Editing Henryk Sienkiewicz (section)

=== Return to Poland ===
[[File:Henryk sienkiewicz by kazimierz pochwalski.png|thumb|right|Sienkiewicz by [[Kazimierz Pochwalski]], 1890]]
[[File:Oblegorek - Sienkiewicz i jego dzieci 1902 (75120057) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Sienkiewicz with children, Oblęgorek, {{Circa|1902}}]]
In April 1879 Sienkiewicz returned to Polish soil.<ref name="psb205"/> In [[Lviv]] (Lwów) he gave a lecture that was not well attended: "{{Lang|pl|Z Nowego Jorku do Kalifornii}}" ("From New York to California").<ref name="psb205"/><ref name="Kulczycka-Saloni1960"/> Subsequent lectures in [[Szczawnica]] and [[Krynica-Zdrój|Krynica]]<!--sources do not specify which Krynica, other than it was near Szczawnica and Lwow; Krynica-Zdrój seems most likely--> in July–August that year, and in Warsaw and [[Poznań]] the following year, were much more successful.<ref name="psb205"/><ref name="psb206"/> In late summer 1879 he went to Venice and Rome, which he toured for the next few weeks, on 7 November 1879 returning to Warsaw.<ref name="psb205"/> There he met Maria Szetkiewicz, whom he married on 18 August 1881.<ref name="psb205"/> The marriage was reportedly a happy one.<ref name="psb206"/> The couple had two children, Henryk Józef (1882–1959) and Jadwiga Maria (1883–1969).<ref name="psb205"/> It was a short-lived marriage, however, because on 18 August 1885 Maria died of [[tuberculosis]].<ref name="psb207"/>

In 1879 the first collected edition of Sienkiewicz's works was published, in four volumes; the series would continue until 1917, ending with a total of 17 volumes.<ref name="psb205"/> He also continued writing journalistic pieces, mainly in ''The Polish Gazette'' and ''Niwa''.<ref name="psb205"/> In 1881 he published a favorable review of the first collected edition of works by [[Bolesław Prus]].<ref name="psb206"/>

In 1880 Sienkiewicz wrote a historical novella, {{Lang|pl|Niewola tatarska}} (Tartar Captivity).<ref name="psb205"/> In late 1881 he became editor-in-chief of a new Warsaw newspaper, ''Słowo'' (The Word).<ref name="psb206"/> This substantially improved his finances.<ref name="psb206"/> The year 1882 saw him heavily engaged in the running of the newspaper, in which he published a number of columns and short stories.<ref name="psb206"/> Soon, however, he lost interest in the journalistic aspect and decided to focus more on his literary work.<ref name="psb206"/> He paid less and less attention to his post of editor-in-chief, resigning it in 1887 but remaining editor of the paper's literary section until 1892.<ref name="psb207"/>

From 1883 he increasingly shifted his focus from short pieces to historical novels.<ref name="psb206"/> He began work on the historical novel, {{Lang|pl|Ogniem i Mieczem}} ([[With Fire and Sword]]). Initially titled {{Lang|pl|Wilcze gniazdo}} (The Wolf's Lair), it appeared in [[serial novel|serial installments]] in ''The Word'' from May 1883 to March 1884.<ref name="psb206"/><ref name="psb207"/> It also ran concurrently in the Kraków newspaper, {{Lang|pl|Czas}} (Time).<ref name="psb206"/>

Sienkiewicz soon began writing the second volume of his Trilogy, ''[[The Deluge (novel)|Potop]]'' (The Deluge).<ref name="psb207"/> It ran in ''The Word'' from December 1884 to September 1886.<ref name="psb207"/> Beginning in 1884, Sienkiewicz accompanied his wife Maria to foreign [[sanatorium]]s.<ref name="psb207"/> After her death, he kept on traveling Europe, leaving his children with his late wife's parents though he often returned to Poland, particularly staying for long periods in Warsaw and [[Kraków]] beginning in the 1890s.<ref name="psb207"/><ref name="psb208"/> After his return to Warsaw in 1887, the third volume of his [[The Trilogy|Trilogy]] appeared – ''[[Pan Wołodyjowski]]'' (Sir Michael) – running in ''The Word'' from May 1887 to May 1888.<ref name="psb207"/> The Trilogy established Sienkiewicz as the most popular contemporary Polish writer.<ref name="psb207"/>

Sienkiewicz received 15,000 [[ruble]]s, in recognition of his achievements, from an unknown admirer who signed himself "[[Michał Wołodyjowski]]" after the Trilogy character.<ref name="psb207"/> Sienkiewicz used the money to set up a fund, named for his wife and supervised by the [[Academy of Learning]], to aid artists endangered by tuberculosis.<ref name="psb207"/>

In 1886, he visited [[Istanbul]]; in 1888, Spain.<ref name="psb207"/> At the end of 1890 he went to Africa, resulting in {{Lang|pl|Listy z Afryki}} (Letters from Africa, published in ''The Word'' in 1891–92, then collected as a book in 1893).<ref name="psb207"/> The turn of the 1880s and 1890s was associated with intensive work on several novels. In 1891 his novel ''[[Without dogma]]'' (''Bez Dogmatu''), previously serialized in 1889–90 in ''The Word'', was published in book form.<ref name="psb208"/> In 1892 Sienkiewicz signed an agreement for another novel, Rodzina Połanieckich (Children of the Soil), which was serialized in ''The Polish Gazette'' from 1893 and came out in book form in 1894.<ref name="psb208"/>