The article presents various recommendatory peritextual forms that were included
in consecutive editions of Polish translations of The Book of Psalms. There are indicated
fragments of dedicatory letters emphasizing the positive aspects of the said translations,
praising the translators and the patrons of particular editions. In addition, the
author of the article points to prefaces and poems to the reader, in which there also
were advertised both Catholic and Protestant books of psalms, as well as indicated the
particular groups of readers. Some of the recommendatory poems were later reused,
with only slight alternations, in different editions of The Books of Psalms (for example
in the translation by Salomon Rysiński in the Sebastian Sternacki’s edition). In order to
advertise the individual editions, the authority of St. Basil the Great was invoked by
quoting his praise of psalms. Recommendatory statements appeared on the books’ title
leafs, at beginnings and ends of editions; they also varied in scope: from brief maxims
to lengthy arguments by the translators and printers
