Archivum Lithuanicum

The archive of the Franciscan monastery in Kretinga has preserved many documents of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Certain papers in these documents contain prominent manufacturers’ stamps, and their comparison to such stamps in the manuscripts of Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) made it possible to determine the time of compilation of Great Polish-Lithuanian Dictionary by Simonas Daukantas (1793–1864) more precisely. The stamp “ФАБРИКИ № ... АРИСТАРХОВА” of Daukantas’s dictionary was also used by Tolstoy most probably starting from 1852, especially since 1853, and in the monastery of Kretinga—since 1853. Such dating suggests that the Great Polish-Lithuanian Dictionary may have been started in 1853, although more cautious judgment would make it 1852. In such way, it is safe to claim that the Great Polish-Lithuanian Dictionary by Simonas Daukantas can be carefully dated 1852–1856 (certain corrections also appeared in 1857–1858).