XVIII-wieczne inwentarze kościelne jako przyczynek do badań nad ewangelickimi księgozbiorami parafialnymi w Prusach Ksiązęcych
Eighteenth-Century Church Inventories as a Contribution to Research on Pastoral Libraries in Ducal Prussia

Summary/Abstract: The Geheimes Staatsarchiv in Berlin-Dahlem houses an interesting source material for the studies on the furnishing of Protestant churches and vicarages. This is a mid-18th century inventory comprising information on liturgical vessels, vestments and church bells in possession of 91 Protestant parishes in the former Ducal Prussia. An important part of that inventory make quite meticulously listed Bibles, postills, liturgical and theological books and legal documents found in churches, parish schools and private pastors’ libraries. Almost all the listed items have been recognised, despite often laconic bibliographic notations. This allowed to identify the works by Luther and Melanchton as parts of 16th-century books, 17th- and 18th-century works being part of the theological legacy of both orthodox and Pietistic groups of authors. The titles of postills, hymn books, agendas and historical books have been established. The majority of listed items dated back to the 18th century, which indicates that – as it was noted in one of the parishes – the books had been robbed or destroyed by the Russian armed forces. Some of the book collections could have also fallen prey to the Tatars in the 17th century. The researched inventory presented here makes a good source material for art historians, who have acquired ample evidence of the artists making use of the illustrations and emblems enclosed in Pietistic treatises, postills and hymnals published not only by the most eminent theologians in Königsberg, but also those active in Berlin, Halle or Leipzig.

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