ALL ISSUES
CREDITS / TABLE OF CONTENTS, p. 2–3
ARTICLES
The Górski Archive (Teki Górskiego) at the National Library of Poland: A collection of letters and official documents pertaining to the reign of King Sigismund I Jagiellon, p. 6–59
This paper results from the author’s work on a detailed catalogue of The Górski Archive (Teki Górskiego) in the National Library of Poland (ms BOZ 2053). The collection consists of letters and documents dating back to the reign of King Sigismund I Jagiellon and assembled by Canon Stanisław Górski (1497–1572) to be used as a source of texts for large
collections of copies offered to the king Sigismund August and to the Royal Council (so called Acta Tomiciana). This article presents an outline of the most important aspects of the history of the Górski Archive: its creation, original contents, custodial history, as well as changing patterns of its use – from a political dossier to historical sources.
KEYWORDS: Stanisław Górski, Piotr Tomicki, Teki Górskiego, Acta Tomiciana, Zamoyski Family Library, Sigismund I JagiellonFormation of the historical book collection of the Higher Theological Seminary in Tarnów in the 19th century, p. 60–94
The present article discusses the formation of the book collection of the Higher Theological Seminary in Tarnów in the 19th century and provides an overview of its contents. It describes the complicated history of Polish ecclesiastical library collections that were destroyed, dispersed or, at best, taken over by other church institutions. Until the late 19th century the book collection of the Seminary in Tarnów consisted of three important parts: books from the Benedictine Abbey
in Tyniec, books from the dissolved monasteries within the newly established Tarnów Diocese (previously Cracow Diocese), and books from the former Tarnów Collegiate Church. It also received bequests by professors who taught in the Seminary and included books on various subjects, by different authors and, above all, of diverse provenance.
It was not a collection “of one place” (a highly coherent one), created throughout the centuries for the use of one owner; it emerged in particular social, cultural and political conditions (partitions of Poland, dissolution of monasteries etc.). It had a clear pragmatic purpose: to serve diocesan clerics for their studies, especially in dogmatic, pastoral and fundamental theology. Its oldest and most valuable part, such as manuscripts and printed books from the 15th century,
were already of historical character at the time, and served only the professors of the Tarnów seminary for their individual investigations, as testified by handwritten marginalia. The preserved collections of books of both diocesan and religious priests constitute an excellent research field for a contemporary historian of Polish and European culture and literacy in the Middle Ages.
KEYWORDS: Seminarium Duchowne w Tarnowie, Higher Theological Seminary in Tarnów, historical book collection, Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec, Tarnów Collegiate, monastery dissolution, provenance researchBetween Empire and Nation: The social function of books in the Kingdom of Poland, 1864–1914, p. 96–127
The article presents methodological aspects of social functions of books in the research on nations and empires. Its first part focuses on the notions of assimilation and acculturation in the context of various Russian cultural policies in the Kingdom of Poland in the years 1864–1914. The main tool of these policies were schoolbooks and popular press. The author believes that analyzing them makes it possible to determine what sort of change – according to the ideas and guidelines of the Russian authorities – was supposed to occur in a reader after getting acquainted with the books recommended by school board and the Governor-General of the Kingdom of Poland. The second part of the article (1) discusses in detail the books intended to make Polish national identity and Catholicism harmonize with the imperial context, and (2) introduces the magazine Beseda aimed at shaping Russian national identity among Orthodox inhabitants of the Kholm Rus’.
KEYWORDS: Russia, empire, nation, Congress Kingdom of Poland, social function of bookThe History and Techniques of Mounting the Graphic Art Collection from Wilanów (1834–1845), p. 128–243
The Wilanów print and drawing collection is part of the Wilanów Library, preserved in the National Library of Poland since 1932. The collection was founded in the second half of 18th century by Stanisław Kostka Potocki. It also contains the collection of Stanisław Kostka’s brother, Ignacy. Later it was enlarged by Aleksander, August and Aleksandra Potocki.
The collection is noteworthy because of its substantive content, as well as its distinctive manner of mounting. The prints and drawings are grouped within albums of paper covers, with tooled edges and handwritten titles on paper labels. Part of the drawings and most of the prints are mounted on a two-ply laminate, consisting of coloured handmade verso paper (mostly cream, beige, pink and white, but also grey and blue) and handmade laid paper backing sheets. Then drawings
and prints are bordered with decorative paper strips, usually in deep blue and gold, the latter with embossed patterns. The edges of each mount are tooled all around, with decorative motifs pressed in the corners. The mounting of the drawings and binding of the albums was ordered by Aleksander Potocki between 1834 and 1845. The first part of the study presents the history and techniques of mounting. Due to an examination of very rich archival documentation stored in the Central Archives of Historical Records, it has been possible to identify the paper suppliers and bookbinders and reconstruct the previous system of preservation, which included now lost portfolios. Particular activities such as creating albums, mounts and paper tapes are also reconstructed. Two types of golden paper tapes produced in the
Wilanów workshop are identified. This study contains descriptions of some of the renovation work carried out by the bookbinder, Michał Tuchowicz and later by artist, Wincenty Kasprzycki. The collection mounts in Poland, as well as in Europe, were heavily underestimated when private collections became part of the holdings of public institutions. The second part of the article presents changes in conservation decision-making with reference to the preservation of
the collection mounts. Eventually, the procedure of the conservation treatment in the case of two albums with drawings from Wilanów collection is presented. The main consideration in the conservation process concentrates on the balance between the proper preservation of the drawings and maintaining their historical manner of mounting.
KEYWORDS: the Wilanów collection, history of mounting, conservation of mounted art on paperKarol Beyer’s Album Wystawy starożytności i przedmiotów sztuki and Alexander von Minutoli’s vorbilder für handwerker und fabrikanten. Between history and industry, p. 244–270
Karol Beyer (1818–1877), a Warsaw based antiquarian and photographer by vocation, self-published his first photographically illustrated publication in 1856. His work also became the first photographically illustrated book published and marketed in the Polish lands. The full-leather album with 30 hand-mounted salted paper prints showed
photographed artefacts from the Exhibition of Antiquities and Monuments of Art in Warsaw. In its scope, it was concurrently ideological and commercial. As a business enterprise, the album will be considered as a means of exploiting financially the wish for national distinction in a time when Poland was erased from the political landscape of Europe. However, instead of a solely nation-based reading of the Beyer’s book, the author will turn to international discussion on the nature of decorative or applied art and the idea to use it for the improvement of industrial design. Drawing on archival material and periodical press, this article presents Beyer’s early undertakings in the context of the exhibiting activity and publishing ventures of the Institut Minutoli in Liegnitz in Silesia, and specifically, a photographically illustrated
volume of Vorbilder für Handwerker und Fabrikanten.
KEYWORDS: photographically illustrated publication, nineteenthcentury photography, history and industry, printing, nation, Karol Beyer, Alexander von Minutoli