Lektury luminarzy z Polskich Inflant – przyczynek do dziejów czytelnictwa na prowincji oraz rynku wydawniczego epoki międzypowstaniowej
Readings by luminaries from Polish Livonia – a contribution to the history of reading in the provinces and the publishing market of the inter-uprising period

Summary/Abstract: One of the sources for studying readership is ego-documents. The correspondence of the Zawadzki family, famous Vilnius booksellers, contains a lot of information in this area. The letters of two writers from Polish Livonia, Bujnicki and Borch, kept in the Vilnius archives, from the period between the two uprisings, contain lists of books they ordered from various publishing houses. There are important historical works, bibliophile editions, unique items, but also new items: popular novels by Kraszewski, Korzeniowski, Jankowski and publications useful in the household. The bibliological analysis of these orders showed that the main motivation of both writers was practical goals, conditioned by their creative activity; they looked for knowledge in historical books, in fiction – plot, narrative, and sometimes worldview patterns, and in guides – practical information. The orders of Bujnicki and Borch, as residents of areas distant from the city centers, also showed the circulation of books (bookcrossing) imported from all three partitions through the transfer of the Zawadzki family’s publishing house.

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