Superekslibris polski. Studium o kulturze bibliofilskiej i sztuce od średniowiecza do połowy XVII wieku
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); Lenkija (Lenkijos karalystė. Kingdom of Poland. Poland); Bibliotekos; Bibliofilai; Inkunabulai; Superekslibriai; Kompozicija; Knygų įrišimas; Herbai; Polish kingdom; Libraries; Bibliophiles; Incunabula; Super ex libris; Compozition; Bookbinding; Coats of arms.
ENIn the Polish scientific literature there has not appeared so far a sufficiently extensive study in which a synthesis of the previous knowledge of supralibros would be included. Such a challenge has been undertaken in the present book, constituting a monograph of the Polish supralibros from its beginnings in the Middle Ages to the cataclysm of Swedish Deluge in the 50s of XVTTth century. This book has an interdisciplinary character, combining the insight of a book study scientist (with an emphasis on the history of libraries and so-called tegumentology) with the historical and artistic insight, which allows for a comprehensive exploration of the phenomena and processes experienced by book culture. From the chronological and topographical point of view the work covers in the first place the historical lands of Polish Kingdom within its changing borders from the end of XIIth century to the year 1655: Lesser Poland, Great Poland, Masovia and Red Ruthenia as well as Royal Prussia and Varmia. The political and cultural ties between the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, becoming increasingly stronger in the course of XVIth and XVIIth centuries, have determined the inclusion of also the Lithuanian book collections in the analysis. For similar reasons, attention has been paid to the Polish feud - the Duchy of Prussia - in spite of the clear differences between the two traditions - the native and the Prussian - in book ownership marking. However, the analysis of supralibros was dropped for the Pomeranian and the Silesian Dukedom, which not only were located outside the then Poland but also, already in the late Middle Ages, represented German bibliophile culture. These areas and the West-European countries were taken into consideration only in the description of the historical background of the Polish supralibros.The Polish supralibros are understood here mainly as the marks of book ownership produced in the Polish Kingdom (the Crown) and later in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the Poles understood in a broad sense (including the polonised Lithuanian elites) and for the foreigners residing there. Attention was also paid to the supralibros of Polish bibliophiles abroad who were staying there provisionally or for a long time. In the first place, the condition of the research on the Polish supralibros was described, including both the Polish and the foreign literature. Next, the analysis of the meaning of the notion “supralibros” and its diverse formal, material and technical categories was conducted. In part III (“The European Background”) the phenomena occurring in the field of book ownership marking in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Baroque are described. Attention is focused here on the evolution of the form of supralibros especially in these countries whose bibliophile culture and art have had the greatest impact on Poland (Germany, Italy, France). A separate subsection is devoted to those works of European bookbinding which were made for Polish bibliophiles and designated with supralibros using the formulas typical for the local tradition. Part IV is the introduction into the main parts of the book in which the origins of book ownership marking in Poland are traced. They are mainly connected with the so-called “gothic proto-supralibros”, that is to say the coats of arms illuminated on manuscript and later incunabula pages. Naturally, in this connection ownership entries are of crucial significance. However, in ХVth century in Cracow - as the then capital of Poland - there began the flourishing of the practice of marking books on their bindings. Since that time continuously until the end of the analysed period Cracow was the centre of manufacture of bindings with bibliophiles' armorial marks.The largest part - under the title “The Centenary of Prosperity (XVIth Century)” - relates to that period in Poland in which the custom of marking books on their bindings had reached its climax in both quantitative and qualitative terms. For this reason, its two main chapters have been isolated: 1. “The Circle of Holders” and 2. “Forms of the Polish Supralibros and Their Evolution”. In the first one, the particular groups of book users who were marking their books with supralibros were characterised: kings and their families, church dignitaries, secular nobility, gentry, bourgeoisie and secular and monastic clergy. The flourishing of XVIth century form of supralibros is portrayed in Chapter Two, which is divided into subsections related to the following issues: early compositional arrangements of these works, late Gothic and early-Renaissance forms of armorial shields, Renaissance italianising shields, the origins of the motif of the wreath stylised to look like one coming from the ancient times, the classical Renaissance supralibros, the evolutionary forms of the motifs of wreath, coats of arms and armorial cartouches, the Renaissance marks which were imitated on seals, independent images of complete coats of arms, the characteristic shields and cartouches with the coats of arms of the last rulers from the Jagiellonian Dynasty (and the subsequent kings on the Polish throne), plaque, inscription, embroidered supralibros and supralibros made in metal. A lot of space has been devoted to an extremely important phenomenon of popularisation in XVI'1’century of the so-called "binders-supralibros” (i.e. ones executed using universal tools which displayed the coats of arms with which numerous families sealed up). In the face of the complicated nature of the problem, in the last subsection some other ways of designating the book ownership on the external part of books are described. [Extract, p. 562-564]
