The paper presents the history of Eustachy Trepka’s Polish translations of postils writ­ten by Arsatius Seehofer and Anton Corvinus, published by the printing house of Hans Daubmann in Königsberg. Both works are usually considered to be published in 1557, but a previously undiscussed copy of Seehofer/Trepka’s postils at Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel (A: 509 Theol. 2o) moves the issue date to the be­ginning of October 1556. This new information makes us reconsider the relatively well-documented history of the whole undertakingand thus also the beginning of postilography in Polish.

* The article presents the results of the research conducted in Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel as part of the project: Reframed Image. Reception of Prints in the Kingdom of Poland from the End of the 15th to the Beginnings of the 17th Century. Objects—People—Milieux—Processes, supported by the National Science Centre, Poland, grant no. 2015/17/B/HS2/02469.

Post-Tridentine liturgical books printed in Poland have not attracted much attention from book historians. However, given their special, sacred, and confessionally unifying status, they provide interesting material for comparative study of printing in the large European cities (e.g., Antwerp, Venice), and smaller provincial centers such as Krakow. The paper presents as products of the printing press the Psalterium, Antiphonarium and Graduale Romanum printed in Krakow in 1599–1600 by Andrzej Piotrkowczyk as well as later editions of these works. The decision to commission them in a local print shop rather than abroad came after prolonged debates within the Polish Catholic hierarchy. Materials used by the printer (paper, type, ornaments etc.) and the results he achieved (typography) are analysed at the backdrop of European printing and related to more general problems involved with the production of complex and voluminous books in the economic and cultural realities of an Eastern European city.

* The article is supported by the National Science Centre (NCN), Poland, project: The printed book in the culture of early modern Poland. The Piotrkowczyk print shop and its role (1574–1673), grant no. 2016/23/D/HS3/01955.

Polish Descriptions of Rome in the Collection of the Early Printed Books Department of the University of Warsaw Library—a Provenance Study

Descriptions of the Eternal City written or translated by Poles began to appear in print in the second half of the 16th century. Before 1800 only eight titles were published, three of which are kept in the Early Printed Books Department of the University of Warsaw Library. Analysing the individual characteristics of the copies, such as ownership marks, marginalia, or bindings, an attempt is made to establish the identity of the owners of the books, their interests and reading practices, and to determine the ways in which Rome was perceived by readers born in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The aim of the study is also to show how the way of thinking about the Eternal City changed over the years and to present the purposes for which the former guides and accounts about Rome were used by the 17th, 18th, and 19th century readers. Five editions and eight copies of three titles were analysed. These are: O Rzymie pogańskim i chrześcijańskim (On Pagan and Christian Rome) by Andrzej Wargocki (two editions, five copies), Delicyje ziemie włoskiej (Italian Delicacies) by Georg Kranitz (two editions, two copies), and Droga rzymska z nawrotem do swojej ojczyzny (A Return Journey to Rome) by Kazimierz Kognowicki (one edition, one copy).

This paper deals with the issue of the typographical shape of Stanisław Sarnicki’s Stat­ute of 1594. It presents Sarnicki as the author and the circumstances surrounding the publication of the collection. The study focuses on the analysis of typographical means used in the document, with emphasis on their aesthetic and functional aspects. Par­ticular attention was paid to typefaces and the ornamental and illustrative elements in the book. The historical and ideological importance of woodcuts printed in the Statute was also pointed out.