The paper describes a somewhat forgotten book collection of the outstanding Wrocław editor Jan Kuglin, in terms of the editions on print aesthetics contained therein. The collection, which is a reflection of Kuglin’s scientific passions, contains many valuable books in German, English, Polish, Russian and Czech in the field of book and printing history, editing, book design, typography, writing, graphic techniques, polygraphy, paper industry, bookbinding, etc. In the book collection of Kuglin one can find editions being examples of a perfect typography. Thus, the collection stored in the Library of the Institute of Information and Library Science of the University of Wrocław is an excellent source for research on the aesthetics of printing in the 20th century.
The subject of this article is an overview of Polish publishing in the exile during the World War II and first post-war years. The literary activity was mostly linked to the cultural tradition of the Second Polish Republic. The author describes this phenomenon quantitatively and presents the number of books published in the respective years. He also tries to explain which external factors, not only political and military, but also financial and organizational, affected publications of Polish books around the world. The subject of the debate is also geography of the Polish publishing. It is connected with a long term migration of different groups of people living in exile. The author not only points out the areas where Polish editorial activity was just temporary, but also the areas where it was long-lasting. The book output was a great assistance to Polish people living in diasporas, as well as to readers living in Poland. The following text is an excerpt of the book which is currently being prepared by the author. The book is devoted to the history of Polish publishing in exile.
The paper offers an insight into the poor state of preservation of the Polish popular publications of the second half of the 19th century, based on systematic queries for the new edition of the Estreicher family Bibliografia Polska XIX stulecia (Polish Bibliography of the 19th century). The queries revealed that many of the editions in question are now completely lost, and quite often the only one or two survived copies can be found either abroad or in small local libraries/museums. The discussed examples include several popular books by the Roman Catholic bishop, Szymon Marcin Kozłowski; the commonly used primer for country children (Elementarz dla chłopców wiejskich for boys and Upominek dla dziewcząt wiejskich for girls); and the religious publications of Blessed Father Honorat OMFCap (Florentyn Wacław Koźmiński). Problems with the preservation of popular books from cultural borderlands are illustrated by the case of the Lutheran catechism published by Rev. Karol Kotschy for the local Silesian evangelical community in Ustroń. Finally, a few examples of the 19th-century Polish-American mass publications are discussed.
The publication presents a source study review of the provenances of the early printed books from the library of the Berdychiv Monastery of Discalced Carmelites, which functioned from the 17th up to the first half of the 19th century. Nowadays the historical collection “The Library of the Berdychiv Monastery of Discalced Carmelites” is preserved in the V.I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, it amounts to 4852 volumes and is the largest one among the book collections of the Roman Catholic monasteries, which are stored in the libraries in Ukraine. The article emphasizes the importance of source studies and the role of provenances in the historical library science research. The main types of provenances (handwritten notes, exlibrises, superexlibrises, seals), found in the books of the Berdychiv collection are presented, and their informative content is highlighted in relation to the ways of reconstruction of the monastic book collection.
The article presents the problem related to the protection of written sources in Poland after World War II. The first attempt to draw up a legal document was made in 1944. From 1945, activities, based on legal provisions, were carried on a national scale by the Ministry of Education in a planned and organized manner. The most important actions were taken in the first period of the post-war protection of library collections, i.e. until 1946. The results of the conducted research made it possible to put forward the thesis that several million books were saved during that time. Józef Grycz made a great contribution in saving valuable written heritage. The activities, conducted in extremely difficult conditions, contributed to the reconstruction of libraries, librarianship, and Polish science.
Henryk Kołodziejski (1884-1953), creator and long-term director of the Sejm library in the interwar period, was known for his socialist passion and involvement in the cooperative movement. He also played a quite significant but implicit role on the political scene, participating in informal negotiations or other meetings on matters of the highest state rank. In the article, I try to show how his person influenced the functioning of the parliamentary library and its position in the structure of the Sejm Bureau. I also ask whether there was a connection between the strong position of the library and the lack of a legal office in the pre-war Polish Sejm. I show the change in the action strategy of H. Kołodziejski after the war. I present his activity on the basis of parliamentary documentation.
This article presents the genesis and the organizational structure of the Jewish public libraries (also referred to as secular or modern in the literature) in interwar Poland (1918-1939). The origins of these institutions date back to the 19th century and are associated with the Haskalah movement. Due to the strong opposition of the Orthodox Jews and local authorities, the majority of the first libraries were established secretly and run illegally on private premises. Against what were then the odds, progress prevailed and the libraries flourished in the interwar period. In 1937 it was estimated that there were approximately 1,000 Jewish public libraries in Poland.
The Polish film press in the first half of the 20th century (1913-1939) tried to find its place in the Polish publishing market. Inspired by film thought and still developing Polish and global cinematography, the Polish press wanted to uphold true art. However, the times of censorship, interference of state authorities, fragile publishing politics, and omnipresent commercialism have all strongly influenced the history of the Polish film press. The article mainly presents the history and characteristics of film journals, dividing them into those loyal to the art of cinematography, as well as those that have been commercially influenced by film in general. It describes their profiles, forms, language, as well as editorial policy of individual editorial offices used to get valuable readers.
The article outlines the achievements of an independent publishing movement in the, ruled by communist’s, Polish People’s Republic concerning the pre-war Second Polish Republic. It was advisable that the characters and themes from the history of pre-war Poland were popular among underground publishers and that they were overlooked. At the same time, the article presents a dispute between supporters of the idealized vision of the Second Polish Republic and its critics.
Based on the bibliography method (mainly Bibliografia literatury dla dzieci i młodzieży 1918-1939. Literatura polska i przekłady, by B. Krassowska i A. Grefkowicz, Warszawa, 1995), the article presents the extent of foreign literature for young people translated into Polish, edited in Poland in 1918-1939. The most popular languages, literary genres, bestseller authors and titles, the intensity of publishing in periods, the biggest publishers, and the most popular series are analyzed. Besides classics, many foreign light titles were published, because of the lack of such literature in the Polish book market. They were attacked by literary critics and educators, but very widely-read in fact. The abundance and variety of foreign literature for children and young adults in 1918-1939 are emphasized. Language mosaic and author-subject diversity of these books had never been repeated after World War II, mainly due to political reasons.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.