The Dissertation is the first systematic study of the textual history of multivolume publications by Ivan Franko’s creative works, which was done with the involvement of a wide array of archival materials.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of the sources and the epistolary, the process of birth and crystallization (from 1876) of the author's concept of a multi-volume short story publication is traced. The work on the implementation of the ambitious plan began after an agreement with the publisher A. Khojnatskiy in 1902; a written agreement was concluded in 1903. The probable reasons for stopping of this publishing project are substantiated.
The history of preparation for printing and publication of the three-volume works by S. Efremov edition during 1903–1905 was traced. It was found that most of the authority, with the consent of the author, was transferred to S. Efremov. Using of the textual criticism method of research allowed to establish some variant reading and to comment on editorial interventions in the author's text at the examples of the children's stories like «Little Myron and other stories», «Grits’ school science», «The pencil», «Schönschreiben».
The circumstances of preparation by the Academy of Sciences of a hitherto unknown collection in 17 volumes of 1919 were revealed. Possible reasons for unrealizing this publishing project have been formulated.
The history of the publishing of the thirty-volume edition of Ivan Franko's creative works (1924–1931) which was done by editions «Rukh» and «Knigospilka», was reconstructed. The motives of private publishers for the implementation of this project have been revealed. The peculiarities of forming of a project, which directly depended on the results of archival search work, were commented on (the writer's archive was located in Lviv, outside the border then, and was therefore disordered, so it was almost impossible to be used). The peculiarities of forming of a project, which directly depended on the results of archival search work, were analyzed. It was found out, that M. Wozniak assisted in the formation of the corpus of I. Franko’s literary-critical works, which were not published in the thirty-volume edition.
Common difficulties of the publishing process, which had to be overcome by the editor, are outlined. It is determined that political circumstances, financial insolvency and a whole range of household problems became decisive in the fate of this project.
I. Lyzanivsky's relations with Ivan Franko's heirs are considered separately, in particular, regarding the observance of copyright.
The compositional features of the case of small prose and poetry are analyzed. Many variant readings in poetic works and the most explicit examples of editorial interference in the author's text were determined.
The history of preparation for printing twenty-five-volumes of 1940–1941 was investigated. A part of lacunas in the history of the project was successfully fulfilled by the studying of an archival-sources. The result of that searches was news about the variability of the prospectus of the publication and the content of some volumes. The reasons that could hinder the successful implementation of the project were outlined. Sources say that 20 volumes of the publication have been prepared by the scientists, but only the II and the XII volumes were published. Nevertheless, the work of the scientists became the basis for the next edition of Ivan Frank's works in 20 volumes, which was done during 1950–1956 years.
Studying the textual criticism and the source history of Ivan Franko's multi-volume editions makes it possible to attract many archival materials to the scientific circulation, to recreate dramatic collisions of publishing processes, to analyze the approaches of performers of solving the problem of textual criticism principles of editions, which is an important basis for the preparation of the modern edition.
