Unua Libro (1887): the first Esperanto book explained

The Unua Libro ("First Book") is the booklet in which L. L. Zamenhof first presented Esperanto. It appeared in Warsaw in Russian on 26 July 1887 under the pen name Doktoro Esperanto, and ran to about 40 pages. It held a long foreword, eight pledge slips, a grammar of 16 rules and a dictionary of 917 roots. Zamenhof gave up all personal rights to the language, so the book and the language have been public property from the start.

#Key facts

The name Unua Libro was given later, after Zamenhof published the Dua Libro ("Second Book") in 1888. The word Esperanto became the name of the language by about 1889, when readers began to use his pen name for it. In 1887 the language was just "the international language" (lingvo internacia).

#How did the book come to be published?

Zamenhof had the language ready in the spring of 1885 and spent two years looking for a publisher. His fiancée Klara Silbernik's father suggested paying for the printing from her dowry, and the Warsaw printer Chaim Kelter agreed. The couple were engaged on 30 March and married on 9 August 1887.

The Russian censor first cleared the text on 2 June 1887 and gave a second approval on 26 July (14 July Julian). That second date is celebrated as the birthday of Esperanto – see Zamenhof Day and Esperanto Day. For the story before and after the book, read the history of Esperanto and the life of L. L. Zamenhof.

#What was inside the Unua Libro?

According to the standard biography by Aleksander Korĵenkov, the Russian edition was arranged like this:

#The foreword: why an international language?

Zamenhof argued that the world needed a neutral second language to ease conflict between peoples. He named three obstacles that earlier projects such as Volapük had not overcome: the language must be easy enough to learn almost as play, it must be usable at once with anyone, and some way must be found to overcome people's indifference so that many learn it together. The third obstacle led to the pledge.

#The grammar and the dictionary

The 16 rules are the same rules that still define the language: one article, nouns in -o, adjectives in -a, verb endings by tense, the plural -j and the object ending -n. In 1905 they were taken into the Fundamento de Esperanto, which the Declaration of Boulogne made unchangeable. Read them in plain English at the 16 rules of Esperanto grammar.

The dictionary had 917 roots in the Russian edition (Korĵenkov; UEA). Some sources count 947 roots when the words used in the sample texts are added. The small stock worked because affixes multiplied it – see word building.

#The sample texts

The foreword showed the language in use with six short texts:

1. Patro nia – the Lord's Prayer.
2. A passage from the Bible, the opening verses of Genesis 1.
3. A model letter, written to a friend entirely in Esperanto except for the enclosed dictionary leaf, to test whether it could be understood.
4. Mia penso – an original poem by Zamenhof.
5. El Heine' – a poem translated from Heinrich Heine, which begins En sonĝo princinon mi vidis – "In a dream I saw a princess".
6. Ho, mia kor' – a second original poem, which begins Ho, mia kor', ne batu maltrankvile – "Oh, my heart, do not beat so restlessly".

You can read Patro nia and the 1887 wording with an explanation on our sample texts page. In the sample texts the parts of each word were separated by commas, so that a reader who knew nothing could look up each part in the dictionary leaf.

One detail shows how small the changes since 1887 are. In the book the question words for time ended in -an: kian and tian, today kiam "when" and tiam "then". Zamenhof changed them in a supplement to the Dua Libro in June 1888 – see correlatives.

#What was the pledge in the Unua Libro?

The eight detachable slips asked readers to sign a promise: Mi, subskribita, promesas ellerni la proponitan de d-ro Esperanto lingvon internacian, se estos montrita, ke dek milionoj personoj donis publike tian saman promeson. – "I, the undersigned, promise to learn the international language proposed by Dr. Esperanto, if it is shown that ten million people have publicly made the same promise."

Zamenhof saw the problem that nobody wants to learn a language nobody speaks, and tried to solve it with a collective vote. He promised to publish the names of the ten million in a separate book. The target was never reached. By 1889 about 1,000 people had signed, which is 0.01% of the goal. Many wrote Senkondiĉe ("unconditionally") on their slips, meaning they would learn the language anyway. Zamenhof published the names of those who signed in several lists, the last in 1909; one UEA article counts 21,915 promises in all.

#What happened after the Unua Libro?

• Translations in 1887. Kelter printed Polish, French and German editions before the end of the year, each for its own readers. Sources disagree on the exact dates, so we give only the year.
• More translations. English versions came out in 1888 and 1889; Richard Geoghegan's of 17 January 1889 became the standard. Hebrew, Yiddish, Swedish and Lithuanian followed in 1889, then Danish, Bulgarian, Italian, Spanish and Czech in 1890.
• The Dua Libro, January 1888. The "Second Book" gave readers texts in Esperanto itself, in answer to the hundreds of letters Zamenhof had received. It is the first book written wholly in the language.
• Supplement, June 1888. Zamenhof had asked for criticism and promised a "definitive form" after a year. For a time he even stepped back, hoping that an international congress would decide the language's form. The planned congress never took place.
• Magazine and club. The Nuremberg language club left Volapük for Esperanto in December 1888, and the first magazine, La Esperantisto, followed in 1889.
• Fundamento, 1905. The first World Esperanto Congress in Boulogne made the Fundamento the binding base of the language, reproducing much of the Unua Libro.

#Where can I read the Unua Libro?

The book is in the public domain, and scans and transcriptions are free online.

• Original Russian first edition – scan on the Internet Archive, with PDF and EPUB downloads.
• Polish, French and German editions – scans on the Internet Archive.
• English – Richard Geoghegan's 1889 translation, Dr. Esperanto's International Language, on English Wikisource; a free audio reading exists on LibriVox.
• Russian text – on Russian Wikisource.
• Esperanto passages only – the Tekstaro de Esperanto, a text collection, has all the Esperanto samples, with the old -an time words modernised.

If you want to learn Esperanto rather than read about it, do not start with this booklet. Use our free 12-lesson course; the Unua Libro is a historical document.

#Common questions

#When was the Unua Libro published?

On 26 July 1887 in Warsaw (14 July in the Julian calendar). The Russian censor had first cleared the text on 2 June 1887.

#Who wrote the Unua Libro, and why "Doktoro Esperanto"?

L. L. Zamenhof, an eye doctor. He signed with the pen name Doktoro Esperanto, "Doctor One-who-hopes". By about 1889 readers had begun to call the language Esperanto after the author.

#How many words did the Unua Libro have?

Its dictionary held 917 roots, according to Korĵenkov and UEA. Some sources count 947 roots when the words in the sample texts are included. Affixes make a few hundred roots into thousands of words.

#Is the Unua Libro still correct Esperanto?

Almost entirely. The 16 rules are still valid. The main difference is that the time question words ended in -an in 1887 and were changed to -am in 1888.

#What was the promise card?

A slip in the book on which readers promised to learn Esperanto if ten million others promised too. Zamenhof never got ten million names, but the slips brought the first learners.

#Sources

• A. Korĵenkov, Zamenhof: The Life, Works and Ideas of the Author of Esperanto, Esperantic Studies Foundation (structure of the book, pledge, editions)
• Wikipedia: Unua Libro; Vikipedio: Unua Libro; Wikipedia (pl): Unua Libro; Wikidata: Unua Libro
• Zamenhof.info: Chronological biography (censorship, editions, Dua Libro)
• UEA, La Unua Libro and Promes-slipoj
• Wikipedia, Dua Libro
• Tekstaro de Esperanto, Unua Libro (Esperanto passages)
• Internet Archive: Russian first edition, Polish, French, German
• Wikisource: Dr. Esperanto's International Language (English) and Международный язык (Russian); LibriVox audio