HOw TO GeT BOOKS IF YOu were A luTHerAN PrIeST IN FINlAND Or eAST PruSSIA IN THe 18TH CeNTurY: PrIVATe lIBrArIeS AND FOrmS OF COOPerATION

The article strives to draw parallels between the cultural contexts of the Lutheran clergy in East Prussia, where Kristijonas Donelaitis lived, and in Finland. East Prussia was part of the Prussian and Finland part of the Swedish Kingdom. The Lutheran Protestant church was state-church in both of the realms. The German culture naturally dominated in East Prussia, but its influence in Sweden and Finland was also strong. There also are parallels in the linguistic situation in East Prussia and Finland. There was a Lithuanian-speaking minority in East Prussia and a Finnish-speaking majority in Finland, both of which were shadowed by the dominant language and culture, German and Swedish, respectively. The priest served as a link between the dominant culture and administration and the common people. Two Finnish priests, Matthias Salamnius (1640–1691) and Johan Frosterus (1720–1809) that can be compared to Donelaitis in their literary production, are presented. The existence of non-theological books in the private libraries of Finnish priests is analyzed using the data in estate inventories. Information about forms of cooperation in the distribution of books, such as book circles and professional reading societies are presented in both Finland and East Prussia.

The article strives to draw parallels between the cultural contexts of the Lutheran clergy in East Prussia, where Kristijonas Donelaitis lived, and in Finland.East Prussia was part of the Prussian and Finland part of the Swedish Kingdom.The Lutheran Protestant church was state-church in both of the realms.The German culture naturally dominated in East Prussia, but its influence in Sweden and Finland was also strong.There also are parallels in the linguistic situation in East Prussia and Finland.There was a Lithuanian-speaking minority in East Prussia and a Finnish-speaking majority in Finland, both of which were shadowed by the dominant language and culture, German and Swedish, respectively.The priest served as a link between the dominant culture and administration and the common people.Two Finnish priests, Matthias Salamnius (1640-1691) and Johan Frosterus (1720-1809) that can be compared to Donelaitis in their literary production, are presented.The existence of non-theological books in the private libraries of Finnish priests is analyzed using the data in estate inventories.Information about forms of cooperation in the distribution of books, such as book circles and professional reading societies are presented in both Finland and East Prussia.KEY wORDS: Lutheran clergy, East Prussia, Finland, 18 th century, Matthias Calamnius, Johan Frosterus, private libraries, distribution of books, professional reading societies.
inTROdUCTiOn: WHAT HAVe FinniSH lUTHeRAn PRieSTS TO dO WiTH KRiSTiJOnAS dOnelAiTiS?
My aim in this article is to create a larger picture of the cultural and literary context of Kristijonas Donelaitis.He belonged to the wide German-Protestant cultural sphere that spread far outside the Prussian and German national borders, but he also belonged to a linguistic minority and lived outside the urban centres of his time.I have tried to find somewhat similar conditions elsewhere in this cultural sphere, in Finland, also a Protestant area since the 16 th century.The linguistic conditions in Finland resembled to a certain degree those in East Prussia.Until 1809 Finland was part of the Swedish realm.The Finnish-speaking majority of the population lived in similar conditions as the original Lithuanian peasant population in East Prussia, although there was no serfdom in Finland.The public life and state matters were conducted in a language that was foreign to the rural population, in Swedish in Finland and in German in East Prussia.There was, however, a considerable Swedish-speaking peasant minority group in Finland, as there was a large German peasant population in East Prussia.There were other minor groups in both regions.So it was a multicultural society in Finland and Lithuania Minor as well. 1 Priests were a link between the Crown as well as the state authorities and the people.Being Lutheran, the Finnish priests were closely connected to the German Evangelical-Lutheran clerical culture.During the 18 th century most of the clergy in Finland favoured a moderate, rationally inclined type of Christianity.Large revivalist movements had not yet entered into Finland on a larger scale.Some priests took an active role in the literary culture.They produced (wrote, translated, published) books even in the vernacular languages, Finnish in Finland and Lithuanian in East Prussia.

COnTOURS OF THe FinniSH CleRGY AT THe TiMe OF dOnelAiTiS
As a rule, Finnish priests studied at a university, usually in the Academia Aboensis (University of Turku/Åbo). 2 Thus they were members of the Priests in Finland (Sweden) belonged to the group of educated people and therefore their participation in the literary culture was similar to the contribution made by the other educated people.Naturally, there were great differences in their activeness.I have chosen a couple of outstanding examples of productive priests that more or less resembled Donelaitis.
A contemporary of Donelaitis' was Johan Frosterus (1720-1809).He was born in a rural parish, Paltamo, in the north eastern part of Finland, as a son of the local priest.The language of the family was presumably Swedish, but he spent the first years of his life in an almost totally Finnish environment and learned Finnish thoroughly.He was called the best user of the Finnish literary language of the Swedish era.He published two poems in Finnish, but his most important work was a non-fictive introduction into natural history, Hyödyllinen Huwitus Luomisen Töistä, Yxinkertaisille awuxi Jumalan Hywyden Tundoon Ja Palweluxeen (Turku 1791) (A Useful Entertainment on the works of Creation, As Help to the Simple Ones Leading to the Sense and Service of the Goodness of God, 116 pages), the first one of its kind in Finnish. 3 The book strives to present the physical world and its phenomena in harmony with the Christian belief.
However, the most important published poetic work in the Finnish language before the 19 th century was written much earlier than the above mentioned piece of work.It was published in 1690 under the title Ilolaulu Jesuxesta (Song of Joy on Jesus), and was written by Matthias Salamnius (1650?-1691), a clergyman.Information about his life is scarce.It is known that he served as an assistant priest in Ingermanland (around the present St. Petersburg), but originally he may have come from the northern parts of Finland.He published two long versified narratives.The first one is a poetic biography of Johannes Getzelius the Older ( †1690), one of the most important bishops in the Finnish history.This work was still a rather matterof-fact chronicle, but his last work, Ilolaulu Jesuxesta, was to remain in the literary history of Finland.It is a poetically and epically excellent Messiad.It was written Title page of Johan Frosterus' Hyödyllinen Huwitus Luomisen Töistä (1791).Source of the picture: http://s1.doria.fi/helmi/bk/rv/fem19990032/slides/001.html city in the 18 th century was Turku, which is known as Åbo in Swedish. in the public life and literature of the 18 th century the Swedish form of the name was more visible than the Finnish.  in the Kalevala metre, a four-trochaic metre that is used in the Finnish folk poetry.The poem consists of 2265 lines in 29 chapters on the life of Christ.Until the 20 th century it was reprinted nearly twenty times 4 (Kuusi 1996).

CleRGYMen AS PROFeSSiOnAl ReAdeRS And bOOK OWneRS
The Finnish clergymen as readers and owners of professional literature have been excellently treated by Tuija Laine (2011). 5My perspective is different.I strive to present the Finnish clergymen as readers and book owners outside the professional field, as readers of general literature, even worldly fiction.
The book ownership of even the clergy is included in the database Henrik (http://dbgw.finlit.fi/henrik/hen-rik_english.php).Still, for a quick scan of the book ownership of the clergy, it is easier to use Henrik Grönroos's and Ann-Charlotte Nyman's printed volume documenting the book lists in the estate inventories of the Finnish towns in the 18 th century (published in 1996). 6Unfortunately, in many cases the name of the deceased is mentioned but the list of books is absent.
The data compiled by Grönroos is not an ideal source to study book ownership of clergymen, because it only includes inventories in towns, but it offers a sample of 13 priests (or their widows).I shall add one priest, Jacob Estlander, a rector in a predominantly Swedish-speaking parish Lappfjärd in the province of Ostrobothnia Title page of Matthias Salamnius' Ilolaulu Jesuxesta (1690).Source: http://s1.doria.fi/helmi/bk/rv/fem970222/slides/001.html(Fi.Pohjanmaa, Swe.österbotten).The list of books in his estate inventory has been published. 7he chart is based on a very preliminary and quick scan of the inventories.It is difficult to classify the books based only on the list in the estate inventories.Still, the chart gives some idea of the distribution of books between the theological (spiritual, dogmatic, church historical, devotional etc.) and non-religious subjects.The share of nontheological books seems to have risen during the period studied.The share of worldly books in the libraries of the clergy is not strikingly lower than in the libraries of the bourgeois, most of whom lived in the coastal towns.There is no general study of the book ownership of the Finnish bourgeois in the 18 th century, but based on the Grönroos-Nyman data I have estimated the share of worldly books in the estate inventories of the bourgeois of the small coastal towns on the Gulf of Bothnia.Until mid-18 th century the share of worldly books in the bourgeois inventories was barely a quarter.During the period 1770-1790 it rose at best until a third.Only during the last decades of the Swedish era (1790-1809) the share of worldly books equalled that of devotional-theological works. 8Among the worldly books the share of belles lettres proper was low in all groups, with a certain exception of the noble officers, who acted as early adopters concerning the new literary genres.This is seen in the estate inventory data in Helsinki. 9he information that we have at the moment shows that there was a great variety in the book ownership of the clergy.The number of books varies from a few volumes, a hymnal, a Bible etc., to more than a thousand volumes.This is partly explained by the different economic positions of priests.Rectors in rich towns or parishes had a good income, but those who lived in smaller places or served as chaplains or had no permanent position had no possibility to buy many books.It was quite common practice for assistant priests that lived in the household of the rector (kyrkoherde) to be allowed to use the rector's library.
Of course, often the books gathered by a priest were passed on as heritage to his son.This means that there may have been books from several generations in a priest's library.
The division of books owned by 14 Finnish clergymen between theological-devotional and worldly books.In the course of the 18 th century the role of the parish priests changed quite a lot.More worldly duties were given to the clergy.They were the leaders in the parish even in quite worldly matters.They had, to some extent, to manage the economy of the parish as well as its spiritual wellbeing.One of the important duties was to take care of the population tables of the parish.The Swedish system of population statistics was established in 1749.Exact population data was needed for the economic planning on the national scale.The parish priests were obligated to send every third year a summary of the population data based on the church books to the state statistical board (Kommissionen över tabellverket). 10he 18 th century in Sweden was called the Age of Utility.Even priests were supposed to support worldly progress, agriculture, popular enlightenment, and medical care.This naturally meant more books on agriculture, medicine and economics in the clerical libraries.

enTeRTAininG liTeRATURe in THe PRiVATe libRARieS OF THe PRieSTS
The century also brought new cultural impulses, new literary genres and new interest in reading for pleasure to the families of the priests.However, novels and poetry are not numerous in the estate inventories I have as data.Still, there is something.Books on history, travels and geography become more popular towards the end of the 18 th century.Even some novels and lighter literature start to appear in the inventories. 11n assistant priest (adjunkt) Talqvist, who died in 1783 in the town of Naantali (Swe.Nådendal) possessed a book on James Cook's travels in German, but his library included the following interesting book as well:

11
The private libraries presented here have been listed in the volume edited by GrÖnrOOS and nYMan.Op. cit.
to conduct love affairs without speaking, writing or making visits.explained in Gulbea's and issouf beig's love affair.Translated from the French.Wästerås 1762.]John Barclay's novel in Latin Argenis and Fénelon's pedagocial novel Télemaque were appreciated even by those who in general despised the novel as a frivolous genre.Barclay's Argenis was owned by two priests: Rector Johan Forsskåhl, Helsinki (in his wife's inventory 1738) and chaplain Petter Ring, Tammisaari (Ekenäs, 1760).Fénelon's Télemaque was owned by the same Johan Forrskåhl and Anders Kikovius in Oulu.
The Dean (kontraktsprost) and rector in Oulu Anders Kikovius, who died in 1807, seems to have been a man of enlightened tastes.His library included, e.g., Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, as well as novels in Swedish translation such as Marmontel's Bélisar, Fénelon's Télémaque, a novel by Kotzebue and another by Amalia Sekkendorf.He also possessed Voltaire's book on Newton and Leibniz.
An extraordinary large private library was owned by a parish rector Johan Forsskåhl in Helsinki.It was listed in his wife's inventory after her death in 1738.The list includes ca.thousand volumes, mostly theology and related subjects in many languages (incl.German, Latin, French, English, Dutch), as well as many books on medicine.There also were volumes of the learned series: Acta eruditor, Acta Litteraria Sveciae, Journal des Sçavans, Nouvelles de la république des Lettres etc. Fénelon's Télémaque was there, as we already have seen, but also some more intriguing stuff: -Amitiez, amours et amourettes par René le Pays, 1665, -Ibrahims, oder, Des durchleuchtigen Bassa und der beständigen Isabellen Wunder-Geschichte, par Madeleine de Scudéry, 1645.

GeTTinG bOOKS in COOPeRATiOn
The priests, about whose books we have got to know so far, lived in towns.They were rather small towns, at the maximum several thousand of inhabitants, more often only a few hundred.Still they were urban places.Life was different for the majority of priests living in the countryside, in rural parishes far away from literary centres.In these circumstances, the need for cooperation when purchasing books was acutely felt.Books were expensive, and there were no bookshops in the country except in Turku.Books were often ordered or brought by acquaintances or relatives directly from Stockholm.Usually books took months to arrive.I follow in my presentation the typology of reading societies described in a book by Marlies Prüsener (1973). 12I find Prüsener's book very helpful in understanding the literary life in Germany and the regions, which were directly or indirectly attached to the German cultural sphere.In a way, there is not much difference, if the phenomena we are studying appeared in East Prussia or Finland, although it must be admitted that they were better documented in Germany.
Different kinds of cooperative initiatives were launched to organize acquisition of books and newspapers in the 18 th century in Finland -and East Prussia as well.The most elementary forms were subscription circles for newspapers.There is information on them already in the last years of the 17 th century in Finnish towns.Priests, in some cases even bishops, were natural members in this kind of organizations.Even in an inland region in Finland, an organization that circulated newspapers and other publications, is known to have existed in the 1740s.The membership included a judge and clergymen.There certainly were more organizations of this kind, but many of them left no traces.The time from the 1720s until 1770s is in historical literature called the Age of Freedom, because the power in the country was in the hands of the estates (gentry, clergy, bourgeoisie, peasants), and there was a lively political debate going on, which increased the need of getting information regularly.

BoK soCiEtEt, A bOOK CiRCle OF lAnd SURVeYORS And PRieSTS in SOUTHeRn OSTRObOTHniA in THe 1760S
A more organized form of cooperation in the procurement of literature was the so-called book or reading circle (in German: Lese-Zirkel).At least one circle of this type functioned in Finland in the 1760s.It was called Bok Societet.This type of name is not known in Germany, but there is evidence of several Book Societies or Books Clubs functioning in England in the 18 th century. 13he Bok Societet is mentioned in the obituary of one of its members, land surveyor Erik Tulindberg.Only one of the books that circulated in the society has been preserved.we also know indirectly that one of the books, a volume of poetical works Witterhetsarbeten, Vol 1 (Stockholm 1759), that circulated in the society belonged to rector Jacob Estlander in Lappfjärd, but it had been lost before the catalog of Estlander's books was published (Estlander 1934).The preserved book  Readers used to inscribe their names on the first empty page of the book in the order they received it.The book circulated in parishes around the town of Vaasa, but not in the town itself.The book started its circulation on 12.1.1760in Kaskinen (Swe.Kaskö), a very little coastal town south of Vaasa.It was owned and sent on its way by sheep counsellor Johan David Cneiff (1722-1792) and it circulated among the following 12 members: Page of Montesquieu's book, where the members of the Bok Societet have written their names and other information.Picture: Porin historiallinen museo -Rector Jacob estlander (1713-1785), lapväärti (lappfjärd), -Rector Johan AEjmelaeus (1718-1805), isokyrö (Storkyro), -Chaplain israel Reinius (1699-1771), laihia (laihela), -Captain Herman Julius Roos (1725-1786), Ylistaro, -land surveyor Zacharias brander (1729-1782) (Sulva [Solf] or Mustasaari), --" -erik Klingius (1710-1781), Maalahti (Malax) --" -erik Tulindberg (1728-1793), Korsnäs --" -ludvig Anton Runeberg (1725-1803), Korsnäs, --" -erik Wijk (1725-1783), närpiö (närpes), -Chaplain Henrik Moliis (1711-1777), närpiö, -land surveyor israel Wänman (1723-1795), närpiö.
Thus four of the twelve members were clergymen.Of the clergyman members at least Johannes AEjmelaeus and Israel Reinius were active writers, and promoted popular education and economy.Aejmelaeus was later (1770s) member of the influential academic society Aurora.Reinius produced a promemoria on the economic problems of the region and how to solve them (1745).Estlander owned a considerable library. 14n an obituary it was said of Aejmelaeus that he spent most of the time in his room reading, "not to personally increase the number of authors, and neither to gain himself a name as an erudite, but to increase the warehouse of his thoughts, so that it would not, as any other warehouse, become empty, and thus he tried to prevent those who listened to the word of God in the parish to become bored." The society is also mentioned in the obituary of one of its members, land surveyor Erik Tulindberg.Its character as a serious vehide of Enlightenment and selfeducation becomes clear in the obituary.Besides the fact that new books were circulated in the society, one of the principles in the Bok Societet was that all members opened their private libraries to the other members. 15nfortunately, this is nearly everything that we know about the Bok Societet.In any case, it shows that clergymen were active in creating cooperation for the distribution of publications.

CleRiCAl ReAdinG SOCieTieS
Since the 1790s there appeared a number of reading societies in Finnish towns.Until 1830s these were general in nature, i.e., the members included educated men from many professions, and the book stock was mainly general, often with a large number of belles-lettres.One can say with certainty that every general reading society included priests as members.Since the 1830s a new kind of reading societies started to spread in the country, the so-called professional reading societies (Fachlesegesellschaften), as they are called in Prüsener's typology.Also the clergy started their reading societies in Finland during the late 1830s.
The models came probably from Germany through Sweden.There were some initiatives already during the last years of the 18th century, e.g. on the Swedish Island of Gotland by bishop Johan Møller, who organized a circulating reading society for the clergy in his diocese.The publications circulated from priest to priest.There were also some civil servants in the society.Publications were Swedish and German learned journal and books.
The idea of clerical reading societies stayed alive in Sweden during the first decades of the new century.The Bishop of Lund proposed 1814 that a "literary connection" (litterärt samband) should be established among the clergy.This proposal was referred to in an article published in the journal "Läsning för Präster" (reading for priests) in 1819.The article that partly was a translation of the text published in Danish stresses the meaning of reading and literary communication for clergymen.There was a danger that the clergymen might be left outside the "civilized conversation", if they knew nothing else than theology.
From the 1820s there is new information on regional clerical reading societies in Sweden.They were called Contracts-bibliothek, because the administrative unit of a number of parishes was called a Contract.Dean J. J. Lagergren organized a reading society in Östby contract of the Växjö diocese so well that it continued even after his death.After he had entered his post in 1826, the new bishop Esaias Tegnér, a famous poet, tried to organize a diocese-wide network of clerical reading societies.
After ten years of experiment he published his thoughts about clerical reading societies at the meeting of Växjö clergy in 1836.The reading societies he proposed were not narrowly professional, but their goal was to communicate general culture, to keep the cultural level of the priests so high that they need not be ashamed in front of other educated people or that their low cultural level would not be an excuse for the educated class to become estranged from the church. 16

TWO PiOneeRinG CleRiCAl ReAdinG SOCieTieS in FinlAnd
The first initiatives to establish clerical reading societies in Finland occurred shortly after Tegnér's speech was made public through newspapers and journals.There probably is a connection, because Tegnér was so famous that his words were heard far and wide.The birth of clerical reading societies in Finland shows that even here concerns were raised about the dangers of low cultural level of the priests.There was a debate concerning the education of the priests in the newspapers.
There were two early reading societies for priests in Finland in the late 1830s.They were rather different in character.The earlier of the two launched its activities on the Åland Island in 1837.The clergy on Åland agreed to pay a fee, the rules were written and approved.The rules were sent to the central administration of the diocese, which approved them without delay.The rules were even published in a newspaper.
Already in a couple of years the collection of the library grew to 200 volumes and the growth continued.The great majority of the books of the library were professional, shedding light on different branches of theoretical and practical theology.Belles-lettres accounted for a very insignificant share of this collection.Nearest to anything popular were the works of the type of Young's Nights in the Swedish translation.There were no novels at all, although they may have been circulating off-the-record.
The other early clerical reading library in northern Karelia was more versatile in nature than the narrowly professional Åland society.The Karelian society started in 1838 in the remote North Eastern region of the Porvoo (Swe.Borgå) diocese.whereas Åland is an island and not a very big as such, in northern Karelia the parishes lie wide apart.So the reading society had to be of circulating type (whereas there was a permanent library on Åland).But there was a unifying feature in the two reading societies: two priests closely connected with their establishment were later to become pioneers in the promotion of popular libraries.On Åland the Rector P. U. F. Sadelin was one of the founders of the clerical reading society.Previously he had been teacher and headmaster in the secondary school in Vaasa (wasa), where he also had been active in library matters.He served as librarian of the reading society at Vaasa for more than a decade.On Åland he founded in 1841 one of the first parish libraries in Finland.In northern Karelia the founder of the reading 16 More about reading societies in Finland, see MÄKinen, 1994 and 1997.society was Dean A. J. Europaeus, who some years later published an article propagating popular libraries.He also established a popular library in his parish.
The North-Karelian reading society's goal seems in the first place to have been the general advancement of culture in the far-away forests.Among the circulating publications were theological books and journals, but the emphasis seems to have been on newspapers, also on entertaining reading (roande Lecture), even novels, were included.For example, a package in August 1838 contained a theological journal, half a year's issues of two domestic newspapers and a number of novels, including a volume of C. J. L. Almquist's famous novel Törnrosens Bok that deeply affected the minds at the time.Novels meant that even the wives and daughters in the rectories got something interesting to read.Publications went to their round every fourth week and the order of circulation was written on a piece of paper (kurs).The length of the route was over 300 km.After the round the publications were placed in the Deans archive.In 1858 the library was left under the care of the schoolmaster of a school in the nearest town (Joensuu).
The two clerical reading societies described here remained the only (at least known) ones for a long time.After the great turn in the Finnish cultural life at the end of the Crimean war (1854-1856), the Archbishop Edvard Bergenheim, among many other things, started to promote clerical reading societies.He more or less obligated the clergy to adopt them and there were some fine examples, the collections of which still exist, but in many places the activity was half-hearted. 17l THiS COUld HAVe HAPPened in eAST PRUSSiA -And iT did!
The German literary journal Intelligenzblatt der Allgemeinen Literatur-Zeitung reported in 1793 about reading societies in East Prussia.There were several larger and smaller societies in Königsberg, but learned reading societies were also to be found in the smaller towns, such as Tilse (Tilsit) and Gumbinnen, where "die Glieder der dortigen Kriegs-und Domainencammer gröstentheils Antheil haben.Hier und da haben auch die geistlicher Inspectoren, auf Anregung und nach dem am 28 Jun.1786 im ganzen Lande ausgeschriebenen Plan des Ostpreussischen Consistoriums Lesegesellschaften errichtet, damit die Geistlichkeit in ihren Diöcesen in der Kenntnis der neuesten Literatur fortzuschreiten Gelegenheit habe.Es sollte wohl eine jede Diöcese zur Förderung der guten Absicht des Consistoriums gerne die Hände bieten."[... the members of the local Chamber of war and Crown Estates have been most active.Here and there the spiritual inspectors, at the instigation of the plan covering the whole region issued on the June 28, 1786 by the East Prussian Consistory, have estab-MÄKinen, ilkka."nödvändighet af LainaKirjasto", p. 175-186.18 PrÜSener, Marlies.Lesegesellschaften im 18. Jahrhundert., columns 547-548.

Detail of the article concerning reading societies in East
Prussia in Intelligenzblatt der Allgemeinen Literatur-Zeitung 1793, Nr. 59, S. 468f (source: Google Books.Google and Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permision) lished reading societies, by which the clergy in their dioceses have the possibility to make progress in the knowledge of the newest literature.Each and every diocese should help in the advancement of the good intention of the Consistory.]On top of this, an institution of reading in economics was also active in the region.
I have found this information with the help of Marlies Prüsener's very helpful and thoroughly documented list of reading societies in Germany and regions where German-speaking people lived (such as Siebenbürgen).The list is attached to her path breaking study of the German reading societies. 18rüsener indicates that the clerical reading society in Gumbinnen must have existed before 1784, although this is not mentioned in the report of Intelligenzblatt der ALZ in 1793.I have not been able to verify all her sources.According to Prüsener's list 19 there also was a reading society (Lesegellschaft) or a circulating library (commercial lending library, Leihbibliothek) in the town of Insterburg (East Prussia), established in 1785.
It is true that all of the organizations mentioned in Prüsener's list seem to have been in operation after Kristijonas Donelaitis' death, apart possibly from the Gumbinnen reading society.On the other hand, their existence even after his death is a testimony of the cultural climate that made this kind of institutions possible, and this climate certainly existed already during the lifetime of Donelaitis.whether he in some way was involved in these organizations is not clear, but it is certain that he was part of the German literary and reading culture.

THe diFFUSiOn OF ReAdinG SOCieTieS in GeRMAnY
Prüsener has presented the data compiled by her on the appearance of reading societies in Germany in the 18 th century in the following table: It appears that a livelier period of establishing reading societies started only in the 1770s.It may, on the other hand, also be so that earlier the documentation was not so thorough as during the later period.The earlier forms of cooperation in the acquisition of books were not always formal and may have left no marks on the documents of their time.Since the 1780s the literary journals and newspapers seem to have reported eagerly about the appearance of reading societies.
The earliest reading societies were established (or reported so) in the northern, protestant parts of Germany.Only later did they appear in the Catholic south Germany.The reading societies in East Prussia belong to the great boom of reading societies in the 1780s.The fact that in the remote Finland a book circle could exist in the 1760s makes it plausible that similar cooperative undertakings existed in East Prussia even during the lifetime of Donelaitis, even if no documentation has been preserved.

L
aine, Tuija.The Clergyman as a Book Owner and Distributor in the Provinces of Uusimaa and Häme During the 1700s.in The Emergence of Finnish Book and Reading Culture in the 1700s.Helsinki, 2011, p. 31-54.

9
MÄKinen, ilkka.The breakthrough of novels and plays in Helsinki and Finland during the Gustavian era. in The emergence of Finnish book and reading culture in the 1700s.Helsinki, 2011, p. 120-145.10 about the cultural role of the Lutheran clergy in Finland, see L aine, esko.Papisto kulttuurin välittäjänä.in Suomen kulttuurihistoria.Helsinki, 2002, vol 2, p. 209-216.
is a Swedish translation of a book by Montesquieu: Herr Montesquious tankar öfwer orsakerne til de romares wälde och fall (Montesquieu's thoughts about the glory and fall of the Romans) (Stockholm 1755).

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1
General information about east Prussia, see Wikipedia article on east Prussia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/east_Prussia.General histories on Finland KirBY, David.a Concise History of Finland.Finnish and a Swedish one.The most important learned estate.Their university education included even other subjects than theology and many of them knew botany, zoology, economy and other subjects.