Keepsakes of Wisława Szymborska in the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the PAS in Cracow collection

As the year 2023 was announced the Year of Wisława Szymborska due to the 100th anniversary of her birth, it is a great opportunity to present the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the  PAS in Krakow. They have been gathered in the period from 1953 to 2011 and were not collected in a planned manner: they come from separate donations, legacies or purchases. These are poetry books published during Szymborska’s life (7), Italian issues in Pietro Marchesani’s translation with original collages or watercolours by Alina Kalczyńska, donated by her or a painter Leszek Dutka (5). The manuscripts collection contains 5 letters of the Poet to Witold Zechenter from the period 1970 1976 and her dedications in the books she gave to him in the period from 1953 to 1976 (9); these and numerous other dedications were cut out by Zechenter from books and kept as loose cards. Two dedications have been decorated with cutouts. Also the bookplates collection of the Library Printing Room contains 7 bookplates produced for Wisława Szymborska by respected Polish artists: Zbigniew Osenkowski, Roman Mucha, Czesław Woś, Helena Sawicka and Leszek Frey-Witkowski as well as two etching matrices of Stanisław Dawski’s works. Despite varying provenance and incompleteness, the keepsakes of Wisława Szymborska constitute an interesting collection for researchers and enthusiasts of her work. keepsakes of Wisława Szymborska constitute an interesting collection for researchers and enthusiasts of her work.

As the year 2023 was announced the Year of Wisława Szymborska due to the 100th anniversary of her birth, it is a great opportunity to present the Scientific Library of the PAAS and the  PAS in Krakow. They have been gathered in the period from 1953 to 2011 and were not collected in a planned manner: they come from separate donations, legacies or purchases. These are poetry books published during Szymborska’s life (7), Italian issues in Pietro Marchesani’s translation with original collages or watercolours by Alina Kalczyńska, donated by her or a painter Leszek Dutka (5). The manuscripts collection contains 5 letters of the Poet to Witold Zechenter from the period 1970 1976 and her dedications in the books she gave to him in the period from 1953 to 1976 (9); these and numerous other dedications were cut out by Zechenter from books and kept as loose cards. Two dedications have been decorated with cutouts. Also the bookplates collection of the Library Printing Room contains 7 bookplates produced for Wisława Szymborska by respected Polish artists: Zbigniew Osenkowski, Roman Mucha, Czesław Woś, Helena Sawicka and Leszek Frey-Witkowski as well as two etching matrices of Stanisław Dawski’s works. Despite varying provenance and incompleteness, the keepsakes of Wisława Szymborska constitute an interesting collection for researchers and enthusiasts of her work. keepsakes of Wisława Szymborska constitute an interesting collection for researchers and enthusiasts of her work.