Old prints and manuscripts related to Józef Wybicki in the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow collections

In relation to the announcement of the Polish Sejm made on 14 October 2021 that one of the patrons of the year 2022 shall be Józef Wybicki (1747–1822), a politician, poet, play-writer and the author of the Polish national anthem, we decided to make a review of the keepsakes after him gathered in the Special Collections of our Library. As a result of a broad query, one hand-written letter has been found, written by Wybicki to Hugon Kołłątaj on 2 June 1810. The other nine groups of manuscripts contain either copies of Wybicki’s works or notes and texts related to him, gathered by 19th and 20th c. researchers, and finally an interesting motion to set up a monument of Wybicki, funded by private contributors, submitted in 1904 by Stanisław Witkiewicz. These scriptures are not consistent with each other as they are pieces of some greater manuscript legacies. Eight of them come from different donors, two were purchased in 1958–1960 in antiquarian bookshops in Cracow. They are of marginal significance as far as the research of Wybicki’s achievements is concerned.

What was much more interesting, were the results of an old prints query. The Wybicki’s literary legacy is represented by thirteen 18th c. titles and three from the beginning of 19th c., bearing twenty two shelf marks. This vast amount of keepsakes related to Józef Wybicki results from Cyprian Walewski’s testamentary legacy, from which sixteen shelf marks come. Some of the political scriptures assigned to Wybicki have been published anonymously, therefore the question of their authorship remains open. The overview of publications is presented in chronological order. First three works come from 1870s and are related to the beginnings of Wybicki’s political activity to support king Stanisław August, by counsellor Andrzej Zamoyski’s side, and discusses the necessity of social and political changes in Poland. As this project failed, in year to come Wybicki backed out from politics and devoted himself mostly to writing plays, which are represented by one comedy and three operas. The works from the last decade of 18th c. show Józef Wybicki as a person who was active wherever the issues most significant for Poland were decided. These are political scriptures from the period of the Four-Year Sejm, an appeal issued in Warsaw during the Kościuszko uprising and a brochure in French issued in exile in Paris after the Third Partition of Poland. Wybicki’s lesser known interests are represented by a geography textbook published in 1811, containing one of the first descriptions of the geography and economy of the Duchy of Warsaw. The last writing to be discussed includes Wybicki’s views on political systems, which was published three years before his death. Although these sixteen pieces constitute only a part of Wybicki’s work, they seem to well represent its character as well as illustrate the author’s interests and his patriotic engagement.

Key words: The Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow, Józef Wybicki, manuscripts, old prints, library collections, political scriptures, plays, correspondence

Manuscripts and keepsakes after Maria Konopnicka in the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow collection

On the occasion of proclaiming Maria Konopnicka one of the patrons of the year 2022, the manuscripts and keepsakes after her gathered in the Scientific Library of PAAS and the PAS in Cracow will be presented. The collection contains the poetess’s 48 hand-written letters addressed to i.a. Teofil Lenartowicz, Stanislaw Tomkowicz and, also to Józef Tretiak and Adolf Pawiński, which until now remained unpublished. Apart from the correspondence, the Library collection includes also 23 shelf marks related to Maria Konopnicka. These are among others some writings regarding her literary activity as well as poems and their copies prepared by i.a. a famous painter, Bronislawa Rychter-Janowska. Worth to pay attention to are also three photographies of the poet included in the collection. The documentation of a monument designed by Janina Reichert-Toth, planned by the Lviv city authorities to commemorate Maria Konopnicka but which failed to be built due to the outbreak of World War II, has been preserved. The vast majority of works related to Konopnicka were donated to the Library, only some were purchased in antiquarian bookshops.

The policy of Bolko II the Small, the Duke of Świdnica and Jawor regarding the Knights Hospitaller

The article is devoted to the relations between Bolko II the Small, the Duke of Świdnica and Jawor, ruling in the years 1326–1368, and the Order of Knights of the numerous contacts with the knights, including confirmations of different transactions given on their request. The relations of Bolko with the receptories in Tyniec nad Ślężą, Lwówek Śląski, Rychbach and Strzegom are being discussed and the Duke’s input into the foundation process of a new monastery in Rychbach in 1338 presented. The relations with the Knights Hospitaller were of much significance due to the prestige and importance of the order.

La Pierre Eternelle ou soit la Glaura Augurelli Philosofi Angli. The mysteries of the recipe in The queen Sobieska’a Book of Kabballah, manuscript no. 2284 of the Jagiellonian Library

The article discusses one of the recipes included in manuscript no. 2284 held by the Jagiellonian Library (card 125r-126r), rewritten in French by Maria Kazimiera Sobieska. The manuscript contains various recipes including those gathered and rewritten by the queen widow herself while she was in Rome from 1699 to 1714. The title includes the words La Pierre Eternelle, that is the Philosopher‘s Stone, herafter Glaura Augurelli, which should be understood as the name of the Glaura nymph, a character in the poem titled Chrysopoeia by Giovanni Aurelio Augurello (1441–1524), an Italian poet, mistakenly called Philosofi Angli, due to Augurello’s popularity in this country. These last words were written in the language similar to Polish, which was common in Maria Kazimiera’s writings. The recipe contains a formula for the Philosopher’s Stone, which alchemists considered a means to obtain gold, but was also regarded as a remedy for all diseases. The Chrysopoeia poem describes the Philosopher’s Stone creation process, the mythological history of Lynceus, the participant in the quest for the Golden Fleece, and the Glaura nymph is another name for the Philosopher’s Stone. The discussed recipe, as well as the cabbalistic and numerological works gathered in the manuscript no. 2284 by Maria Kazimiera, contrary to popular opinion, presents her as a person deeply rooted in the elitist mindset of the turn of the 17th c. During her stay in Rome, she, like Krystyna Szwedzka, entered the circle of persons associated with studia humanitatis, and on the 16th September 1699 was admitted to the Accademia dell’Arcadia where she was renamed Amirisca Telea.

Józef Julian Sękowski’s farewell lecture The University of Saint Petersburg, 1847

The aim of this paper is to present the last period of Józef Sękowski’s/Osip Iwanowicz Sienkowski’s cooperation with the academic community of the University of St. Petersburg. His farewell lecture (O driewnosti imieni Russow) was intended as an affront to the university and was widely commented as such. The lecture was not delivered by Sękowski himself but read on his request by one of his co-workers; the text has never been published. The remembrance of this event and the accounts of its course have been preserved in memories of its witnesses. A larger fragment from the Kalejdoskop wospominanij (1874) by Józef Przecławski “Ciprinus” regarding this event, not yet translated into Polish, has been quoted in own translation by the author of the paper. Thanks to this account, containing some additional explanations, one can become familiarised with the events back then. Sękowski’s controversial lecture resonated also in fiction. Its repercussions can be found in Vieniamin Kavierin’s novel titled Skandalist, ili wieczera na Wasiliewskim Ostrowie (1928). Kavierin, who graduated from oriental studies in Petrograd (1920–1923), was very well acquainted with Sękowski’s biography, mainly as the author of a broad monograph titled Baron Brambieus. Istoria Osipa Sienkowskogo żurnalista, riedaktora “Bibliotieki dlja cztienija” (1929, 1966).

Old photographs about Jan Matejko’s life and work in the collection of the National Archives in Cracow

The collection of the National Archives in Cracow contain 66 photographs related to Jan Matejko. They were taken in the period from 1860s till 1939, mostly by photographers from Cracow and Warsaw, but the authorship of some of them remains unknown. Due to their subject, the photographs may be divided into four groups: 1) presenting Jan Matejko (6 likenesses) and documenting his funeral (2); 2) photographs documenting the artist’s works (47 items); 3) photographs related to Jan Matejko’s house as a museum (7 photographs) and 4) photographs taken during Jan Matejko’s 100th birthday anniversary (4 photos). Most of the photographs, that is 47, have been donated. But the Archives also tried to purchase some key materials. This way 14 (or 15) photographies have been obtained. The provenance of 3 of the photographs remains unknown.

The photographs gathered in the National Archives in Cracow create an interesting collection, which, although not very wide, contains some precious items (works lost or damaged during World War II), which are particularly important for the researchers interested in the artist’s life and activity. Especially on the grounds that every photograph related to Jan Matejko is of undeniable value.

Key words: photography, Jan Matejko, Cracow, National Archives in Cracow

From the printing of engravings, through the facsimilation of old prints, to the bartynotype of numismatic items, or About the Stripes and Works of Władysław Bartynowski

Władysław Bartynowski was a famous Polish numismatist active in the second half of 19th century in Cracow. Apart from coins, his collection included also old historical graphics, prints and books. He worked as an antiquarian and publisher, and his key aim was to protect Polish cultural heritage and works of art representing his areas of interest. Therefore, he was not only collecting and trading, but also cataloguing, maintaining and reproducing prints, graphics , books and coins. Motivated by patriotic feelings, he used to take care of the safety of relics he received and the availability of copies to all interested parties. He was one of the first Polish makers of old prints facsimiles, which he called the likenesses. As an editor of „Wiadomości Archeologiczno-Numizmatyczne”, he tried to improve the method of reproduction of coins and medals on paper. In relations to that, he invented own method of hollow graphic reproduction of numismates on paper. These prints, called bartynotypes, were used mainly for cataloguing of the collection of count Andrzej Potocki. Unfortunately, the collection, like many other relics, was damaged or dispersed due to World Wars. Bartynowski’s reproductions remain the only relic of the lost works of numismatic, graphic and printing art, as well as the art of medals. He donated the greater part of the collection to the Czapski Muzeum he established together with the count Emeryk Hutten-Czapski and his wife.

The paper on the Władysław Bartynowski’s publishing portfolio is based mostly on his family archive. It is one of the chapters of a planned book about the Bartynowski Family.

Key words: graphic, old print, Batrynowski’s method of coin reproduction, Bartynowski

Japonica in the archives left after Bronisław Piłsudski in the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow (10). Motonaga Murao and his Postcard Message

The tenth installment of the series introducing Japanese documents preserved with Bronisław Piłsudski’s archives in the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow focuses on a postcard message written in refined cursive script style labeled草書体 sōshotai (not necessarily correctly translated as ‘grass script’) quite difficult to decipher. When deciphered, the message seemed easy to translate but a reconstruction of possible sequence of events proved necessary. The author of the message and the calligraphy was Motonaga Murao, a high-ranking state servant, formerly working in the Hokkaido Development (~ Colonization) Agency (~Commission) and Hokkaido historian, educator, and author of several fundamental publications on the island and its development, works on the Ainu included. The message itself is doubtlessly a response to Piłsudski’s apparent request to meet – again doubtlessly – to exchange the knowledge and experience concerning the people of interest to both: the Ainu. The installment provides also information on Murao and his accomplishments.

Key words: Bronisław Piłsudski, Motonaga Murao, Ainu, Hokkaido, japonica in Cracow

“Manusripts of the Cossacks”. The history of the manuscripts collection of the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow

The article discusses an unknown episode from the history of our library, related to the donation of several dozen 17th and 18th c. documents on Cossacks done in 1954 by the Polish Academy of Sciences on the request of the Ministry of Culture and Arts of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. These were the proclamations by Bogdan Chmielnicki and his son Jerzy (Jurek) as well as priviliges bestowed to Cossacks by empress Anna and empress Elisabeth. The original documents were included in manuscripts no. 270, 1678 and 1679. The first one was donated in 1866, the other two in the years 1906–1912.

The manuscript no. 270 was donated in 1866 to the then existing Cracow Scientific Society. It was provided by Stanisław Filip Krzyżanowski (1841–1881), the owner of an estate in the former Bracław voivodeship, collector of paintings, old coins, manuscripts and old prints, a historian and publisher of writings, a member of the Cracow Scientific Society. The group of scriptures donated by him contained 49 manuscripts and 20 parchment diplomas. Its valuable and homogeneous part are the so-called Manuscripts of the Cossacks, including among others 17th-19th proclamations issued by subsequent Cossack hetmans, court files and numerous documents on the political, economic, social and church history of eastern Poland – the Podolian, Volhynian and Bracław voivodeships. The entire donation was described in the catalogue of manuscripts issued in 1906 by Jan Czubek, the Academy librarian, and has been present in scientific literature since then. The manuscripts with shelf marks 1678 and 1679 were donated to the Academy after the publication of the catalogue, therefore they were described in the second volume published in 1912. Unfortunately, their descriptions do not contain the provenance or the donor’s name. They include 25 and 34 original ukases of the Russian empresses addressed to the Hetmans of Zaporizhian Cossacks: Danylo Apostol (from the years 1730– 1733) and Kyrylo Razumovsky (from the year 1751–1753). After the second volume of Czubek’s catalogue was published, they also became widely known to the historians.

In 1947, in new political circumstances, the Polish–Soviet Friendship Society on behalf of the Academy of Sciences of the UkrSSR requested the Polish Academy of Art and Science to take photographs of Chmielnicki’s proclamations. The PAAS management gave its consent. A few years later, the PAAS assets and collections were taken over by the newly created Polish Academy of Sciences, which was recognised as a politically correct unit by the Communist authorities. In 1954, the PAS Printing Houses and Libraries Office in Warsaw, on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Art, took the original documents from the above mentioned manuscripts away from the Library (then the PAS Library in Cracow). They were donated to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

The only trace of this forced “donation to the fraternal nation” to be found in sources is the correspondence related to the handover of the photocopies of taken documents by the PAS Printing Houses and Libraries Office that is included in the Library archives. It took place in December 1954 and the photocopies (of good quality) are still kept in the Library collection. However, the order to hand over the originals is absent. According to the library oral tradition, a message about the order was issued on the phone. The exact date, author of the idea, the names of political principals or Polish implementers of these notorious endeavour remain unknown. A detailed query in the archives of the Ministry of Culture and Art and the chief authorities of the Polish United Workers’ Party may possibly give an answer to these questions.