EN
In this article the author devotes the biggest attention to specify the date of the first edition of the work Sarmatiae Europeae Descriptio by Alexander Gvagnini. In the historiography an opinion prevails that this work, dedicated to the ruler Stephen Bathory, was published in 1578; the date presented in the preface of this edition (Cracoviae 20. die Iunii 1578) confirms this. However, the author gives reasoned proposition based on the information available in the creation Verona illustrata by Scipio Maffei and the copy of Sarmatieae Europae Descriptio kept presently in the Mazarini Library (Bibliothèque Mazarine) in Paris that the first edition was in 1574 and was dedicated to the ruler Henry Valois. Comparing the title pages of both editions, imagery, texts of dedications to the different rulers, and other elements of decoration of publications, the researcher makes a conclusion that the publication of 1578 is only a variant of the edition of 1574. True, the author leaves open questions why the first edition was not distributed and why it took four more years for the second edition to appear.