About PWN

Polish Scientific Publishers PWN - Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN SA, Central Europe's leading publisher of scientific, educational and professional literature, as well as works of reference, was founded in 1951. Following privatization (1992) and transformation into a joint-stock company (1997), PWN maintains its leading position in the publishing market, accomplishing its primary mission of spreading the achievements of Polish science.

The Offer
Encyclopedias and Polish-language dictionaries are the main items among PWN's wide range of publications. PWN also publishes other books pertaining to the sciences and humanities, such as academic textbooks, some of them translated from foreign languages.

In the year 2003 PWN has prepared numerous novelties, among which The Universal Dictionary of the Polish Language deserves special mention, appearing in both standard and de luxe version. This is the largest comprehensive dictionary of the Polish language, comprising approximately 100,000 entries.

The issuing of The PWN Great Encyclopedia in 30 volumes is progressing. Subscribers include not only the domestic readership, but also readers and libraries all over the world. By the end of 2003, 18 volumes will have appeared, while the completion of this monumental work is envisaged for the turn of 2005/6.

By the end of 2003 the remaining volumes of the 10-volume PWN Encyclopedia of Religion will have appeared. The encyclopedia has been devoted to various aspects of religion as a phenomenon, its historical figures, impact on human life, and the attempts to describe and understand it. The thematic scope includes all the pertinent disciplines (religious studies, philosophy, theology, sociology, geography, psychology, and pedagogy of religion), as well as the interdisciplinary research into the links between religion and politics, art, music or literature.

Characterised by an attractive get-up, the encyclopedias addressed to young learners have in the year 2003 been enriched with new titles, which will certainly constitute a valuable addition to the library, whether at home or school.

PWN is also dynamically pressing ahead with the issuing of the multimedia versions of dictionaries and encyclopedic publications, namely the continuation of the series The PWN Multimedia Encyclopedia, The Golden Series, and The pwn.pl Multimedia Library.

PWN attaches great importance to publications addressed to academic milieux, whether students or lecturers. For two years now, under www.pwn.pl an on-line encyclopedia has been available, as well as the Polish language information service, including a sample of the Corpus of the Polish Language. The novelty of the year 2003 will be Internet Annexes to the PWN textbooks, which are being prepared by academics with practical experience in the field. Exploiting the specific features of the Internet, these annexes will contain additional materials, which will complement and enrich the contents of the textbooks, such as tests and experiments on-line, graphic and interactive materials, ready-made presentations and links to the most interesting Web pages from the disciplines in question.

International contacts
PWN sells the rights to translate Polish books into other languages and buys the rights to translate important books published all over the world into Polish. Among our many trading partners are such names as Academia, Alma Littera, Beck, Blackwell Publishing, CEU Press, Copenhagen Business School Press, Cambdrige University Press, Elsevier Science, Freeman, Gallimard, Geonext, Gower, Harvard Business School Press, Henry Holt, Houghton Mifflin, INRA, Klett International, Klett-Cotta, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Kossuth, Lidman, Lion, McGraw-Hill, Nauka Publishers, Norton, Oxford University Press, Palgrave, Payot, Pearson Education, Penguin, Perseus, Random House, Sage, Seuil, M.E.Sharpe, Springer, Suhrkamp, Sviesa, Taylor & Francis, Georg Thieme, Thomson Learning and John Wiley.

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