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In 2024 it will be 190 years since several of the leading figures of national and cultural life in Slovakia came together to establish the Society of Slovak Language and Literature Lovers (Spolok milovníkov reči a literatúry slovenskej). The paper traces the functioning of the society in the various periods that shaped it in many ways. When Ján Kollár and Martin Hamuljak founded it, the aim was to raise awareness of Slovaks’ native language and promote the activity of the Bernolák group and leaders of the so called “Czechoslovak orientation”. One of the most important outcomes of their work was publishing of the Zora almanac from 1835, although its run ceased in 1840 for financial reasons. The society’s activities began to decline in the 1840s and it was wound up in 1850. The society’s activities made an evident contribution to Slovak literary life and laid important foundations for the following generation around Štúr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is a review of the collection of texts, The Power of the Printed Word (Sila tlačeného slova) written and edited by PhDr. Anna Jónásová concerning the life and work of the renaissance intellectual Peter Bornemisza during his time in Slovakia. The collection includes translations of texts written by experts on Bornemisza’s life alongside extracts from Bornemisza’s own writings, including his book The Devil’s temptations (Diabolské pokušenia). It also includes reproductions of Bornemisza’s prints and manuscripts, including decorative initials in the introduction of every chapter. Bornemisza is described as an organiser of protestant clerical life, a powerful preacher and a creative writer. The reviewer highlights the careful treatment of historical documents, the accuracy of the translations and the selection of texts, which bring Slovak readers closer to a less familiar figure with an outstanding influence on the Slovak population at that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]