The first edition of the encyclopedia in Ukraine: genesis and features of creation

The article examines the origins of Ukrainian encyclopedism through the example of the first encyclopedic work produced on Ukrainian territory — the Polish-language edition of Benedykt Chmielowski’s Nowe Ateny [New Athens] (1745–1756). The study highlights the relevance of conducting a historical and book-studies analysis of this work in the broader context of the development of the national book culture, as well as the intellectual, cultural, and Enlightenment processes of the eighteenth century. The research is grounded in both general scholarly and specialized methods of historical book studies, including comparative-historical, analytical, contextual, and source-critical approaches. It employs an interdisciplinary framework that integrates the history of science, philology, cultural studies, and encyclopedic studies. The study establishes that Nowe Ateny represents a synthetic encyclopedic compendium of the Baroque era, in which religious, natural-scientific, historical, and folkloric knowledge are interwoven. Source analysis demonstrates that Chmielowski relied primarily on medieval and early modern authors, intentionally avoiding thinkers of the early modern period whose views conflicted with Catholic doctrine. Despite contemporary accusations of compilation and naivety, Nowe Ateny reflects the state of scientific thought and the level of intellectual curiosity among educated readers on Ukrainian lands in the eighteenth century. The work pursued a didactic aim — popularizing knowledge among the nobility, clergy, and student youth. Chmielowski’s encyclopedia should be regarded as a cultural and historical phenomenon that combines features of late Baroque intellectual culture and the early Enlightenment. It functioned as a vehicle for disseminating scientific knowledge, facilitated the spread of heliocentric ideas, and broadened the worldview of the educated strata of society. Despite its compilatory nature and evident scholarly limitations, Nowe Ateny emerged as an important monument of book culture, marking the transition from scholastic tradition to more systematic encyclopedic thinking on Ukrainian lands.