The early printed books collection held by the University of Warsaw Library contains about 300 books printed from the 15th to the 17th century, with various marks of the 17th-century library censorship. Thanks to the provenance research conducting by the Early Printed Books Department staff we can recognize that most of these books were once held in monasteries. The purpose of this article is to present various methods of censorship, notes such as: “haereticus” or “prohibitus”, the names of authors or other people contributing to the work which were crossed out, obliterated or cut out, fragments of texts concerned heretical or salacious content – removed in different ways. Censorship marks are interesting as yet poorly explored testimonies of post-tridentine spirituality. Their analysis can bring new perspectives to the studies of sociology of religion.
The article is an introduction to the research of the book collection of Bernardine Fathers convent in Przeworsk. A few references in literature inform that the facility had a rich library, of which presently little remained of its former glory. Its fragments – once neglected, stolen, given away – can be found i.a. in the collections of the Bernardine Fathers in Cracow and The Czartoryski Library. The set of manuscripts and the resource of 15th and 16th centuries prints became the basis of research on the forgotten, but in the years of splendor valuable, collection. The main character of the text is Erwin Rödel – antiquary from Przeworsk, one of the main “suppliers” of the manuscripts and books to the Czartoryski library in Sieniawa, stemming from the repression after the November Uprising and the need to evacuate the collections from Puławy. Seriously depleted resource from Puławy was replenished and expanded thanks to the donations and numerous contacts of librarians from Sieniawa, such as Karol Druziewicz and Józef Łepkowski, with antiquaries and monastic libraries. He was well-deserved to Czartoryski family, bringing to Sieniawa many valuable library collections, not always gained fairly and in accordance with the librarian policy, however, and as a result – causing also problems arising from the claims of the previous owners, whose collections he diminished or even deconstructed. The preserved documentation shows that the monastery in Przeworsk through the actions of Rödel has lost 11 parchment diplomas dated from 15th to 17th centuries, 30 manuscripts from the City Archive (i.a. books of city assessors, courts, voyts, and registries), 10 other manuscripts of the time range from 16th to 18th centuries, and about 300 old prints (partly from the monastic library of Bernardines, partly from the fahters of The Holy Sepulchre). The belonging to the presented library is indicated by numerous provenance entries described in the text.
The author’s autographs in the early printed books from the collection of the Vasyl Stefanyk Lviv National Scientific Library of Ukraine can be grouped in two categories. The first one includes author’s signatures, their individual notes concerning the book, amendments and supplements to the text. These materials, quite rare in the books, are of particular importance for the researchers of the history of writing and printing. They can become an authoritative reference for dating, settling authorship of anonymous works, preparations of critical editions. The following authors are mentioned in the text: Mikołaj Bernett (1643-1710), Stanisław Brzeżański (ca 1650-1738), Tadeusz Juda Krusiński (1675-1757), Gottfried Lengnich (16891774), Ignacy Krasicki (1735-1801). The other category of author’s autographs, bigger and as precious as the previous one, includes hand-written author’s dedications. The annex to this text registers 67 Polish dedications from the 16-18th centuries. The following famous persons can be found among authors and recipients: Erazm of Rotterdam, Ercole Sassonia, Martinus Glicius of Pilzno, Andrzej Wolan, and Daniel Mikołajewski.
The Diocesan Archive in Kielce stores the collection of calendars and catalogues of different dioceses and monastic provinces of Poland, containing 19th and 20th centuries prints and several old prints. Part of this collection are Cistercian calendars and catalogues (five old prints and six 19th century prints). The subject of research in this paper are Cistercian ecclesiastical directories and schematisms. The researched Cistercian prints come from the turn of the 18th century. It was the time of annexations and boundary changes in Poland. The directories and catalogues represent the changing jurisdictional affilliances of the Polish Cistercian monasteries.The discussed prints consist of the calendar – directory and the catalogue – schematism. The directory (directorium) – liturgical calendar – is a valuable source for research about the divine service of Polish Cistercians. A meaningful historical source is the catalogue of the monasteries and people, printed and co-published with the Directorium. An additional source is a list of deceased printed from 1803. From the eleven Cistercian prints preserved in the Diocesan Archive in Kielce, seven are not listed in the Bibliografia polska by Estreichers (from the Old Polish period five old prints, from the 19th century prints – two).
Wśród wielu cyrylickich starych druków znany jest tylko jeden Ewangeliarz pełny. Został on wydrukowany w Kijowie w 1707 roku. Jego geneza związana jest ze świętą Górą Atos. Z zawartych we Wstępie informacji wiadomo tylko, że jakiś archimandryta ze św. Góry Atos podarował hetmanowi I. Mazepie Ewangelię, którą ten nakazał wydrukować. Nic więcej nie wiadomo o okolicznościach przekazania prezentu atoskiego, jego pochodzeniu i późniejszej historii. Artykuł jest próbą powiązania faktów historycznych z okolicznościami powstania jedynego cyrylickiego starego druku ewangeliarza pełnego i analizy późniejszej historii prezentu atoskiego.
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Among many Cyrillic early printed books there is only one full Gospel lectionary. It was printed in Kiev in 1707. Its origins draw back to the Holy Mount Athos. The only information can be read in the book’s preface, stating that one of the archimandrites from Holy Mount Athos donated the manuscript Gospel to hetman Mazepa, who decided to print it. Nothing more is known about the circumstances of donation of the book from Athos, its origins nor later history. Th e article is an attempt to link historical facts with possible origins of the unique early printed full Gospel lectionary as well as an eff ort to analyze its further fate.
The archival and library collection of the Cieszyn Brothers Hospitallers, despite being of relatively smaller size compared to the sermonic collection, is of great interest, particularly because of the extant hospital records as well as early prints of medical nature, and a very complex history of some archival and library units. A certain part of the collection shared the complicated fate of the monastery and the monks. Over more than a hundred years they frequently changed owners, all of whom have left their mark in the books. The presence of previous owners in the history of a given volume is best exemplified by seal imprints. The present compilation presents all the early printed books and antique books from the collection of the Archives and Library of the Brothers Hospitallers in Cieszyn, as well as archival records clearly originated outside the monastery. It also demonstrates the influence they exerted on the present shape of the archival and library collection of the convent of Brothers Hospitallers.
The University Library in Wrocław has a collection of manuscripts documenting some of the events following the promulgation of the secularisation edict by the King of Prussia, Frederick William III, on 30 October 1810, under which most catholic church institutions in Silesia, especially numerous monasteries, were dissolved. The five bound volumes of files, known as the Büsching Papers, contain: – correspondence: original letters or copies (mainly between commissioner J. G. G. Büsching, Central Secularisation Commission and special commissioners, mostly concerning organisational and financial matters); – inventories of former monastery archives, libraries and art collections; – Büsching’s protocols and notes concerning organisational and financial matters as well as movable items found in monasteries, which were of some value to science, museums, libraries or archives (e.g. numismatic objects, archaeological objects). Despite the fact that the Büsching Papers are an archive source known to scholars studying Silesian history and art, Büsching’s illegible writing has hindered access to the contents of the documents. The present inventory of the Büsching Papers is an attempt to shed some light on the documents; its aim is to provide a preliminary overview of the contents of the five German-language volumes, to simplify the search for specific documents and to encourage scholars to carry out an in-depth analysis of the manu - scripts in their research work.
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