Superekslibrisy prymasów Polski z XVI i XVII wieku znajdujące się w Archiwum Archidiecezjalnym w Gnieźnie
The suprolibros of the primates of Poland of the 16th and 17th centuries held in the Archdiocesan Archive in Gniezno

Summary/Abstract: The research conducted as part of a grant project under the supervision of Dr Piotr Pokora in the Archdiocesan Archive in Gniezno resulted in presenting the group of 21 types of supralibros used by nine archbishops of Gniezno in the 16th and 17th century. The owner’s marks separately arranged, reflecting hierarchs’ care about aesthetic values of their volumes, reveal archbishops’ great bibliophilic ambitions. The collection under investigation presents how the popularity of these types of owner’s marks fluctuated. The implementation stage, which lasted to the mid-16th century, is represented only by occasional examples of single supralibros of Maciej Drzewicki and Jan Latalski. The increase in number which is noticed in the second half of the 16th century is revealed in the owner’s marks of Jakub Uchański, Stanisław Karnkowski, Bernard Maciejowski, Wojciech Baranowski, Jan Wężyk and Maciej Łubieński, for whom a range of types and varieties of supralibros expanded considerably. The decline among Polish book lovers in the 17th century resulted in a scant list of further examples, represented here only by the supralibros of Kazimierz Florian Czartoryski. The description of a particular book includes the title, the year and place of its publishing, the description of the cover along with an attempt to identify the bookbinding workshop and other marks of provenance, as well as the literature related to the given supralibros.

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