Background
The first book published in print in the Lithuanian language was Martynas Mažvydas's 1547 Lutheran Catechism. Other milestone publications included Daniel Klein's Grammar in 1653, a publication of the Bible in 1735, and the first work of imaginative literature, Kristijonas Donelaitis' Metai (The Seasons), in 1818. During the years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which lasted from 1569 to 1781, the Polish language gained ground as the written lingua franca of greater Lithuania, although the Prussian areas of Lithuania Minor continued to issue publications in Lithuanian.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, use of the Lithuanian language was largely limited to Lithuanian rural areas, apart from its use in Prussia; it was, however, retained by some members of the minor nobility, especially in the Samogitian region. Several factors contributed to its subsequent revival: the language drew attention from scholars of the emerging science of comparative linguistics; after the abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire in 1861, social mobility increased, and Lithuanian intellectuals arose from the ranks of the rural populace; and language became associated with identity in Lithuania, as elsewhere across Europe. Within the Catholic Church, the barriers that had earlier prevented commoners from entering the priesthood were eased. A closer relationship developed between the educated clergy, who were increasingly of ethnic Lithuanian stock, and their parishioners, including a sympathy with their wish to use the Lithuanian language. The emerging national movement sought to distance itself from both Polish and Russian influences, and the use of the Lithuanian language was seen as an important aspect of this movement.
According to the bibliographer Vaclovas Biržiška, between 1800 and 1864, when the press ban was enacted, 926 book titles were published in the Lithuanian language using its Latin alphabet. The orthography of the language was not standardized; this problem was used by the Russian authorities as a rationale for the change to Cyrillic.
Read more about this topic: Lithuanian Press Ban
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