Justyna Kiliańczyk-Zięba

The Brazen Serpent and the Alleged Ennoblement: A Case for Tomasz Treter’s Biography

The article discusses signs of identity (burgher arms) of Tomasz Treter (Treterus, 1547–1610). Treter was a trusted secretary of Cardinal Stanisław Hozjusz (Hosius), but also a draughtsman, a painter, an engraver, a designer of monuments and prints, and a Neo-Latin poet. The texts focuses on Treter’s non-armorial seals, depicting a shield with a winged snake twisted around a cross (the Brazen Serpent) and on Treter’s two supralibros (one with the burgher arms and the other displaying an impresa). The paper also analyses emblematic compositions in Symbolica vitae Christi meditatio, a volume of meditations composed by Treter. These sources are used to undermine the belief that Treter was ennobled by Pope Gregory XIII and that he used the Boncompagni’s coat of arms (Draco).

Recenzja książki:

Companion to Emblem Studies, ed. Peter M. Daly, New York AMS Press, Inc., 2008

Sebastian Fabian Klonowic’s Translation of Civilitas morum by Erasmus of Rotterdam: Its Place in the Poet’s Legacy and Its Publishing History in Poland-Lithuania

The article focuses on the Polish rendition of De civilitate morum puerilium – that is, a translation from Reinhard Lorich’s (Hadamarius’) catechismal version of Erasmus’ of Rotterdam treatise. The main goals of the text are: first, to understand the presence of the text (the Polish title: Dworstwo obyczajów) among works of such a talented author as Sebastian Fabian Klonowic; second, to reconstruct the publishing history of the Polish De civilitate; third to argue that forgotten bestsellers, such as Dworstwo, can help to better understand both early modern literature and book market in the first centuries of printing. The article summarises current knowledge about Sebastian Fabian Klonowic (ca. 1545–1602), a prolific poet, but also an author of textbooks and handbooks used to teach Latin and morals, as De civilitate was used as well. It analyses Klonowic’s translation practices and discusses his enthusiasm for Erasmus’ output. It also suggests that the Polish text was written with school usage in mind, probably for students of the newly opened academy established by Polish Brethrens in Raków. Next, the text moves on to describe the publishing history of De civilitate – Erasmus’ manual, its adaptations and translations. The author concentrates on the Polish translation, but the scarce evidence available for this title and its editions in the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania is interpreted in the wider context of the Latin and vernacular editions of De civilitate printed in other European lands. The survey combines information offered by the unique copies preserved in the library collections and the evidence found in archival sources to reconstruct the reasons for the success of the handbook, and to explain why the majority of copies multiplying the text once enormously popular with printers and readers alike were bound to perish.
Edition of Dworstwo obyczajów presents the Polish text of Klonowic. It is based on a printed unique copy of about 1603 (held at Ossolineum Library in Wrocław).

Omówienie:

Ina Kok,Woodcuts in the Incunabula Printed in the Low Countries, Houten: HES & DE GRAAF 2013

Recenzja:

L.D. Reynolds, N.G. Wilson, „Skrybowie i uczeni. O tym, w jaki sposób antyczne teksty literackie przetrwały do naszych czasów”

Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa 2008”

Jan Januszowski’s Letters to Marcin Kromer and Tomasz Płaza on Printing Missale Varmiense (1587) in the Lazarus Printing House

Officina Lazari was one of the most prominent printing houses in the 16th-century Cracow. In 1587, it pressed Missale Varmiense, the only post-Tridentine missal produced in early modern Poland-Lithuania. Missale was commissioned by the bishop of Warmia, Marcin Kromer, who was persuaded to work with the Cracow printer after a recommendation from Tomasz Płaza, his long-time assistant. The history of this publishing venture—a multifaceted, dynamic process, spread over a period of about five years—can be reconstructed thanks to surviving archival documents, inter alia letters that Januszowski-the printer sent to bishop Kromer and his factotum Płaza. Composed respectively in 1585 and 1586, these letters give detailed insight into how the production of Missale Varmiense was planned and organised, constituting the kind of evidence very rare for early printed books produced in Poland-Lithuania. The earlier letter is an official Latin supplication sent by the printer to the prelate. The other letter, addressed to the bishop’s assistant, who was also the manager of the publishing process is practically oriented and personal, written at the time when the work of Januszowski and his sponsors was put to a halt by the Cracow cathedral chapter in the spring of 1586.

* Polish version: J. Kiliańczyk-Zięba, “Marian Malicki, Repertuar wydawniczy drukarni Franciszka Cezarego starszego, 1616–1651. Część 1: Bibliografia druków Franciszka Cezarego starszego, 1616–1651”, Terminus 25/14 (2012), pp. 269–272.

Publication of this paper was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland under the grant 643/P-DUN/2018.

Recenzja ksiązki:

Marian Malicki, Repertuar wydawniczy drukarni Franciszka Cezarego starszego, 1616–1651.
Część 1: Bibliografia druków Franciszka Cezarego starszego, 1616–1651,
Kraków, Księgarnia Akademicka 2010 („Bibliotheca Iagellonica. Fontes et Studia”, t. 17)

Translated from Polish by Kaja Szymańska

Jan Januszowski, best known as Jan Kochanowski’ friend, was the most distinguished printer of the Polish Renaissance. Januszowski, a lawyer educated in Cracow and Padua, was an extremely versatile man: an outstanding printer, as well as a prolific writer and translator. For all his achievements, he was ennobled by Sigismund III Vasa, and—happily—the diploma of nobility of Jan Januszowski, penned on parchment and splendidly illuminated, survived to the present day. The illumination of the document is rich and sumptuous. It shows the coats-of-arms representing the provinces of the Polish Kingdom and Grand Duchy of Lithuania and small portraits: three of them depict Polish kings, the fourth is of Januszowski himself—it is one of the very few known portraits of Polish Renaissance intellectuals and the oldest portrait of a Polish printer. The document’s decoration is not only beautiful, but also meaningful, as its content and composition reflects the nature of the state—the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth—and suggests Januszowski’s important place in its structure and strong links between the printer and the most important dignitaries of the country.

* Publication of this paper was financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland under the grant 643/P-DUN/2018. Polish version: J. Kiliańczyk-Zięba, “O dyplomie nobilitacyjnym Jana Januszowskiego i portrecie renesansowego wydawcy”, Terminus 10 (2008), issue 1, pp. 61–87.

RECENZJA:

Print Culture and Peripheries in Early Modern Europe. A Contribution to the History of Printing and the Book Trade in Small European and Spanish Cities, ed. by Benito Rial Costas, Leiden Brill 2013

Library of the Written World, vol. 24. The Handpress World, vol. 18, s. 421.

Tobiasz Wiszniowski, „ Treny", oprac. Jacek Wójcicki, Warszawa 2008 („Biblioteka Dawnej Literatury Popularnej i Okolicznościowej", t. IV), s. 91

Printed Fossils. Late Editions of Bestsellers as a Source of Information on the Typographic Shape of the First Edition of a Text

One of the important problems studied by book historians is the fate of those titles and editions that have not survived to our times. These were oftentimes the most popular and most frequently purchased publications, very vulnerable to destruction exactly due to their popularity. The information about lost editions usually comes from the old book lists (inventories and catalogues of early modern book collections, 18^th and 19^th century bibliographies), as well as from mentions by various authors. Justyna Kiliańczyk-Zięba shows that information about the existence and typographical shape of the lost editions is also to be found in preserved editions which were published decades or even centuries after the first editions. The study draws on bibliographic research and editorial work carried out over several years. Its aim is to present a methodology that allows the layout of the today unknown first print of Fortuna abo Szczęście by Stanislaw of Bochnia to be reconstructed with high probability.