A jeśli książka się nie sprzedawała? „Kreatywne” praktyki wydawniczo-księgarskie we Lwowie w XVIII wieku
And what if the book did not sell well? “Creative” editorial and bookselling strategies in the 18th century Lviv

Summary/Abstract: Although reading became generally more popular in the eighteenth century, the lower classes were not exposed to books for quite some time. Discussions about books only took place in aristocratic salons and at social meetings of rich noblemen, scholars and burghers. Readership, which increased mainly in bigger, important towns, was low in rural areas. Warsaw (due to the circles of scholars and writers, reforms of education, theatre, journalism, patrons and the offerings of publishing houses and booksellers) provided optimal conditions for the development of readership in Poland, yet, even there, only the well educated people engaged in reading. Because the Poles were not very interested in books, institutions which produced and distributed them began to encounter financial problems. Publishing houses and bookstores in Lvov also had problems with disposing of excess copies (printed or imported for sale). They had to devise various strategies to inform their clients about the books they offered or persuade them to buy them. Advertising was not always successful and unwanted books remained stored and unsold for long periods. To deal with this problem, those who had contributed to their publication were obliged to undertake various “creative” book-selling strategies. This article describes the practice of reissuing books, a solution that Piller’s printing house and Karol Bogusław Pfaff’s bookstore in Lvov adopted.

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