New volume of Polish Libraries published - News - The National Library

The opening article by Dr Jacek Tomaszewski concerns the manuscript Ars de omnibus coloribus from the Jagiellonian Library - it is a valuable source for research into art, especially painting from Lesser Poland (Małopolska), and the development of craft knowledge in the late Middle Ages. In the following article, Dr Barbara Krawczyk compares the state of knowledge in the 19th century and today  of writing materials used in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The director of The Archives and Museum of Literature in Brussels, Laurence Boudart, reflects on how the archives can handle the digital transformation. Belgian researcher Ward de Prill from KU Leuven describes, in turn, the efforts of the Maurits Sabbe Library focused on the preservation of valuable collections owned by religious orders and congregations. A very interesting study of the richly ornamented German manuscript of the Travel Memoirs 1852-1853 of Dorothea de Talleyrand-Périgord, Duchess of Sagan, is presented by researchers from the Jagiellonian University, Prof. Katarzyna Jastal and Dr Monika Jaglarz. An article by Prof. Lucinda Spera from the University of Siena provides an insight into the archival collection of the writer Alba de Céspedes, including the process of writing the novel Prima e dopo about a generation of young people from the Resistance who faced a disappointing reality after the Second World War. Dr Małgorzata Ślarzyńska of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University traces the reception of Gustaw Herling-Grudziński's work in Italy, particularly in the context of the correspondence preserved in the archives in Naples and the reviews contained in the letters of Ennio Flaiano and Paolo Milano. Prof. Mariola Antczak and Dr Monika Wachowicz from the University of Łódź show the development of promotional activities in social media of provincial pedagogical libraries in Poland. A researcher in information sciences from the University of Warsaw, Prof. Teresa Święćkowska, analyses the phenomenon of the lending libraries and scientific reading rooms established by the Warsaw secret self-education and education movement in the years 1890-1906. The volume concludes with two book reviews and a communication describing the coat-of-arms bookplate of Johann Philipp Breyny.

The volume for 2024 is available for reading at polishlibraries.bn.org.pl and polona.pl. It can be purchased in hard copy in the online bookstore and in the stationary bookshop in the National Library’s main building at Al. Niepodległości 213 in Warsaw.

Authors are encouraged to submit their texts to Polish Libraries until March 31, 2025. All information about the journal is available at polishlibraries.bn.org.pl.