Bibliotheca Mundi. Studia bibliologiczne ofiarowane Janowi Leończukowi

Abstract

The present volume collects studies, essays and sketches dedicated to the history of books and libraries. Its leitmotif is the topos bibliotheca mundi (library of the world). The texts have been divided into eight chapters, the first of which – Chapter I (Prologue) – focuses on Jan Leończuk, the director of the largest library in north-eastern Poland. Chapter II, “Legacy”, contains studies on various endeavours to preserve forgotten or misappropriated legacy: a palace in Nieborów, the archives of Polish exiles to Siberia, theatrical libraries, the books of well-known and forgotten writers (Sienkiewicz, Kraszewski, Piasecki, Iwaszkiewicz). In Chapter III, “The Past of Libraries”, the authors elaborate on the history of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; Egyptian libraries; and collections of Grodno’s library (Belarus). Chapter IV, “The Future of Libraries”, tries to describe the world trends in the sphere of book collecting – its authors ponder upon “libraries of the future”, the role of “body in the library”, and the crisis of readership. Chapter V, “The Book between East and West”, analyses the influence on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s multi-religious and multi-ethnic tradition on the development of books, as well as reviews Polish Tatars’ book collections, Latin writings in Lithuania, the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands, and Lithuanian literature in Poland. Chapter VI, “Press, Print, Work”, reflects on local and national press, as well as on old prints and their interpretations. Chapter VII, “Erudicon and Interpretation”, focuses on the interpretation of nineteenth- and twentieth-century literary works (by Juliusz Słowacki, Wacław Berent, Anna Zahorska, Tadeusz Miciński, Zofia Trzeszczkowska, Zofia Kossak and Julia Hartwig). Chapter VII, “Epilogue”, is a return to the volume’s central figure, Jan Leończuk, bringing two interpretations of his poetry and a bibliography of critical works dedicated to his writings. Bibliotheca Mundi gathers the texts of about fifty scholars from Poland, Israel, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. The volume honours the 65th birthday of Jan Leończuk (born in 1950), a notable poet, bibliophile and erudite, who has been the Director of the Łukasz Górnicki Library ‘Książnica Podlaska’, the largest library in north-eastern Poland, since 2000. Leończuk has transformed the library into an academic institution that regularly hosts conferences and closely cooperates with the University of Białystok and other universities. He also initiated the publication of the periodical “Bibliotekarz Podlaski. A Journal of Polish Librarianship and Bibliology” and the three-volume edition of Zygmunt Gloger’s “Miscellaneous Writing’s”. Recently Książnica has been relocated to its new premises (Maria Skłodowska-Curie Street). In Książnica Jan Leończuk has managed to create a circle of associated scholars and activists, irrespective of their religious and political beliefs. The library has hosted the International Celebration of Juliusz Słowacki’s Year and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski’s Year as well as numerous conferences (the third edition of Jews of Eastern Poland conference, sessions on Żeromski, borderlands, and Słowacki, to name but a few). The publication of the present volume was possible thanks to the collaboration of the Scientific Committee of Książnica Podlaska (headed by Dr Łukasz Zabielski) and Chair in Philological Studies ‘East-West’, the University of Białystok (headed by Professor Jarosław Ławski). The collaboration between these two is the result of Jan Leończuk’s endeavours.