/8 in.]. Original publisher’s illustrated wrappers. Lower part of spine restored, trace of a label to rear wrapper, paper toned. Contemporary pencil underlining and question marks throughout, with a linguistic annotation on p. 22. Stamps of the Soiuz vyzvolennia Ukrainy [Union for the Liberation of Ukraine] to the title page, p. 21, and final advertising leaf. One of 10,000 copies. In Ukrainian, with occasional quotations in Russian.

First edition. Published as vols. 251–252 of the Prosvita series and vol. 8 of the Stefan Dubravskyi Foundation series. The book opens with a portrait and biographical note on Dubravskyi and is divided into 36 short chapters, written as a popular historical introduction for a general readership.
Tsehelskyi examines the historical and linguistic distinction between Ukrainians and Russians, beginning with the origins of the East Slavic peoples and continuing through their political relations to the beginning of the twentieth century. Particular attention is given to the terms Rus’, rusyn, and ruskyi, which Tsehelskyi argues belong historically to the Ukrainian/Ruthenian tradition and should be distinguished from Russia and Muscovy. Linguistic evidence, territorial history, and political development are used to argue for a distinct Ukrainian national identity.
Lonhyn Tsehelskyi (1875–1950) was a Galician lawyer, journalist, and political activist. Trained in law, he was involved in organizing Ukrainian political life in Galicia and wrote extensively for such periodicals as Dilo, Svoboda, and Ukrainske slovo. His legal and journalistic background is evident here in the combination of popular historical exposition with a clearly stated national argument.
This copy is particularly interesting for its provenance from the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine, founded in Lviv in 1914. The organization later issued new editions of Tsehelskyi’s work and used it in its publishing campaign promoting Ukrainian political and cultural distinctiveness. Later editions added a map of Ukraine incorporating both eastern and western Ukrainian territories; the third edition also appeared under the altered title Moskovshchyna i Rosiia.

The book was unusually successful for a Prosvita historical pamphlet: contemporary research gives 10,000 copies for the first edition, 20,000 for the second, and 40,000 for the third, the later editions being intended in part for circulation in Russian-ruled Ukraine.

Rare. WorldCat records two copies of this edition in the United States (Byzantine Catholic Seminary Library and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Library); KVK locates three additional copies in Austria, Poland, and Russia. The National Bibliography of Ukraine records one copy in a Ukrainian collection.

Status: On Hold