# Maria Skibniewska

Maria Skibniewska (née Skibińska; 3 May 1904 - 28 October 1984) was a Polish translator, primarily of English- and French-language literary fiction works.
She graduated from the Cecylia Plater-Zyberkówna High School [pl] and studied Polish literature at the University of Warsaw. Her studies in Romance languages were interrupted by World War II, during which she worked as a home-based weaver and survived the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, she worked as a clerk and in 1947 made her debut as a translator of literary fiction. She also served as a translator during the trial of the Auschwitz camp personnel [pl] in Kraków (1947) and at the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace in Wrocław (1948).
From 1950 to 1971, she worked at the Czytelnik Publishing House, initially as a stylistic proofreader and later as the head of the Romance languages literature department. Throughout this time, and during her retirement, she focused on translations, primarily of literary fiction. She translated around 100 books into Polish, including works by Jean Genet, Graham Greene, Henry James, Thomas Wolfe, Bruce Marshall, William Saroyan, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Updike, and Patrick White. She was highly regarded for her translation work.
Her older brother was Franciszek Skibiński [pl], later a divisional general of the Polish People's Army, and her husband was engineer Stanisław Skibiński [pl], an officer in the Home Army and a Warsaw Uprising participant (codenamed Cubryna).

## Biography

Maria Skibińska was born on 3 May 1904. Her father, Władysław, was a civil servant who worked at the Ministry of Finance from 1920 and was previously involved in fine arts. Her mother, Zofia née Królikowski, taught at secondary schools in Warsaw. Maria had three siblings: two brothers, Franciszek [pl], who later became a divisional general in the Polish People's Army, and Józef, an aviator who died in 1939, as well as a sister.
She attended the Cecylia Plater-Zyberkówna High School [pl] in Warsaw, where she passed her humanities maturity exam in 1922. She then began studying Polish philology at the University of Warsaw. On 18 September 1928, she married Stanisław Skibiński [pl], an electrical engineer, and, having interrupted her studies, moved with him to Baden, Switzerland, where he was undergoing professional training and where they lived until 1930. She completed her Polish studies at the University of Warsaw that same year, after returning to Poland. Her thesis was dedicated to realism in the works of Honoré de Balzac and Joseph Conrad. In 1936, due to her husband's work, she moved with him to Sweden. A year later, Stanisław was appointed technical director of the Warsaw Power Plant [pl] in Powiśle and later became its deputy director general. At the same time (in 1937), Maria began studying Romance languages at the University of Warsaw. It is also known that before the outbreak of World War II, she was a member of the Polish Red Cross and the Polish Tatra Society [pl]. In the 1930s, she worked for a year at the Cecylia Plater-Zyberkówna High School.
She never completed her Romance studies, as they were interrupted by the German invasion of Poland. Fleeing from the war, Skibniewska went to Hungary and Romania, but returned to Warsaw in 1939; she lived there throughout the occupation and worked at home as a weaver. Her husband fought in the September campaign. After the regular fighting ended, he returned to his previous position at the power plant and became its director in March 1942. He was also involved in the resistance against the occupier, serving as an officer of the Home Army (with the codename Cubryna) and co-organizing a unit of the Home Army's Security Service [pl] in that area, later fighting in the Warsaw Uprising. After the defeat, he ended up in officer prisoner-of-war camps in Bergen-Belsen and Stalag X-B, while Maria found herself in Głogoczów near Kraków.
After the war, she initially supported herself by working as a secretary, later becoming a personnel officer at the Boiler Industry Association, possibly in Kraków. In 1946, she took a job in Warsaw in the foreign monitoring department of Polskie Radio. The following year, she moved to Wrocław, where her husband got a job at the Social Construction Company. That same year marked Maria's debut as a translator: the publishing house Awir from Katowice published her translation of James Hilton's novel Lost Horizons. Soon after, she returned to Warsaw, where she briefly worked as an import officer at the Rolling Bearings Bureau Polimex.
She was employed twice as a translator – in 1947 during the trial of the Auschwitz camp personnel [pl], which took place in Kraków, and in August 1948 during the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace in Wrocław. In September of the same year, she was charged with espionage on behalf of the United States and was imprisoned for some time; her husband faced the same fate. Within the family, the arrest of the Skibniewskis was linked to her work at the congress.
In February 1950, Skibniewska was hired by the Czytelnik Publishing House as a stylistic editor. The change of job was associated with the arrest and trial of her brother, Franciszek. She remained associated with Czytelnik, where she later led the editorial office of Romance literature, until her retirement, which she entered on 31 July 1971. Throughout this time (and during her retirement), Skibniewska continued her translation work; since her debut, she translated nearly 100 works from English and French. In 1956, she was admitted to the Polish Writers' Union. She was also valued for her editorial work; in 1957, Zbigniew Bieńkowski noted that she contributed significantly to Polish Romance studies in this area. In the 1950s, she led the reissue of Balzac's La Comédie humaine series.
While working at Czytelnik, she formed close relationships and friendships with translators Anna Przedpełska-Trzeciakowska [pl] and Eligia Bąkowska [pl]. Relatives and colleagues remembered her as an educated, cultured, and elegant woman who spoke impeccable Polish. As a supervisor, she was quite strict, limiting contacts to official matters without being overly familiar. At the same time, she could show sympathy and joke. She successfully combined her translation work, often with difficult and ambitious titles, with editorial duties, which was seen as a reflection of a developed work ethic, passion, and a way of adapting to post-war reality. In her interactions with people, she avoided political topics directly, concealing her dislike for the communist government, only giving her interlocutors a hint of her views. During the martial law period, she reacted very poorly to her brother's involvement in the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth, which affected their relationship. Her relative was the translator Małgorzata Targowska-Grabińska [pl], who lived with her for several years in her youth.
Maria Skibniewska became a widow in 1958 and had no children with her husband. Over the years, she faced increasing vision problems that led to gradual loss of sight. She died on 28 October 1984. She was buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

## Translation work
### General characteristics

Maria Skibniewska made her debut as a translator with a work classified as popular literature – Lost Horizon by James Hilton. However, she quickly moved on to translating notable authors, beginning with Dolores by H. G. Wells, which was published in Poland in 1948. Among the other writers whose works she translated are Frederick Buechner, G. K. Chesterton, Joseph Conrad, Lawrence Durrell, Maurice Druon, William Faulkner, Graham Greene, Henry James, Bruce Marshall, Guy de Maupassant, Flannery O'Connor, J. D. Salinger, William Saroyan, J. R. R. Tolkien, Thomas Wolfe, John Updike, and Nathanael West. She developed an affinity for some of these authors, as evidenced by her translations of multiple works from certain writers. One of her favorite authors was Patrick White, the Australian Nobel laureate of 1973. While she primarily translated novels and short stories from English or French, her body of work also included books on different subjects such as biographies, historical studies, several plays by Jean Genet, and articles on theater by Edward Gordon Craig, Paul Claudel, Jacques Copeau, and G. B. Shaw. Some of these translations may reflect her interest in painting and theater arts.
Skibniewska was highly regarded for her translations. The criticism repeatedly emphasized her contributions to Polish literary translation and the quality of her work, and her entire body of work can be described as impressive. Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, commenting on her translation of Halldór Laxness' novel, wrote: "The richness of the language, the beauty and simplicity of the syntax, the excellent Polish – all this makes Independent People a very valuable literary work. The translation was made from English, but it is excellent". A positive assessment of Dolores was given by Zdzisław Najder in 1957, and in later years, Henryk Krzeczkowski [pl] and Alina Szala (1974) described Skibniewska as an outstanding translator, placing her among the best in Poland. Her translation of White's The Eye of the Storm was awarded the title of the best-translated book of 1976 by Literatura na Świecie magazine in 1977. Jerzy Lisowski [pl], who collaborated with her on the translation of Genet's plays, called her his mentor.
Despite her accomplishments as a translator and editor and her esteem within the literary community, she did not seek fame. During a meeting of the Polish Writers' Union Translation Section with Julian Rogoziński [pl] (on 5 May 1953), with whom she worked on Balzac's Human Comedy, she spoke only once, at the request of the meeting's host. Little about her appeared in the press, and she gave only one interview for the magazine Nowe Książki (issue no. 2, 1972), where she discussed the publishing plans related to Latin American literature without any personal touches. The only translation she accompanied with a broader commentary was The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, for which she wrote an erudite introduction.
Skibniewska's translations were reissued and discussed for many years after her death. Among those who praised her work were Marek Paryż [pl] and Maciej Płaza. However, Krzysztof Majer [pl], in an essay on Polish translations of Flannery O'Connor, critically engaged with some of Skibniewska's choices (particularly regarding a certain conservatism in translating dialogue), while also acknowledging her descriptive skill.

### Translator of Tolkien

The first book by J. R. R. Tolkien that Maria Skibniewska translated was The Hobbit, published in Polish in 1960 by Iskry Publishers [pl]. She signed the contract for the translation of The Lord of the Rings with Czytelnik in 1958. There are no records detailing the course of her work. However, it is known that in June 1959, she wrote a letter to Allen & Unwin, asking for guidance to assist her with the translation, which was forwarded to Tolkien. He promised a prompt response, but due to family issues, he took a long time to reply. It wasn't until after reminders from Czytelnik that he provided some general advice, which was sent to Skibniewska. There is no evidence of any direct correspondence between the author and the Polish translator, but it is possible that her letter, forwarded to Tolkien, is preserved in his archives at the Bodleian Library.
The three volumes of The Lord of the Rings translated by Skibniewska were published in 1961, 1962, and 1963, with the majority of the poems in the novel not translated by her but by Włodzimierz Lewik [pl] (volumes I–II) and Andrzej Nowicki (volume III). This was the third translation of Tolkien's work into a foreign language, following Dutch and Swedish.
When Lech Jęczmyk, the editor of the English section at Czytelnik, initiated work on a second edition of The Lord of the Rings as well as the Polish publication of The Silmarillion, Skibniewska, despite health issues, engaged in both tasks. She made several corrections to her translation while simultaneously working on translating another Tolkien title. Additionally, she revised the text for the new edition of The Hobbit. The second edition of The Lord of the Rings was published in 1981, while The Silmarillion came out posthumously in 1985, alongside the second edition of The Hobbit.
Skibniewska's translations are regarded as faithful to the original and well-capturing the style and language of the author, although they are not without certain errors. In the case of The Hobbit, as noted by Michał Leśniewski [pl], an expert on Tolkien's works, a significant drawback was that during preparations for the second edition, the translator did not take into account several minor changes that Tolkien made to the novel, limiting herself to translating only one chapter that the author had entirely revised. Consequently, the first complete Polish translation of The Hobbit, incorporating all of the author's changes, was done by Paulina Braiter-Ziemkiewicz [pl].
Conversely, Skibniewska's translation of The Lord of the Rings is considered excellent or even nearly congruent, capturing Tolkien's elevated tone while maintaining his fluent style, making it very readable. It is regarded as the best available translation, often described as the most beautiful. The high quality of her work was partly due to the fact that she worked without haste; she had almost a year for each volume, which was a comfortable situation compared to the working conditions of authors of subsequent translations. Skibniewska's work is viewed as the canonical version of the novel in Polish. Among the English philologists who expressed high regard for her translation were Przemysław Mroczkowski [pl], Andrzej Zgorzelski [pl], and Agnieszka Sylwanowicz [pl]. It also served as the basis for the Polish translation of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film.
In her work on The Lord of the Rings, Skibniewska only partially adhered to the author's suggestions. She retained the English names of hobbits, whereas she translated some place names into Polish, especially those with clear meanings, thereby introducing the term Śródziemie (Middle-earth) into Polish. Her choice to use the word krasnolud (dwarf), a diminutive form of krasnoludek. She drew it from volume III of Słownik języka polskiego [pl] (Dictionary of the Polish Language) edited by Witold Doroszewski, where an example of its use was cited from part II of Noce i dnie [pl] (Nights and Days) by Maria Dąbrowska. The purpose of this approach was to distinguish characters from Tolkien's works from the small beings found in fairy tales. Some omissions in her translation may have stemmed from censorship, while others were conscious choices, such as the exclusion of appendices D and E in the third volume (on calendars and alphabets), which she considered potentially confusing for Polish readers.
In 1996, Muza published a new edition of the novel, prepared under the editorship of Marek Gumkowski, an expert on Tolkien's works. Skibniewska's translation received several corrections and additions in this edition. Both ordinary errors and modifications of certain formulations, which proved incorrect in light of Tolkien's later legacy published many years after the novel, were addressed. Some translations of the poems by Włodzimierz Lewik were replaced with new translations by Tadeusz A. Olszański [pl], and the previously untranslated appendices D and E were translated by Ryszard Derdziński. Diacritical marks were added throughout the text, as well as in words from the languages of elves or humans invented by the author, with distinctions in the notation of the sounds k and f using the letters c, k, f, or ph. However, due to the haste surrounding this edition, not all details worth correcting were identified. In subsequent editions, Muza chose not to implement further modifications to the translation to eliminate remaining errors or inaccuracies.
Skibniewska's translation of The Silmarillion also received positive reviews. Agnieszka Sylwanowicz noted that Skibniewska employed language that evokes biblical style associations in the reader, which is not entirely consistent with the author's tone. The translation itself, as pointed out by Michał Leśniewski, was not fully prepared, but the publisher initially released it without the necessary corrections.

## List of translations
### English literature

| Author | Title | Year released | Publisher, notes |
| Gillian Avery | Echo dawnych lat. Wspomnienia z młodości w okresie regencji i panowania królowej Wiktorii (The Echoing Green. Memories of Regency and Victorian Youth) | 1979 | Nasza Księgarnia |
| Gilbert Keith Chesterton | Człowiek, który był Czwartkiem (The Man Who Was Thursday) | 1958 | Pax Publishing House [pl], novel published with Koszmar (The Nightmare) |
| Gilbert Keith Chesterton | Koszmar (The Nightmare) | 1958 | Pax Publishing House, novel published with Człowiek, który był Czwartkiem |
| Gilbert Keith Chesterton | Pisma wybrane (Selected Writings) | 1975 | Znak, one of the translations in the anthology |
| Gilbert Keith Chesterton | Kula i krzyż (The Ball and the Cross) | 1992 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Joseph Conrad | Wśród prądów (Within the Tides) | 1974 | State Publishing Institute PIW, vol. 17 of Dzieła J. Conrada |
| Lawrence George Durrell | Kwartet aleksandryjski: (The Alexandria Quartet:) Justyna (Justine) Balthasar (Balthazar) Mountolive Clea | 1971–1975 | Czytelnik Publishing House, series of novels |
| David Edgar | Przeznaczenie (Destiny) | 1978 | drama, published in Dialog magazine |
| James Gordon Farrell | Oblężenie Krisznapuru (The Siege of Krishnapur) | 1979 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| William Golding | Siłą bezwładu (Free Fall) | 1970 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Graham Greene | Nasz człowiek w Hawanie (Our Man in Havana) | 1960 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Graham Greene | Tchórz (The Man Within) | 1962 | Pax Publishing House, novel included in Dwie opowieści (other title: Tajny agent translated by Ewa Życieńska) |
| Graham Greene | Poczucie rzeczywistości (The Sense of Reality) | 1964 | Pax Publishing House, one of the translations in the anthology |
| Graham Greene | Komedianci (The Comedians) | 1966 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Sean O'Hanlon | Kamień, co się toczy... Życiorys własny nieco ubarwiony (The Rolling Stone: A Slightly Embellished Autobiography) | 1961 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| James Hilton | Zagubione dni (Random Harvest) | 1947 | Awir, novel |
| Bruce Marshall | Ale i oni otrzymali po denarze (To Every Man a Penny) | 1958 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Bruce Marshall | Paryżowi podzwonne (Yellow Tapers for Paris) | 1961 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Bruce Marshall | Czerwony kapelusz (A Thread of Scarlet) | 1962 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Robert Player | Gdzie się podziały kolczyki Krwawej Mary? Tajemnice dworu królowej (Oh! Where are Bloody Mary's earrings?) | 1976 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| Alan Sillitoe | Samotność długodystansowca (The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner) | 1964 | State Publishing Institute PIW, short story |
| J. R. R. Tolkien | Hobbit, czyli tam i z powrotem (The Hobbit, or There and Back Again) | 1960 | Iskry, novel, poems translated by Włodzimierz Lewik |
| J. R. R. Tolkien | Władca Pierścieni: (The Lord of the Rings: ) Wyprawa (The Fellowship of the Ring) Dwie wieże (The Two Towers) Powrót króla (The Return of the King) | 1961−1963 1961 1962 1963 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel in 3 volumes, poems translated by W. Lewik (vol. I–II) and Andrzej Nowicki (vol. III) |
| J. R. R. Tolkien | Rudy Dżil i jego pies (Farmer Giles of Ham) | 1962 | Iskry |
| J. R. R. Tolkien | Kowal z Podlesia Większego (Smith of Wootton Major) | 1980 | Iskry, published together with Rudy Dżil i jego pies |
| J. R. R. Tolkien | Silmarillion (The Silmarillion) | 1985 | Czytelnik Publishing House, short stories |
| Herbert George Wells | Dolores (Apropos of Dolores) | 1948 | Awir, novel |
| – | Życie innych ludzi. Opowiadania angielskie (The Lives of Other People. English Short Stories) | 1967 | Pax Publishing House, one of the translations in the anthology |
| Sources: ||||

### American literature

| Author | Title | Year released | Publisher, notes |
| – | 26 współczesnych opowiadań amerykańskich (26 Contemporary American Short Stories) | 1963 | Iskry, one of the translations in the anthology |
| Frederick Buechner | Kraina lwów (Lion Country) | 1974 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Jetta Carleton | Księżycowe kwiaty (The Moonflower Vine) | 1966 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| Lloyd C. Douglas | Szata (The Robe) | 1976 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Edwin O'Connor | Oścień smutku (The Edge of Sadness) | 1965 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Flannery O'Connor | Trudno o dobrego człowieka (A Good Man Is Hard to Find) | 1970 | State Publishing Institute PIW, collection of short stories |
| Flannery O'Connor | W pierścieniu ognia (A Circle in the Fire) | 1975 | State Publishing Institute PIW, short stories |
| Flannery O'Connor | Sztuczny Murzyn. Opowiadania (The Artificial Black Man: Stories) | 1992 | – |
| – | Dyliżansem przez prerię. Opowiadania z Dzikiego Zachodu (By Stagecoach Across the Prairie: Western Short Stories) | 1965 | Iskry, one of the translations in the anthology |
| William Faulkner | Miasto (The Town) | 1966 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| Francis Bret Harte | Trzech włóczęgów z Trinidad (Soldiers Three) | 1955 | Czytelnik Publishing House, one of the translations in the anthology |
| Henry James | Ambasadorowie (The Ambassadors) | 1960 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel in 2 volumes |
| Henry James | Madonna przyszłości i inne opowiadania (The Madonna of the Future and Other Stories) | 1962 | State Publishing Institute PIW, short stories |
| Henry James | Portret damy (The Portrait of a Lady) | 1977 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| – | Rekord Johna Cucu. Antologia postępowej noweli amerykańskiej (John Cucu's Record: Anthology of Progressive American Novella) | 1956 | Czytelnik Publishing House, one of the translations in the anthology |
| Craig Rice | Róże pani Cherington (Home sweet homicide) | 1958 | Iskry, novel |
| J. D. Salinger | Buszujący w zbożu (The Catcher in the Rye) | 1961 | Iskry, novel |
| J. D. Salinger | Franny i Zooey (Franny and Zooey) | 1966 | Czytelnik Publishing House, short stories |
| J. D. Salinger | Wyżej podnieście strop, cieśle (Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour) | 1966 | Czytelnik Publishing House, short story published with Seymour: Introdukcja |
| J. D. Salinger | Seymour: Introdukcja (Seymour: An Introduction) | 1966 | Czytelnik Publishing House, short story published with Wyżej podnieście strop, cieśle |
| William Saroyan | Własne życie (Here Comes, There Goes You Know Who) | 1963 | Pax Publishing House, memoir |
| William Saroyan | Troje w Paryżu (Not dying) | 1966 | Pax Publishing House, memoir |
| Jean Stafford | Zły charakter (The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford) | 1976 | State Publishing Institute PIW, short story published in a collection (same title), all other texts translated by Ewa Krasińska |
| Colin Stuart | Zatrzymać wiatr (Shoot an arrow to stop the wind) | 1975 | Iskry, novel |
| Booth Tarkington | Penrod | 1963 | Iskry, novel |
| John Updike | Farma (Of the Farm) | 1967 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| John Updike | Muzea i kobiety oraz inne opowiadania (Museums and Women and Other Stories) | 1978 | State Publishing Institute PIW, short stories |
| Nathanael West | Dzień szarańczy (The Day of the Locust) | 1963 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel published with Miss Lonelyhearts |
| Nathanael West | Miss Lonelyhearts | 1963 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel published with Dzień szarańczy |
| Frances Winwar | Nawiedzony gród (Haunted Palace) | 1961 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Thomas Wolfe | Nie ma powrotu (You Can't Go Home Again) | 1959 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| Sources: ||||

### Australian literature

| Author | Title | Year released | Publisher, notes |
| – | I drzewa mówią. Opowiadania australijskie (And the Trees Speak. Australian Short Stories) | 1954 | Czytelnik Publishing House, one of the translations in the anthology |
| Patrick White | Wóz ognisty (Riders in the Chariot) | 1965 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel in 2 volumes |
| Patrick White | Żywi i umarli (The Living and the Dead) | 1966 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Patrick White | Węzeł (The Solid Mandala) | 1968 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Patrick White | Wiwisekcja (The Vivisector) | 1973 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Patrick White | Oko cyklonu (The Eye of the Storm) | 1976 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Patrick White | Voss | 1979 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Patrick White | Przepaska z liści (A Fringe of Leaves) | 1980 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Patrick White | Drzewo człowiecze (The Tree of Man) | 1985 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Sources: ||||

### French literature

| Author | Title | Year released | Publisher, notes |
| Pierre Courtade | Jimmy | 1953 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| Maurice Druon | Potentaci (The Possessors) | 1962 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| Jean Genet | Murzyni. Błazenada (The Blacks: A Clown Show) | 1961 | Dramatic work in 1 act, co-translation with Jerzy Lisowski [pl], published in Dialog |
| Jean Genet | Parawany (The Screens) | 1964 | Dramatic work, co-translation with Jerzy Lisowski, published in Dialog |
| Jean Genet | Ścisły nadzór (Deathwatch) | 1965 | Dramatic work, published in Dialog |
| Jean Genet | Balkon (The Balcony) | 1970 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel, co-translation with Jerzy Lisowski, in Teatr |
| Joseph Majault | Dzień powszedni wikarego (A Vicar's Ordinary Day) | 1971 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Françoise Mallet-Joris | Znaki (The Signs) | 1969 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Françoise Mallet-Joris | Kłamstwa (Lies) | 1970 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Françoise Mallet-Joris | Trzy wieki ciemności. Historie czarownic (Three Centuries of Darkness. Witch Stories) | 1971 | Pax Publishing House, short stories |
| Françoise Mallet-Joris | Papierowy dom (The Paper House) | 1980 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Guy de Maupassant | Mont-Oriol | 1955 | Czytelnik Publishing House, novel |
| Armand Salacrou | Ruch jednokierunkowy (One-Way Traffic) | 1970 | Psychodrama, published in Dialog |
| Sources: ||||

### Canadian literature

| Author | Title | Year released | Publisher, notes |
| Margaret Craven | Słyszałem wołanie sowy (I Heard the Owl Call My Name) | 1977 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| William Robertson Davies | Piąta osoba dramatu (Fifth Business) | 1973 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| William Robertson Davies | Mantykora (The Manticore) | 1988 | State Publishing Institute PIW, novel |
| William Robertson Davies | Świat czarów (World of Wonders) | 1989 | State Publishing Institute PIW, co-translation with Zofia Zinserling |
| Gratien Gélinas | Sami porządni ludzie (Bousille and the Just) | 1979 | Drama, co-translation with Jerzy Lisowski, published in Dialog |
| Brian Moore | Odpowiedź z otchłani (An Answer From Limbo) | 1969 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Brian Moore | Jestem Mary Dunne (I Am Mary Dunne) | 1971 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Sources: ||||

### Other world literature

| Author | Title | Year released | Publisher, notes |
| Chinua Achebe | Boża strzała (Arrow of God) | 1966 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Mulk Raj Anand | Kulis: powieść (Coolie) | 1950 | Czytelnik Publishing House |
| Mulk Raj Anand | Idylla kaszmirska i inne opowiadania (Kashmiri Idyll and Other Stories) | 1955 | Czytelnik Publishing House, one of the translations in an anthology |
| Mongo Beti | Król cudem ocalony (King Lazarus) | 1975 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Hubert Lampo | Powrót Joachima Stillera (The Coming of Joachim Stiller) | 1979 | Pax Publishing House, translated from the English version, originally written in Dutch |
| Halldór Laxness | Niezależni. Saga islandzkiej doliny (Independent People) | 1956 | Czytelnik Publishing House, translated from the English version, originally written in Icelandic |
| James Ngugi | Ziarno pszeniczne (A Grain of Wheat) | 1972 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Maria Rosseels | Obietnica Sabiny (Sabina's Promise) | 1974 | Pax Publishing House, translated from the French version, originally written in Dutch |
| Francis Selormey | Wąska ścieżka (The Narrow Path) | 1971 | Pax Publishing House, novel |
| Sources: ||||

### Various works

| Author | Title | Year released | Publisher, notes |
| – | Baśnie i legendy Wysp Brytyjskich (Fairy Tales and Legends of the British Isles) | 1985 | Nasza Księgarnia, one of the translations in an anthology |
| Paul Claudel | Możliwości teatru (Theatre Possibilities) | 1971 | Art and Film Publishing House, selection of articles |
| Jacques Copeau | Naga scena (The Naked Stage) | 1972 | Art and Film Publishing House, selection of articles |
| Edward Craig | Gordon Craig: historia życia (Gordon Craig: The Story of His Life) | 1976 | State Publishing Institute PIW, biography |
| Edward G. Craig | O sztuce teatru (On the Art of the Theatre) | 1964 | Art and Film Publishing House, selection of articles |
| Jean Héritier | Katarzyna Medycejska (Catherine de' Medici) | 1981 | State Publishing Institute PIW, biography |
| Ronald Hewitt | Ziemia drży (The Earth Trembles) | 1964 | Iskry |
| – | Komuna (Commune) | 1973 | Collective work of The Performance Group by Richard Schechner, published in Dialog, songs translated by Wojciech Młynarski |
| – | Legendy Indian kanadyjskich (Legends of the Canadian Indians) | 1982 | Nasza Księgarnia, stories edited by Ella Elizabeth Clark |
| Jacques Faizant, Jacques Loew | Przypowieści i obrazki (Parables and Pictures) | 1982 | Pax Publishing House |
| Mao Zedong | O zadaniach artysty i pisarza (On the Tasks of the Artist and Writer) | 1950 | Czytelnik Publishing House, speeches from June 9 and May 23, 1942, co-translated with Wanda Jedlicka from English and French versions |
| Michel Pastoureau | Życie codzienne we Francji i Anglii w czasach rycerzy Okrągłego Stołu (XII–XIII wiek) (Daily Life in France and England in the Time of the Knights of the Round Table) | 1983 | State Publishing Institute PIW |
| George Bernard Shaw | Teatry londyńskie w latach dziewięćdziesiątych (London Theatres in the 1890s) | 1967 | Art and Film Publishing House, selection of reviews, co-translated with Zofia Sroczyńska |
| George Bernard Shaw | Aforyzmy (Aphorisms) | 1975 | State Publishing Institute PIW, one of the translations in an anthology |
| John Shearman | Manieryzm (Mannerism) | 1970 | State Publishing Institute PIW |
| Pierre Sichel | Modigliani | 1971 | Biography |
| Cornelia Otis Skinner | Madame Sarah | 1981 | State Publishing Institute PIW, biography |
| Ellen Terry | Historia mojego życia (The Story of My Life) | 1989 | State Publishing Institute PIW |
| Sources: ||||

## Awards and honors

* Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland (1954)
* Cross of Merit (1955)