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Unua Libro
Dr. Esperanto's International Language,[n 1] originally titled
Unua Libro
International Language (Russian: Международный язык)
and commonly referred to as Unua Libro (English: First Book), is
an 1887 book by L. L. Zamenhof.[1] First published on July 26 [O.S.
July 14] 1887, Unua Libro is the first book in which Zamenhof
introduced and described the constructed language Esperanto,
then-called the international language, and its publication marks
the formal beginning of the Esperanto movement.[1]

Zamenhof reproduced a significant portion of the content of Unua

Libro in Fundamento de Esperanto in 1905, which he established
as the only obligatory authority over Esperanto in the Declaration
of Boulogne, ratified at the first World Esperanto Congress later
that year.[2] However, in 1888, he established a minor change to the
language, rendering the Esperanto of Unua Libro slightly outdated.

Dr. Esperanto's International

Contents Language
History (1889 Geoghegan translation)
Content Author L. L. Zamenhof
Reception and legacy Audio read by Nicholas James
See also Bridgewater
Footnotes (http://librivox.org
Notes
/dr-esperantos-
international-
References
language-
External links
introduction-and-
complete-grammar-
by-ll-zamenhof/)
History (LibriVox,
After many years of developing the language, Zamenhof completed Geoghegan
Unua Libro by the spring of 1885 and spent the next two years translation)
looking for a publisher.[3] In 1887, shortly after he married his wife Original title Международный
Klara, his new father-in law Aleksandr Silbernik advised him to use язык
money from Klara's dowry to find a publisher. Following his advice, Translator Julian Steinhaus
Zamenhof found a publisher in Warsaw, Chaim Kelter. On July (1888)
26 [O.S. July 14] 1887, Kelter published the book in Russian as Richard
International Language (Russian: Международный язык).[4] Geoghegan (1889)
Before the end of the year, Kelter published the Polish, French, and Henry Phillips, Jr.

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German editions of the book, as well.[5] (1889)

In 1888, Zamenhof had Julian Steinhaus translate the book into Language Russian, Esperanto
English, and the translation was published under the title Dr. Subject Esperanto,
Esperanto's International Tongue.[6] However, when Richard international
Geoghegan pointed out that Steinhaus's translation was very poor, auxiliary language
Zamenhof destroyed his remaining copies and requested that Published Warsaw, Russia
Geoghegan produce a fresh translation.[2] Geoghegan's translation Publisher Chaim Kelter
of the book, titled Dr. Esperanto's International Language, was
Publication July 26, 1887
published on January 17 [O.S. January 5] 1889 and became the date
standard English translation.[7] Henry Phillips, Jr., a secretary of
Original text Международный
the American Philosophical Society and early supporter of
язык at Russian
Esperanto, also produced a translation in 1889, titled An Attempt
Wikisource
towards an International Language, but Geoghegan's translation
Translation Unua Libro at
remains the preferred standard.[8]
Wikisource
Unua Libro was also translated into Hebrew, Yiddish, Swedish, and
Lithuanian in 1889 and then into Danish, Bulgarian, Italian,
Spanish, and Czech in 1890.[9]

The name Unua Libro was applied retroactively to the book in

relation to the title of Zamenhof's 1888 book Dua Libro (Second
Book).

In 1905, Zamenhof reproduced much of the content of Unua Libro

in Fundamento de Esperanto, which he established as the only
obligatory authority over Esperanto in the Declaration of Boulogne
at the first World Esperanto Congress later that year. However, in
his 1888 Aldono al la Dua Libro (Supplement to the Second Book),
he officially altered the spelling of the suffixes of the temporal
correlatives (when, then, always, sometimes, never) from -ian to
-iam, which rendered the Esperanto of Unua Libro slightly
The original Russian publication of
outdated.
Unua Libro and the 1887 Polish,
French, and German translations
Content
The book consists of an introduction, three parts, a grammar section, and a dictionary.

Zamenhof begins by renouncing all rights to the language, putting it in the public domain.

In the introduction, Zamenhof lays out his case for the need for an international auxiliary language (IAL). He
states that previous attempts, such as Volapük, have failed because they have not overcome the three main
difficulties an IAL must overcome in order to succeed. Those difficulties are:

1. To render the study of the language so easy as to make its acquisition mere play to the learner.

2. To enable the learner to make direct use of his knowledge with persons of any nationality,

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whether the language be universally accepted or not; in other words, the language is to be
directly a means of international communication.

3. To find some means of overcoming the natural indifference of mankind, and disposing them,
in the quickest manner possible, and en masse, to learn and use the proposed language as a
living one, and not only in last extremities, and with the key at hand.

— L. L. Zamenhof, Unua Libro

In the next three parts, he addresses each difficulty specifically and explains why he believes Esperanto is fit to
overcome them.

In part I, he explains the simplicity and flexibility of Esperanto grammar,

particularly due to its regularity and use of affixes.

In part II, he demonstrates the ease of using Esperanto for international

communication due to a simple and clear vocabulary. To demonstrate this, he
translates the Our Father and Genesis 1:1–9 and presents a fictional letter and
a few poems in Esperanto—"El Heine'", a translation, and "Mia penso" and
"Ho, mia kor'", both original.[10]

In part III, he presents an idea called the "universal vote", which is a campaign
to allot 10 million signatures of people making the following pledge: "I, the
undersigned, promise to learn the international language, proposed by Dr.
Slip for the universal Esperanto, if it shall be shown that ten million similar promises have been
vote campaign publicly given." He argues that this will prevent anyone from wasting time on
learning the language since, once 10 million signatures have been gathered,
there will be a significant population obliged to learn the language, rendering
the language useful. He also welcomes critical feedback for the next year and promises to consider criticism
before publishing a special booklet that will give definitive form to the language the following year (which was
to be Aldono al la Dua Libro). Additionally, he lays out guidelines for a language academy to guide the
evolution of the language in the future (which was to be the Akademio de Esperanto).[11]

In the grammar section, he explains the Esperanto alphabet and sixteen grammar rules.

In the dictionary section, he presents a dictionary with 917 roots of vocabulary.[8]

Reception and legacy

Zamenhof received a wide range of reactions to Unua Libro, from mocking criticism to avid interest.[12] In the
hundreds of letters he received, he saw enough support to prompt him to publish Dua Libro in January 1888
and La Esperantisto in 1889, in order to provide more Esperanto reading material for those with interest.[13]
In 1889, he also published Russian–Esperanto and German–Esperanto dictionaries to increase Esperanto
vocabulary, as well as Aldono al la Dua Libro, a supplement to Dua Libro, to establish the definitive form of
the language, a document he promised in part III of Unua Libro.[14]

By all measures, Zamenhof's "universal vote" campaign failed. By 1889, he had only reached 1000 signatures, a
mere 0.01% of his goal of 10 million. Nevertheless, the Esperanto movement continued onward. Among the

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early supporters were educated Russian and Polish Jews, Leo Tolstoy and his followers, Eastern European
freemasons, and speakers of Volapük who had lost hope in their language.[15]

See also
History of Esperanto

Footnotes
1. Dr. Esperanto's International Language is the title of the 1889 Geoghegan translation, the standard
English translation. Other English titles include Dr. Esperanto's International Tongue (1888 Steinhaus
translation) and An Attempt towards an International Language (1889 Phillips translation).

Notes
1. "1887: Unua Libro en Esperanto (First Book in Esperanto)" (http://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday
/jul26/unua-libro-en-esperanto-first-book-esperanto/). NationalGeographic.org. Retrieved October 19,
2017.
2. Kerziouk, Olga. "La Unua Libro" (http://blogs.bl.uk/european/2013/07/la-unua-libro.html). Blogs.BL.UK.
Retrieved November 16, 2017.
3. Korzhenkov, p. 16
4. Korzhenkov, p. 16
5. Korzhenkov, p. 16
6. "On This Day In History: Unua Libro 'First Book' Describing Esperanto Published – On July 26, 1887"
(http://www.ancientpages.com/2016/07/26/day-history-unua-libro-first-book-describing-esperanto-
published-july-26-1887/). AncientPages.com. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
7. Korzhenkov, p. 16
8. "Dr. Esperanto's International Language" (http://www.genekeyes.com/Dr_Esperanto.html).
GeneKeyes.com. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
9. Korzhenkov, p. 16
10. Schor, p. 71
11. Schor, p. 72
12. Korzhenkov, p. 19
13. Korzhenkov, p. 21
14. Korzhenkov, p. 20
15. Korzhenkov, p. 20

References
Korzhenkov, Aleksandr (2009). Tonkin, Humphrey, ed. Zamenhof: The Life, Works and Ideas of the Author
of Esperanto (https://books.google.com/books?id=C2WMcIE1svMC&printsec=frontcover&
source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false). New York: Mondial.
ISBN 978-1-59569-167-5. LCCN 2010926187 (https://lccn.loc.gov/2010926187). Retrieved November 16,
2017.
Schor, Esther (2016). Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language

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(https://books.google.com/books/about/Bridge_of_Words.html?id=5DLpDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&
source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false). New York: Henry Holt and Company.
ISBN 978-1-42994-341-3. LCCN 2015018907 (https://lccn.loc.gov/2015018907). Retrieved November 19,
2017.

External links
An Attempt towards an International Language (http://en.wikisource.org
/wiki/An_Attempt_Towards_An_International_Language)

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