The 15th century paved the way for groundbreaking changes in culture and science in Europe. The beauty of antiquity discovered at that time, book printing and overseas lands changed the way of life and thinking of Europeans. The new century was marked by an uninterrupted exchange of people and ideas, changes in literature and the development of science, which were closely related to the two most important intellectual and religious trends of the era – the Reformation and humanism. Poland was also drawn into this whirlwind of changes, new phenomena and the revival of arts and sciences. Drawing heavily on the West European Renaissance, largely thanks to the lively Polish-Italian contacts and the influence of the Reformation, Polish representatives of culture and science created original works, treatises and compositions, thanks to which the entire epoch was called the Golden Age. The artefacts presented in this section give a picture of the most important phenomena of culture and science of the Polish Renaissance.
Commentary on Georg von Peuerbach’s text on Ptolemaic astronomy, New Theories of the Planets, by Albert of Brudzewo (1446-1495), a Polish astronomer, mathematician and lecturer at the Cracow Academy. The commentary is written in the form of lecture notes – they were made in 1482 by one of the students, John of Krobia, and rewritten in 1488. At that time, the Cracow Academy was one of the biggest and the most important centres of astrological and astronomical studies in Europe, with students arriving from different countries to hear lectures on above-mentioned subjects. Albert of Brudzewo used to take an active part in the research and cultural activities of Cracow of that time, e.g. he was a member of the first Polish academic society Sodalitas Litteraria Vistulana (Literary Sodality of the Vistula) whose aim was, among others, to propagate secular humanism. Apart from the commentaries by Albert of Brudzewo, the codex comprises also Almagest by Ptolemy translated by George of Trebizond, a Greek humanist active at the court in Florence and at the Sapienza University in Rome.
Author: John of Krobia
Title: Alberti de Brudzewo commentariolum super theoricas novas Georgii Purbachii
Created: 15th/16th century (codex); 1488 (text)
Physical description: paper, 22, 5 x 16,5 cm, 132 leaves, in several hands; text: leaves 37-69
Illustrations: watercolor, ink
Bibliographic references: Katalog Rękopisów biblioteki Zakładu Nar. im. Ossolińskich, ed. W. Kętrzyński, vol. 3, Lwów 1898
Provenance: 1. Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind, traces of clasps in French/Italian style (clasps attached to the upper cover with the catch on the lower) – 15th/16th century, renovated
Notes: coloured illustrations of astronomical calculations by Georg von Peuerbach
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: 759/I
By: Agnieszka Knychalska-Jaskulska
The detailed regulations on protection against the dangerous plague, written in Latin by Matthias of Miechów, court physician of Sigismund I the Old and rector of the Cracow Academy, was the first handbook on the plague published in Poland. It was compiled at the initiative of the Cracow printer, Johann Haller, who, in 1507, upon the news of an epidemic raging near Cracow, asked Matthias of Miechów to write some recommendations for the city’s inhabitants against the plague. The printing process had been completed in 1508 a couple of months before the plagues appeared in Cracow. The book has a woodcut on the title page depicting Christ on the Cross and St. Sebastian and St. Roch, patrons of infectious diseases. In the guide, he described preventive measures against plague, e.g. avoiding fatigue or sexual intercourse, and recommended, e.g. blood-letting or burning fire with resin, fragrant ointments and flowers thrown into it. The second part of the book listed some restoratives that should be used in order to avoid the plague. He recommended, among other things, Rufus’ laxative pills made of aloe, saffron and myrrh, which were very popular in pharmacies at that time, or driakiew, a mixture of several dozen ingredients in the form of a cake, which was used for various diseases. In the last part of the book, the author explained how the plague could be cured (e.g. by blood-letting, purging, tonic drugs, cutting abscesses and applying ointment patches on them), although he also truthfully noted that “it is difficult and hardly anyone ever comes out of it”.
Author: Matthias of Miechów (1457-1523)
Title: Contra sevam pestem regimen accuratissimu[m]
Published: Cracow: Johann Haller, 1508
Physical description: [6] leaves, collation: a6 ; 4°
I llustrations: woodcut
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1908, vol. 22, p. 358; idem, Kraków 1913, vol. 25, Dod. XXV; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1567; Krakowiecka L., Maciej z Miechowa. Lekarz i uczony Odrodzenia, Warszawa 1956
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 10.099
Binding: marbled paper – 19th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute h
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.2941
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
The Chronicle of Poland by Matthias of Miechów is the first printed book on Polish history. Its author, a medic by education and profession (he was a court physician to Sigismund I the Old), was also keenly interested in other disciplines, which resulted in him writing Chronica Polonorum, a book describing the history of Poland from the earliest times to the reign of Sigismund I the Old. The work was created at the initiative of Primate of Poland John Łaski, who, during his stay in Rome in 1513-1514, noticed that foreigners had little knowledge of Polish history. Matthias of Miechów had been writing the Chronicle for several years; it was printed for the first time in 1519. However, the edition, published by the Cracow printer Hieronymus Vietor, was confiscated due to censorship, which was the first event of this type in Poland. The second edition was published in 1521 in a corrected version – the disputed sections were omitted or changed, e.g. the negative assessment of Alexander Jagiellon’s rule was removed, fragments on some families offended by the description of their ancestors were softened, as well as the role of the young King Sigismund (later known as Sigismund I the Old ) that he played in the Moldavian expedition in 1497 (organized by King John I Albert in order to place Sigismund on the Moldavian throne, the expedition ended with the defeat of the Polish army, and the number of victims on the Polish side was so large that the saying was created: “In the time of King Albert, the noblemen became extinct”). The publication of the Chronicle was also an event of great importance in the history of Polish iconography – it introduced new forms such as scenes showing events and images of a sovereign. The title page is decorated with a monumental woodcut depicting a dynamic battle scene (between Polish troops and the Tatars) at the top and a scene presenting the patron of Poland, St. Stanislaus, resurrecting Peter, one of the most popular iconographic motifs at the time. The Chronicle contained almost 40 woodcut illustrations, including depictions of Polish rulers, from Lech to Alexander Jagiellon.
Author: Matthias of Miechów (1457-1523)
Title: Chronica Polonorv[m]
Published: Cracow: Hieronymus Vietor, December 1, 1521
Physical description: [12] leaves, CCCLXXIX, [1] pages, collation: [*] 6, aa6, a-y6, A-I6, K4 ; 2°.
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliografphic references: Barycz H., Szlakami dziejopisarstwa staropolskiego, Wrocław 1981, p. 34-335; Betterówna A., Polskie ilustracje książkowe XV i XVI wieku (1490-1525), Lwów 1929, p. 66-71; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1908, vol. 22, p. 357; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1563
Provenanace: Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826)
Binding: brown leather, spine tooled in gold – 18th century, renovated
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4032
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First Polish herbal entitled O ziołach i mocy ich (On herbs and their potency) by Stephan Falimirz, published in Cracow in 1534 by Florian Ungler. Printed herbals that contained descriptions of herbs, medicines of animal or mineral origin, and information on basic treatments, were popular handbooks issued for the general audience so that they could care for their health and cure diseases on their own. The origin of herbals goes back to the Middle Ages when monks wrote down healing properties of plants that were grown in monastery gardens. The invention of printing in the mid-15th century accelerated the dissemination process of this type of publication, and the first printed herbals with woodcuts, published in Mainz (Herbarius,1484, and Hortus sanitatis, 1491), started the popularity of this literary genre. German herbals were soon translated into other languages. The first Polish herbarium, one of the earliest works printed in Polish, was mostly a translated and abbreviated compilation of Mainz herbals, to which Falimirz added information and comments on Polish plants. As mentioned on its red and black title page, the Falimirz work is about: “burning vodka made of herbs”, namely making herbal medicines as at that time word “vodka” had a different meaning and referred to chemical compounds. It also treats about “makings medicinal tonics, things brought from abroad, animals, birds, fish, gemstones, urine, about pulse, and about other features: giving birth, star science (i.e. astrology), cupping therapy, blood-letting, about plague air, medicines for different things, and barber surgeons”.
Author: Falimirz, Stephan
Title: O ziolach y o moczy gich. [Variant A]
Published: Cracow: Florian Ungler, December 24, 1534
Published: [36], 156, 32, [1], 42, 59, [1], 119, [1] leaves ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1898, vol. 16, p. 166; idem Kraków 1913, vol. 25, Dod. XXV; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 761; Szostak J., Zielnik Stefana Falimirza z roku 1534 (część II), „Ze Skarbca Kultury” 1977, no. 29, p. 5-42
Provenance: Z Biblioteki Józefa Hr. Dzieduszyckiego [bookplate]
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind – 16th/17th century, rebound in 18th/19th century, renovated
Notes: philograph facsimile of the title page
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.2885
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First Polish translation of Lingua (Language) by Erasmus of Rotterdam, published in 1542. The book is dedicated to Christophe Szydłowiecki, Grand Chancellor of the Crown, who was in charge of foreign policy during the reign of Sigismund I the Old. The translation also had second dedication, to the hetman and literary patron John Amor Tarnowski, written by Hieronymus Vietor, one of the earliest Polish Renaissance printers. Vietor, who moved in the humanist circles of Cracow, took great care in popularising the Polish language. As he wrote in the dedication to the translation of Erasmus’ work, “it is a Polish feature to value more foreign customs, things, people and languages than the Polish ones”. Therefore, he decided that translating De lingua would be “very useful not only for scholars but also to common people, […] who work rather with language than hand, […] so that Polish could spread freely”. In his work, belonging partially to the field of the philosophy of language, Erasmus raised many issues concerning the nature of language, understood both as a physical organ and a means of communication between people, and described various ways of using and abusing it. The Polish version was intended for a more popular reader; therefore, many references to classical literature and culture that had appeared in the original work were omitted here, and the style of the translation was much simpler. The book is one of the most important literary monuments of early Polish prose and one of the few translations of Erasmus’s works into Polish published in the 16th century.
Author: Erasmus of Rotterdam (1467-1536)
Title: Xiegi ktore zową Język, złaćińskiego na polski wylożony
Published: Cracow: Hieronymus Vietor, 1542
Physical description [276] leaves, collation: +8, A4, B-Z8, Aa-Ll8 ; 8°
Illustrations: woodcut (coat of arms)
Bibliografphic references: Erasmus Roterodamus, Księgi, które zową język, ed. J. Dąbkowska-Kujko, Warszawa 2019; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1898, vol. 16, p. 88; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 713
Provenance: 1. I. […] I.K. [supralibros, partially erased]; 2. [provenance inscriptions, blurred]; 3. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1746-1826); 4. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 19.124
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled, clasps – 16th century, renovated
Notes: blurred handwritten note: Prohibitus est hic liber in indice prohibitorum librorum
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelmark: XVI.O.209
By Konrad Szymański
First edition of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus, published in Nuremberg in 1543. It was a magnum opus of Copernicus, a jurist and medical doctor by education, canon of Warmia by function and astronomer and mathematician by interest. After studying in Cracow, Bolonia, Padua and Ferrara, Copernicus settled down in Frombork and dedicated his life to scientific research. Willing to resolve the contradiction between the Aristotelian philosophy of nature (allowing only uniform circular motion of celestial bodies) and astronomical practice, he established the foundations of the heliocentric theory and modern astronomy. The general idea of the heliocentric theory was presented in his Commentariolus (1510-1512), which he sent to his friends and acquaintances in a few or dozen handwritten copies. The fundamental theses of De revolutionibus were created later, in 1522-1533, and the last observation he noted (on solar eclipse) dated from 1541. The work published in 1543, presenting a new model of the Solar System in which the Earth orbits the Sun, is the most important publication of modern science, and the change it brought to the world, called the Copernican revolution, had not only scientific, but also political or religious consequences. The first edition is considered to be one of the most sought-after and most expensive books in the world.
Author: Copernicus, Nicolaus (1473-1543)
Title: Nicolai Copernici Torinensis De Revolvtionibvs Orbium cœlestium, Libri VI…
Published: Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, 1543
Physical description: [6], 196 leaves, collation: i-vj, a-z4, A-Z4, Aa-Cc4 ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcuts (charts and diagrams)
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1905, vol. 20, p. 76; Gingerich O., Książka, której nikt nie przeczytał, transl. J. Włodarczyk, Warszawa 2004; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1325
Provenance: : 1. Collegij Soc. Jesv Judenburgi Catalogo inscriptus 1659 ; 2. Ex Bibliotheca Valent. Krainski mpp; 3. Joseph Kraiński ( -1838); 4. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 41.382
Binding: leather, tooled in blind – 20th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4048
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First edition of a medical treatise on the human pulse by Joseph Struś, a personal physician of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus. Joseph Struś, born in Poznań, was one of the greatest Renaissance doctors in Europe. After studying in Cracow and Padua, where he also lectured at the university as a professor, he practised medicine, among others. at the Hungarian court, as a personal doctor of Isabella Jagiellon, and at the Ottoman court of Suleiman the Magnificent. In 1555, he published Sphygmicae artis libri V (Five books on the art of pulse), which was a result of his over twenty-years research on the variable nature of the pulse. Based on the known ideas of ancient physicians, the work offered a new approach to sphygmograph, i.e. the science of heart rate. Struś predicted, among other things, the existence of vascular-motor nerves, he observed the influence of temperature on the heart rate and pointed to erroneous assumptions existing for centuries in medicine, e.g. on a special type of heart rate that lovers were supposed to have. The treatise was received with great interest by the medical community. Felix Sierpski, a physician who lived at the same time as Struś, wrote that “when the Struś’s pulse book, published during my stay in Padua, was delivered to that city, the most eminent doctors and professors of the University welcomed it with open arms, and eight hundred copies were sold in one day”.
Author: Struś, Joseph (1510-1568)
Title: Sphygmicæ artis … Libri V…
Published: Basel: Johann Oporinus, [post 4 III 1555]
Physical description: [7] leaves, 366 pages, [9] leaves, [1] folded sheet ; 8°.
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1933, vol. 29, p. 344-345; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2461; Seyda B., Dzieje medycyny w Polsce w zarysie, Warszawa 1973, p. 436-437
Provenance: 1. Pro Bibliotheca Przeworscensi PP. Bernardinorum ad Sanctam Barbaram [16th century]; 2. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 16.562
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind, partially preserved clasps – 16th century, revonated
Notes: few marginal notes (16th century)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.986
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First Polish handbook on geometry by Stanislaus Grzepski, a professor of the Cracow Academy. Geometry, written mainly for surveying use, contained the information on the technique of measuring fields and their areas, the length of the measuring rod, etc. The work was of great practical importance, also due to the fact that it was written in Polish. Grzepski created new scientific terminology because many Latin geometry terms had no Polish equivalents at that time. The booklet was issued in a small octavo size so that it could be taken and used in the field. It is considered to be one of the first Polish popular science books.
Author: Grzepski, Stanislaus (1524-1570)
Title: Geometria, To iest Miernicka Nauka, po Polsku krótko napisana…
Published: Cracow: Lazarius Andrysowic, 1566
Physical description: [64] leaves, collation: A-Q4 ; 8°
Bibliographic references: Dymek B., Stanisław Grzepski z Poborza – wybitny uczony epoki Renesansu, “Rocznik Mazowiecki” 2010, vol. 22, p. 115-129; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1899, vol. 17, p. 447; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 993
Provenance: 1. Julij Ginter 1712; 2. Jan Januszowski 1850; 3. Biblioteka Poturzycka J. W. D. [stamp]
Binding: parchment – 16th/17th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.11003 adl.
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First Latin-Polish dictionary by John Mączyński, a secretary of Nicholas Radziwiłł the Black, most prominent patron of Calvinism in Poland. In the 1540s, Mączyński studied in Wittemberg under Philip Melanchthon, in Strasbourg under Peter Dasypodius and in Zurich under Heinrich Bullinger. It is believed that there, in Switzerland, he compiled his Latin-Polish dictionary. It remained in a handwritten copy for years, though, because of lack of funds to secure a publisher. After many years of foreign travels, Mączyński returned to Poland in 1557 and found work at the Chancellery of Lithuania and with Nicholas Radziwiłł. In the first half of the 1560s, he signed a contract with a royal printer in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), Johann Daubmann, who agreed to publish 500 copies of his Lexicon Latino-Polonicum ex optimis latinae linguae scriptoribus concinnatum (Latin-Polish lexicon based on the best writers of the Latin language). The dictionary was printed in 1564, and Polish literary circles welcomed it with great enthusiasm – it was praised by Peter Roizjusz and Jan Kochanowski, who wrote in one of his poems: “Great help from these books, dear guest, will you have // When you start learning the Latin language”. Nowadays, the dictionary is an invaluable source of Old Polish both for researchers and enthusiasts. Apart from the usual Old Polish words, one may find there such curiosities as “przełamiwrota” (“gatebreaker”, i.e. a thief), sayings that are no longer in use (e.g. “everyone has its moth that bites him”) or colloquial phrases (e.g. “emoriar si non vero dixero = let me die like a dog, if I am not telling you the truth”).
Author: Mączyński, John (ok. 1520-1587)
Title: Lexicon Latino Polonicvm, Ex Optimis Latinae Lingvae Scriptoribvs Concinnatvm… [Variant A]
Published: Königsberg: Johann Daubmann, 1564
Physical description: [16], 515 [i.e. 513, 1] leaves ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcut
Bibliogrphic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1908, vol. 22, p. 20-21; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1518; Kuraszkiewicz W., Wyrazy polskie w słowniku łacińsko-polskim Jana Mączyńskiego, vol. 1-2, Wrocław 1962-1963
Provenance: 1. Modesti Hryniewiecki O.S.Basilii M. mpp; 2. Ab eodem R[everendissi]mo Patre oblatus Bibliothecae Monasterii Dobromil[iensis] Ord[ini]s Ejusdem A[nn]o 1808; Ex Bibliotheca Dobromiliensis Ord. S. Basilii M. Nr. [stamp]. ; 3. Vivlioteka O. O. Vasilian Krechiv [stamp]
Binding: half-leather – 19th century
Notes: lacking original title page, which was replaced with a handwritten copy at the turn of 18th and 19th centuries
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4097
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
The book entitled Książki o zachowaniu zdrowia człowieczego od morowego powietrza (On preserving human health from the pestilential air) by Anton Schneeberger, Swiss doctor living in Poland, is an example of epidemiological literature, very popular in the 16th century. During the Renaissance period Polish society suffered from many contagious or/and infectious diseases collectively called in Polish “mór” (murrain, pestilence, plague) or “morowe powietrze” (miasma, bad air, night air). The most dangerous disease was the plague, also known as the Black Death, which repeatedly haunted Poland during the 16th century, never leaving the country and recurring constantly in different provinces. First handbook on the plague, written by Matthias of Miechów, was published in Poland in 1508 and it was in Latin. Since the 1540s the publishers started to print medical treatises on the plague in Polish to spread the knowledge about the disease in the society. The books widely repeated some obsolete medical theories originating in the Middle Ages, such as claiming that the cause of an epidemic derived from unfavourable planetary constellations, but they also contained many useful information based on the empirical observations made by the doctors. One of such handbooks, published in Polish in Cracow in 1569, is Książki o zachowaniu zdrowia człowieczego od morowego powietrza, which contained many quite progressive Renaissance medical theories on the plague, among other the theory that linked its reoccurrences to natural disasters or to the plague of locusts and the theory that the plague could be contracted by contact with infected persons through their touch.
Author: Schneeberger, Anton (1530-1581)
Title: Książki O zachowaniu zdrowia człowieczego, od zarazy morowego powietrza…
Published: Cracow: Matthias Siebeneicher, 1569
Physical description: [94] leaves, collation: a6, A-B8, C4, D-E8, F-H4, I8, K4, L-N8, O4 ; 8°
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1929, vol. 27, p. 231; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2210; Piotrowski W., Medycyna polskiego renesansu, Jawor 1995, p. 92, 94
Provenance: former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 82.557
Binding: half-leather, gilt edges – 19th century
Notes: marginal notes in Polish (16th century)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.197
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Przymiot (The Attribute) by Adalbert Oczko was the first medical treatise on syphilis that was written and published in Polish. It was called kiła (meaning “hernia, rapture”) in Old Polish. The first known outbreak of syphilis occurred in 1494 in Naples, Italy, during the French-Italian war. The syphilis epidemic was soon raging across Europe, killing about one million people up to 1550s. One of the most dangerous diseases of the Renaissance period next to the plague, it was also a family condition of the Jagiellonian dynasty – its members, John I Albert, his brothers Frideric and Alexander, and nephew, Sigismund II Augustus, all suffered from syphilis. In the sixteenth-century Polish literature, the disease was popularly known as French malady, court malady, or kiła, but Oczko introduced a new word to name it: przymiot meaning “attribute”. Although it failed to be accepted and used by later authors, the treatise itself, influenced by some recent rational and empirical trends in Italian medicine, is considered to be one of the best venereological publications of that time. The author described the history of syphilis, its causes and treatment, taking into consideration, among other things, people’s diet. He also gave the details of rhinoplasty procedure that used a skin graft taken from the shoulder to repair a defect of the nose, which was often disfigured because of syphilis. The copy of Oczko’s treatise held by the Ossolineum Library has a handwritten invocation on its title page: Jesus, Maria, Joseph. It was a popular exclamation expressing fear, request for help, helplessness, but also, a way of saying goodbye to life (in the past, such invocations was often placed at the beginning of wills). It shows how much people in Poland feared syphilis in the past, what is even more understandable if we bear in mind that the disease is difficult to eradicate even now.
Author: Oczko Adalbert (1537-1599)
Title: Przymiot
Published: Cracow: Łazarz Printing House, 1581
Physical description: [2] leaves, 664 pages, [1] leaf ; 4°
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1910, vol. 23, p. 248; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1736; Piotrowski W., Medycyna polskiego renesansu, Jawor 1995, p. 40-42, 125-126; Seyda B., Dzieje medycyny w Polsce w zarysie, Warszawa 1973, p. 437-438
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library, shelfmark 13.567
Binding: cloth – 20th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.2145
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Renaissance literature in Poland
Treatise on music by George Liban, a Silesian hellenist and composer. His work served as a handbook, and the topics he discussed had been earlier a subject-matter of his lectures delivered at the Cracow University. The book includes, inter alia, a theory of music based on old authors, e.g. Boethius, a Greek-Latin music dictionary, examples of songs and hymns with musical notation, e.g. Magnificat anima mea Dominum (My soul doth magnify the Lord). Such works were usually written, e.g. for the use of future cantors. However, Liban addresses his work to all young people, believing that music and literature are essential to man’s cultural education. He expresses his belief at the end of the treatise, concluding it with words addressed to the reader: “Whoever you are, learn music”.
Author: Libanus, George (1464-post 1546)
Title: De Mvsicae Lavdibvs Oratio seu adhortatio quaeda[m], ad musicae studiosos…
Published: Cracow: John Helicz, 1540
Physical descrition: [48] leaves, collation: A-F8 ; 8°
Illustrations: woodcuts, music notation
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1906, vol. 21, p. 254; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1449; Jerzy Liban. Pisma o muzyce, ed. and transl. E. Witkowska-Zaremba, Kraków 1984
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 11.599
Binding: marbled paper – 19th century
Notes: marginal notes in Latin (16th century), handwritten music notation on the last page
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.816
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
The earliest historical piece of bugle call poetry originating from traditional musical signals that announced reveilles and called people to work and prayer. Hejnał (Bugle call) includes musical notation with the text of the second stanza and text of the poem, in which the first letters of each stanza (starting from the second one) form the author’s name: MIKOŁAY REY. Nicholas Rej, one of the greatest writers of the Polish Renaissance, was known to have a deep interest in music. His first literary works were religious songs and poetic translations of the Psalms. According to his friend Andrew Trzecieski, a poet and writer, he “was always occupied with the company and music that came so naturally to him that it was difficult to find a piece of music he didn’t know”. Rej was a talented musician, who had his own vocal and instrumental ensemble, and he often played with them. They performed at the courts of Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus, but it is not possible to tell what and how they played as no sources describing their performances are known to exist. To this day, only seven songs of Rej musical work have survived. Four of them are held as unique copies in the Ossolineum Library, including Hejnał presented in the exhibition. The song used to be a part of the Ossoliński Hymnal.
Author: Rej, Nicholas (1505-1569)
Title: Heynał świtha na rane powstanie
Published: Cracow: Lazarius Andrysowic, [ante 1559]
Physical description: [4] leaves, collation: A4 ; 8°
Illustrations: musical notation
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1915, vol. 26, p. 175-176; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2026; Poźniak P., Dzieje i zawartość polskich kancjonałów składanych, „Muzyka” 1996, no. 3 (162), p. 19–43; Trybulec I., Pieśni reformacyjne Mikołaja Reja [in:] Mikołaj Rej z Nagłowic – w pięćsetną rocznicę urodzin, Kielce 2005, p. 71-92
Provenance: 1. Hieronymus Juszyński (1760-1830); 2. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826), 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv; 4. Book stolen in 1833 by Casimir Wójcicki (1807-1879); 5. Joseph Przyborowski (1823-1896); 6. Bought by the Ossolineum Library in 1919 in the antiquarian bookshop in Warsaw called Antykwarna Warszawska
Binding: brown leather, tooled – 1st half of the 20th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.1037
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
A unique copy of the Polish translation of the psalm Inclina domine aurem tuam (Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, to me and hear me) by Nicholas Rej, with music composed by Wenceslaus of Szamotuły. The booklet used to be a part of the Ossoliński Hymnal. That collection of Protestant polyphonic songs, bound in one volume by its former anonymous owner, comprised 28 highly valuable pieces of music, printed in octavo in 1545-1556 by Hieronymus Vietor, Barbara Vietor and Lazarius Andrysowic, as well as three other works added at the beginning and the end of the volume: Pieśń o Bożym umęczeniu, Różnicę sekty luterowej and Rozmowy polskie łacińskim językiem przeplatane. The psalm is a part of the Reformation literature, which was widely read and published in sixteenth-century Poland. Already in the 1520s, Lutheran literature was easily accessible in Poland, and even bans introduced by some cities (e.g. Poznań in 1525) or the king (in 1556) did not diminish its popularity. These bans, issued as a concession to Catholic officials, usually remained a dead letter of the law – in 1556, Sigismund II Augustus banned printing, importing and selling heretical books, and in 1557, the first Protestant printing house of Matthias Wirzbięta was officially opened in Cracow. Compared to the rest of Europe, plagued by religious disputes and persecution, Poland appeared to be a country of religious tolerance and acceptance. Polemics between the Catholics and the Protestants, both private and public, were fierce and zealous, but they did not lead to wars and armed conflicts. Calvinism became a popular religion of the Polish nobility, and the Kingdom allowed some of the radical branches of the Reformation, expelled from other countries, e.g. Bohemian Brethren, to settle in Poland. The Protestants often occupied high-ranked posts, moved in the social circle of the Jagiellonian family, and were among the most prominent representatives of the Polish Renaissance. Nicholas Rej, a zealous Calvinist, known as “the father of Polish literature”, was one of such persons. His early literary writings include, among other things, translations of psalms, which later became part of Protestant hymnals. The music to the presented psalm was composed by Wenceslaus of Szamotuły, one of the greatest composers of the Polish Renaissance, compositor cantus at the court of Sigismund II Augustus, and also a Calvinist.
Composer: Wenceslaus of Szamotuły (ca 1526-1560)
Translator: Rej, Nicholas (1505-1569)
Title: Psalm Dawidow LXXXV : Inclina Domine aurem tuam. &c. : [Inc.: Nakłoń Panye ku mnye ucho twoye]
Published: Cracow: Lazarius Andrysowic, [post 1550]
Physical description: [4] leaves ; 8°
Illustrations: woodcut, musical notation
Bibliogrphic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1897, vol. 15, p. 64; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2004; Poźniak P., Dzieje i zawartość polskich kancjonałów składanych, „Muzyka” 1996, no. 3 (162), p. 19–43; Trybulec I., Pieśni reformacyjne Mikołaja Reja [in:] Mikołaj Rej z Nagłowic – w pięćsetną rocznicę urodzin, Kielce 2005, p. 71-92
Provenance: 1. Hieronymus Juszyński (1760-1830); 2. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826), 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv; 4. Book stolen in 1833 by Casimir Wójcicki (1807-1879); 5. Joseph Przyborowski (1823-1896); 6. Bought by the Ossolineum Library in 1919 in the antiquarian bookshop in Warsaw called Antykwarna Warszawska
Binding: brown leather, tooled – 1st half of the 20th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.846
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Rare example of a Polish translation of one of the versions of the Alexander romance (account of the life and exploits of Alexander the Great, told and retold in different versions), published in 1550. Historia Alexandri Magni, regis Macedioniae, de proeliis, written at the turn of 10th and 11th centuries, belongs to the genre of fictional prose called romance, which was widely popular in the Renaissance, despite being inconsistent with the canons of humanistic aesthetics. In The Story of Life and Famous Deeds of Alexander, a pseudo-historical romance, we will not find a historical account, but a fictional story on life and exploits of Alexander the Great, with numerous fairy-tale and adventure narrative motifs. The book is full of mythical creatures and utopian places, and Alexander traverses not only lands but also skies (in a chariot drawn by gryphons) and seas (in a sort of a glass container). Following the characteristics of the Latin version of the novel, the story of Alexander’s adventures was to compel admiration for his chivalrous bravery and warn people against a fatal pride and conceit. The Polish translation of the Romance is an interesting example of the reception of an ancient novel in its Renaissance version.
Title: Historia o ziwocie y znamienitych sprawach Alexandra Wielkiego krola Macedońskiego…
Published: Cracow: Helena Ungler, 1550
Physical description: [106] leaves, collation: A4, A-M8, N6 ; 8°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliografphic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1901, vol. 18, p. 210; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1088; Ziomek J., Renesans, Warszawa 1995, p. 129, 130, 154, 476
Provenance: 1. Z księgozbioru Zygmunta Czarneckiego [bookplate]; 2. Biblioteka Fundacyi W. Hr. Baworowskiego [stamp]
Binding: brown leather, tooled in blind – 19th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.186
By Konrad Szymański
One of the first Polish treatises on military art published in Cracow in 1569. Its author, Martin Kromer, a historian and satirical poet, based his work on his own experience. In his younger days, he was a soldier, who among other, fought against Ottoman troops in the 1520s and 1530s, and took part in the battle of Obertyn (1531) between Moldavian and Polish forces. As the number of military operations conducted by the Republic of Poland on many fronts was growing, military issues became extremely important. In the introduction to his work, Bielski wrote: “Young Sarmatians, train yourself in art of war so that you could always be prepared in case of emergency. […] The evil wind blows upon us from all sides, and pagans laugh at us when they see our inadequate preparation”. The author divided his work into eight books in which he describes various aspects of military art, from such mundane activities as riding a horse to much more complicated tactical issues. As the title of the treatise suggests, the author did not limit his work to describing only Polish experiences but also tried to include information about the combat habits of other nations. Attention should be paid to the description of “flares” and “fire dragons”, which were, in fact, a sort of rocket prototype constructions used in Poland, mentioned here for the first time.
Author: Bielski, Martin (1495-1575)
Title: Sprawa Rycerska według postępku y zachowania starego obyczaju … tak Pogańska, iako y Krześciańska, z rozmaitych ksiąg wypisana, ku czytaniu y Nauce Ludziom Rycerskim pożyteczna…
Published: Cracow: Matthias Siebeneicher, 1569
Physical description: [10], 76 leaves ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Chrzanowski I., Marcin Bielski, Lwów 1926, p. 211-226; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1896, vol. 14, p. 89-90; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 195
Provenance: 1. Ex libris Alberti Węngrzinowicz Cracoviensis Anno 1629 Juli 5 f […] emptus in foro scrutario; 2. Hic liber est Michaelis … dański [18th century]; 3. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 4. Former collection of the Ossolineum Lirary in Lviv, shelfmark 16.245
Binding: half-cloth – 19th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.2547
By Konrad Szymański
A unique copy of Zuzanna (Susanna) by Jan Kochanowski, his earliest work published separately. The book was issued without a year specified, but it is believed to be printed before June 20, 1562, as its addressee, Elisabeth Radziwiłł de domo Szydłowiecka, died on that day, and in Zuzanna she is mentioned as being alive. The works of Kochanowski, who is considered to be the greatest poet of the Polish Renaissance, started to appear in print in the early 1560s. They were not his first works, as he had written some things before, but they had been circulating among his friends in a handwritten form, and “until he returned to Poland from abroad, which was in the middle of 1559, he had not given a thought to publishing his poems, and he was satisfied with presenting them to his closest friends and family”. He wrote Zuzanna when, having returned from his youthful journeys abroad, he became involved with Jan Amor Tarnowski, Grand Crown Hetman, one of the wealthiest Polish noblemen of that time, whose court was a centre of political, intellectual and artistic activities. Elisabeth Radziwiłł, mentioned above, was a member of the Tarnowski family – she had been raised at their court where she had been staying until 1548. She was a recipient of Kochanowski’s dedication in Zuzanna, a poem based on the biblical story of Joachim’s beautiful wife. The publication also comprises the song Czego chcesz od nas Panie, za Twe hojne dary (What do You want from us, Lord, for Your lavish gifts?), considered one of the most beautiful poems of the Polish Renaissance and referred to as the “sunrise of Polish poetry”. According to tradition, Kochanowski wrote this hymn during his stay in France. When its manuscript reached Poland, Nicholas Rej, having read it, exclaimed: “I deem him superior to me”. And this is how the fame of the poet from Czarnolas was born.
Author: Kochanowski, Jan (ca. 1530-1584)
Title: Zuzanna. – Czego chcesz od nas Panie
Published: Cracow: Matthias Wirzbięta, ca 1561-1562
Physical description: [6] leaves, collation: A6 ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcut (coat of arms)
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1903, vol. 19, p. 368; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1317; Pelc J., Jan Kochanowski poeta Renesansu, Warszawa 1998, p. 68; idem, Kochanowski. Szczyt renesansu w literaturze polskiej, Warszawa 2001, p. 217-218
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library, shelfmark 7.423.
Binding: leather – 20th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.1636
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Adaptation of the popular Renaissance book Il cortegiano by Balthasar Castiglione written in 1528. The adaptation entitled Dworzanin polski (Polish Courtier) was written by Lucas Górnicki, a royal secretary and librarian at the court of Sigismund II Augustus. At King Sigismund’s initiative, Górnicki started to translate the work of the Italian humanist, adapting the content to Polish reality. The action was set in Prądnik near Kraków at the court of Bishop Samuel Maciejowski. In the book, the author described a group of people (actual persons living in the Golden Age) who discuss the ideal model of a Courtier and a Lord, while telling each other many colourful anecdotes which happened in the Sigismund’s times. Thanks to this, their theoretical deliberations gained realistic and comic elements. Dworzanin is the first source that mentions the famous sorcerer Mr. Twardowski, who was a Polish nobleman living in Cracow in the 16th century. According to the legend, he sold his soul to the devil to acquire magical knowledge. Thanks to this, he gained wealth and fame, and eventually became a courtier of Sigismund II Augustus, who surrounded himself with magicians, astrologers and alchemists. In Górnicki’s work, one of the interlocutors tells a story about a certain courtier of Sigismund I the Old, who decided to make a joke of his companion who believed in magic. Claiming to be Twardowski’s student, he bet him 100 zlotys that he would use magic to persuade the vendor they both saw through the window from the top of the castle to start breaking the pots that she was selling. And so it happened, but the “student of Twardowski” did not rely upon his magic – he had previously paid a vendor to take a stick at the sign he gave and break the pots. The magic experiment that brought Twardowski the greatest fame was the one when he supposedly summoned the ghost of the beloved wife of King Sigismund II Augustus, Barbara Radziwiłł, who died in 1551.
Author: Górnicki, Lucas (1527-1603)
Title: Dworzanin Łukasza Gornickiego Polski
Pulished: Cracow: Matthias Wirzbięta, 1566
Physical description: [276, 4 blank] leaves, collation: A4, B-Z8, Aa-Mm8 ; 4°
Bibliographic references: Bugaj R., Nauki tajemne w dobie odrodzenia, Wrocław 1976, p. 162-173; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1899, vol. 17, p. 252-253; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 880; Ziomek J., Renesans, Warszawa 1995, p. 380-393
Provenance: 1. [Sigismund Czarnecki:] N.K. 268; 2. Biblioteka Fundacyi W. Hr. Baworowskiego [stamp].
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind – 16th century, renovated
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Latin satirical poem “against the diversity and variability of Polish costumes” written in the form of a dialogue between the King (Ladislaus II Jagiełło) and Stańczyk, a royal court jester. Its author, Clemens Janicki, was a neo-Latin poet and doctor of philosophy who graduated from the University of Padua. Born to a peasant family, Janicki managed to gain influential patrons, who introduced him to the court. There, he probably met Stańczyk, who impressed him with his sharp wit and insight, especially on political matters. Stańczyk (ca 1480-ca 1560), whose real name is unknown, was a court jester of the kings of the Jagiellonian dynasty: John I Albert, Alexander Jagiellon, Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus. According to tradition, no one at the Jagiellonian court matched him in witty joking. He used to tell the bitter truth to the kings and the nobility, but he did it in such a way that he made everyone laugh. Stańczyk was introduced into literature by Jan Kochanowski. Other authors, like Martin Kromer and Lucas Górnicki, also quoted numerous anecdotes with him in the main role, but the first work in which his character appeared as a literary hero was the satire of Janicki. In the dialogue, Stańczyk, called Morosophus (Lat. wise fool), is talking with King Ladislaus II Jagiełło, who came from the afterlife, about the armours. The King does not like their contemporary motley and foreign elements, so different from the old simple clothes. Sharp and ironic, the satire is a veiled critique of the splendour of the court of Sigismund II Augustus and praise of old values. Janicki wrote the satire in 1541 or 1542, but it did not appear in print until 1563 when it was added to the Antwerp edition of another Latin work by Janicki, The Life of the Archbishop of Gniezno. The figure of Stańczyk has become a permanent element of Polish culture. Already in the 16th century, all jesters were called Stańczyk after his name, and in the partition period, the Renaissance jester became a symbol of wisdom, care for the welfare of the homeland and political prudence tinged with scepticism.
Author: Janicki, Clemens (1516-1543)
Title: In Polonici Vestitvs Varietatem & Inconstantiam Dialogvs [in:] Vitae Regum Polonorum, Elegiaco Carmine Descriptae…
Published: Cracow: Lazarius Andrysowic, 1565
Physical description: 16 [last blank] leaves, collation: A-D4 ; 8°
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1901, vol. 18, p. 445-446; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1165; Ziomek J., Renesans, Warszawa 1995, no 87-88
Provenance: former collection of the Ossolineum Library, shelfmark 46.777
Binding: marbled paper – 19th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.O.1088
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First edition of the well-known Chronicle of Bielski. Its author was a soldier, historian, Renaissance poet and courtier of Piotr Kmita, Grand Marshal of the Crown, Voivode of Cracow. The work, referring to the tradition of medieval chronicles, describes human history from the creation of the world to 1551. Apart from historical events, the Chronicle comprises many legends or events that could arouse the curiosity of people of that time. The author’s narrative begins with stories from the Old Testament, which he enriches with accounts from ancient Greece and Rome. The birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ, is foretold here, for example, by the famous “Sibylline Books”, which played an important role primarily in the history of the Roman Empire. As for the historical accounts, the book mainly presents the deeds of kings or popes. However, we can also find here such excursuses as: On Italian lands, On the German nation and land, or On Tatar women in the Amazon. The Chronicle was reissued twice during the author’s lifetime, and until the end of his days, Bielski worked on its fourth edition. It was published in 1597 by his son Joachim, who brought the Chronicle to 1586 and eased the criticism of the Catholic Church noticeable in the original version. It is also worth mentioning that this particular copy was used by Samuel Bogumił Linde while he was working on his famous dictionary of the Polish language in 1807-1814, as evidenced by the numerous underlines in the text, made by him with a characteristic red crayon.
Author: Bielski, Martin (ok. 1495-1575)
Title: Kronika wszytkiego swyata na ssesc wyekow, Monarchie czterzy rozdzielona…
Published: Cracow: Helena Ungler, 1551
Physical description: [39], 295, [1] leaves ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Chrzanowski I., Marcin Bielski, Lwów 1926, p. 55-102; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1894, vol. 13, p. 84-85; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 189
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Lirary in Lviv, shelfmark 1166
Binding: brown leather – 20th century
Notes: interlinear notes (16th century)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.3185
By Konrad Szymański
One of the illegal reissues of Fraszki by Jan Kochanowski, with false publication date on the title page. Kochanowski kept writing short epigrams on everyday matters (called fraszki in Polish) during his whole life, but only shortly before his death in 1584, he prepared them to be published. In later editions, printed around 1598-1600, they underwent slight changes introduced by the printer Jan Januszowski. Januszowski, who published both the first edition and later illegal reissues, removed the last nine epigrams from the main text as they were considered frivolous. Eight of them were included in the appendix entitled Dobrym towarzyszom gwoli (To Good Companions), so that the future virtuous owner of the book could easily remove this final supplement, e.g. by tearing out the cards or not including them in his bound volume. Januszowski published Fraszki with a false publication date, because he did not have the privilege to reprint Kochanowski’s works, and he wanted to avoid paying the Kochanowski family as they had property rights. Kochanowski had been writing Fraszki for over 20 years, mainly during his stays at the courts. Therefore, the short poems are a great source of information on the customs and events of everyday life of that time. One of the most known epigrams by Kochanowski is The Spanish Doctor, describing how the courtiers of Sigismund II Augustus persuaded their friend, Peter Roizjusz, a doctor of laws from Spain, to drink and feast:
Our good friend the Doctor is off to his bed,
Not caring for supper and scared of bad ‘ead.
“Let him go, let him go: let’s give him his snooze,
“Stop wasting your time and get back to the booze.”
“Supper is over, let’s go find the Spaniard!”
“Right you are, but remember to bring a full tankard!”
“Up! Doctor, up! And let’s in, good friend!”
The Doctor’d not open, but the door did – in the end.
“One won’t hurt you! Here’s to you!” they cried.
“If ‘twere one only,” the poor Doctor replied.
And so from the one they all went to nine,
The Doctor’s poor brain started swimming in wine.
“Alas! Good my comrade – my will ye have shrunk,
“I went to bed sober – ye’ll see me up drunk!”
[Translated by Teresa Bałuk-Ulewiczowa]
Author: Kochanowski, Jan (ca 1530-1584)
Title: Fraszki. [Red. B. Ed. C]
Published: Cracow: Łazarz Printing House, 1584 [i.e. ca 1600]
Physical description: 126 pages, [1 blank] leaf, pages 127-130, collation: A-Q4, R2 ; 4°
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1903, vol. 19, p. 361-362; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no 1302; Buchwald-Pelcowa P., Dawne wydania dzieł Jana Kochanowskiego, Warszawa 1993, p. 146-150
Provenance: 1. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 7.407.
Binding: half-leather – 19 th century
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.1689
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First edition of Zwierzyniec (Menagerie) by Nicholas Rej, published by Matthias Wirzbięta in 1562. Nicholas Rej, a poet and writer called “the father of Polish literature”, Sejm delegate and active member of the Calvinist movement, was liked and praised at the courts of the Jagiellonian kings. His busy public and private life, as well as Renaissance erudition, are perfectly reflected in Zwierzyniec, a collection of several hundred short moralizing and satirical epigrams on various topics written in Polish. The first chapter includes poems describing famous mythical and historical figures; chapter two – famous Poles; chapter three – states and offices; chapter four – character traits and temporal things; chapter five – anecdotes, facetiae (witty or humorous writings or sayings), short Renaissance epigrams called fraszki in Polish, often coarse, e.g. about priests or everyday life. In Zwierzyniec Rej described his contemporaries, including, for example, Sigismund II Augustus, Bona Sforza and Jan Kochanowski, and his epigrams are often the only existing source for biographical information on some notable people of that time. However, Zwierzyniec remains unique for another reason – in the afterword “To whom who has read it”, there is a sentence that is considered to be the most famous quotation in the history of Polish literature: A niechay narodowie wżdy postronni znaią // Iż Polacy nie Gęsi, iż swoy ięzyk maią (Among other nations let it always be known / That the Poles are not geese, have a tongue of their own). Following Renaissance and Reformation ideals, Rej was writing his works in Polish, earning himself the title of “hetman of the of Polish poets” from his contemporaries.
Author: Rej, Nicholas (1505-1569)
Title: Zwierziniec, w ktorym rozmaitich stanow ludzi, źwirząth y ptakow kstałty, przypadki y obyczaie są własnie wypisane…
Published: Cracow: Matthias Wirzbięta, 1562
Physical description: [14], 143, [36] leaves, collation: A6, aa-bb4, B-R8, S4, Aa-Dd8, Ee4 ; 4°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1915, vol. 26, p. 189; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2035; Ziomek J., Renesans, Warszawa 1995, p. 237-241
Provenance: former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 44.071
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind, partially preserved clasps – 16th century, renovated
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.3188
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
First edition of the Annals, that is, eight books on the origin and affairs of Poles and Lithuanians written by Stanislaus Sarnicki, a Polish writer and active member of the Calvinist movement. The historical treatise comprises the only known Renaissance description of the Babin Republic, entitled Descriptio Republicae Babinensis. The Babin Republic was a literary and carnival society founded during the Golden Age period (ca 1550-1560) at the court of the Pszonka family in Babin near Lublin. Members of the group included most prominent figures of the Polish Renaissance, for example, Jan Kochanowski, Nicholas Rej or Andrew Trzecieski. The group had formal structures that parodied the system of Poland Republic with its senate, bishops, voivodes, and hetmans. The members were given the “offices” or “titles” for telling the most ridiculous and untrue story, e.g. people telling cowardice stories were sarcastically named hetmans. During the meetings, known as the “stock exchange”, in an atmosphere of feast and fun, they mocked religious intolerance, jested and entertained each other with amusing anecdotes. The news on the Babin Republic reached even the royal court. Sarnicki recounts a story of Sigismund II Augustus, who once asked Stanislaus Pszonka, the owner of Babin, if the Babin Republic had its own king. Pszonka was supposed to reply: “God forbid, Your Majesty, that we should think about choosing another king when you are alive; do rule also here in Babin”, which made both the king and his entourage laugh. The traditions of the Babin Republic had been followed at the court of the Pszonka family for over 100 years until the second half of the 17th century. No archival materials on the beginning of the group’s functioning have survived (the earliest are from the 17th century), so Sarnicki’s description is the only source describing this unique phenomenon on the literary map of the Polish Renaissance.
Author: Sarnicki, Stanislaus (ca 1532-1597)
Title: Descriptio Reipublicae Babinensis [in :] Annales Sive De Origine Et Rebus Gestis Polonorum Et Lituanorum Libri Octo…
Published: Cracow: Alexius Rodecki, 1587
Published: pages 30-33 [in:] [6] leaves, 410 pages, [1] leaf, collation: )(6, A-Z,a4,b-e6,f-z,Aa-Bb4,Cc6 ; 2°
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1929, vol. 27, p. 140-141; Gloger Z., Encyklopedia staropolska ilustrowana, vol. 1, Warszawa 1900, p. 89-93; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2200; Tworek S., W kręgu sporów o „Rzeczpospolitą Babińską”, „Rocznik Lubelski” 1972, vol. 15, 155-168
Provenance: 1. Collegii Leopoliensis Soc[ietat]tis Jesu; 2. Z Biblioteki Józefa Hr. Dzieduszyckiego [bookplate]; Biblioteka Poturzycka J.W.D. [stamp].
Binding: boards, white leather, tooled in blind and gold, partially preserved clasps – 16th/17th century
Held: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4172
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Collection of funeral poems written after the death of Jan Kochanowski in 1584 by Sebastian Fabian Klonowic. Klonowic, a poet active at the turn of the Renaissance and Baroque, was part of the generation of poets to whom the Renaissance was only a memory. It is strongly expressed in Żale (The Regrets) where the feeling that the era is coming to an end is particularly apparent. Paying lasts respects to late Kochanowski, who is presented as the greatest poet of the Polish Renaissance, is a way of saying farewell to the Golden Age of Polish culture and literature. As Klonowic is saying addressing Kochanowski: “You have died, o most excellent and frivolous Poet, and with you, the Poesis has died as well”.
Author: Klonowic, Sebastian Fabian (1545-1602)
Title: Zale Nagrobne Na ślachetnie vrodzonego y znacznie vczonego męża, nieboszczyka Pana Iana Kochanowskiego…
Published: Cracow: Andrew Piotrkowczyk, 1585
Published: [20] leaves, collation: A-E4 ; 4°
Bibliogrphic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1903, vol. 19, p. 307-308; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1286; Ziomek J., Renesans, Warszawa 1995, p. 425-426
Provenanace: 1. Rarissimum Załuscio, Czaccio, ignotum, Musaeo Ossoliniano offert M. H. Juszyński Parochus Eginensis; 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library, shelfmark 7324.
Binding: brown leather – 20th century
Notes: lacking quire E
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.Qu.2298
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
Renaissance libraries
Peter Vedelicius of Oborniki, a medical doctor who studied in Cracow and probably in Bolonia, councilman and mayor in Cracow, rector at the Cracow Academy (twice), was appointed as a royal physician of Sigismund I the Old and Bona Sforza in 1526. He was also an avid bibliophile, who amassed a book collection relating to his work, mainly comprised of Italian publications. He ensured that his books had an elegant look and that they were marked as his. He commissioned bookbinders from Cracow, for example, Matthias of Przasnysz vel Master of the Angel Heads, to bind his volumes. They decorated them with his supralibros. Vedelicius also added to his books a bookplate and elegantly calligraphed signature, as well as some notes. The Cracow Missal presented in the exhibition, with woodcut representations of the patrons of the Polish Republic, St. Stanislaus and St. Florian, on the title page, is a proof of the bibliophilic passion of this noble burgher. It also shows that he acquired not only Italian books relating to his work. It has a unique woodcut bookplate, which is considered one of the earliest examples of this type of ownership mark in Poland.
Object type: Volume from the collection of Peter Vedelicius
Bookbinder: anonymous
Created: 16th century
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind and gold
Title: Missale Secundum Ritum Insignis Ecclesie Cathedralis Cracoviensis Noviter Emendatu[m]
Published: Venice: Peter Liechtenstein, Michael Vechter, 1532
Physical description: [12] ,388, [1] leaves ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Provenance: 1. Fr. Samuel Braczewski S. Sophiae et filiarum; 2. Petrus Vedelicius Obornicen[sis] Artiu[m] & Medicinae Doctor Con. Cracovien[sis] ac physicus Regius Herus meus est emptionis iure; P. V. [bookplate with Wedel coat of arms and motto Sudore Virtus Virtute Honos]; 3. Emit a praefato d[omi]no Doctore Petro hoc missale Docotr Nicolaus a Vieliczka Scholasticus Kielcen[sis] Flor. 4 die 4 mensis Julij Anno dni 1543; 4. Doctor Nicolaus a Vieliczka scholasticus Kielcen[sis] hoc missale testamento legavit Petro Miskowski Decano Crac. et Regni Poloniae Vicecancelario; 5. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 6. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library, shelfmark 10.242
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1908, vol. 22, p. 430-431; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 1587; Miaskowski K., Piotr Wedelicjusz z Obornik, „Rocznik Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk w Poznaniu” 1908, no. 34, p. 169-212; Radojewski M., Nieznany ekslibris Piotra Wedelicjusza – najstarszy polski znak lekarski, „Ze Skarbca Kultury” 1977, no. 28, p. 51-58; Wagner A., Superekslibris polski, Toruń 2016
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmarks: XVI.F.4100, ex. 22401
By Dorota Sidorowicz-Mulak
Book from the library of John Łaski the Younger (John a Lasco, Joannes a Lasco), an active member of the Reformation movement. He was raised at the court of his paternal uncle, Primate of Poland John Łaski, who sent him studying abroad, and after his return, helped him with his ecclesiastical career. However, foreign travels had more appeal to John Łaski the Younger. In 1525 he left for Basel where he met Erasmus of Rotterdam. A year later, he came to live with him, and to help him financially, he purchased his library, leaving it at his place so Erasmus could use it as long as he lived. Having returned to Poland, John a Lasco held some church and court positions, but due to lack of funds, his career did not develop quickly. He always showed a great interest in religious events that were happening in Germany, and soon converted to Protestantism, gradually adopting the ideas of John Calvin. In 1543, John a Lasco became the highest church official in East Frisia, nominated by Regent Anna Oldenburg. After introducing Lutheranism in Friesland, he left for England, where he played an active part in creating the structures of the Protestant church there, as he had been doing it before in Germany. Until the end of his life, he remained faithful to Calvinism, which forced him to leave the British Isles. In the second half of the 1550s, John a Lasco tried to establish a Polish Reformed Church, but his efforts were not successful. The presented volume contains the works of St. Cyprian with a commentary by Erasmus of Rotterdam, published in Basel in Froben’s publishing house in 1525. The book was bound a year later by the Cracow craftsman Matthias of Przasnysz (Master of Angel Heads). Such elements as rich ornaments in the architectural type forming a door with a tympanum, Korab coat of arms in the centre of the binding, surrounded by Italian trifoliate ornament, two putti holding cornucopias, and the angel’s head motif, all characteristic for this craftsman, are an example of Italian influence in the capital of the Lesser Poland Republic.
Object type: Volume in architectural type binding from the library of John a Lasco
Bookbinder: Matthias of Przasnysza (Master of Angel Heads), Cracow bookbinder
Created: Cracow, 1526
Bookbinding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind and gold, plaquettes
Author: Cyprianus, St. (ca 210-258)
Title: Opera Sanctissimi Martyris Caecilii Cypriani…
Physical description: [12] leaves, 507, [1 blank] pages, [14] leaves ; 2°
Ioannes Lasky I. Il. M. D. XXVI – letter supralibros with Korab coat of arms; 2. Ex Cathalogo Librorum Scholae Metropol. Leopol.; 3. Gift of Armenian Bishop Gregory Szymonowic (1866); 4. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv
Bibliographic references: Kowalska H., Łaski Jan (Joannes a Lasco) h. Korab [in:] Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. 18, Wrocław 1978, p. 237-244; Katalog druków XVI wieku z historycznej kolekcji Ossolineum, ed. D. Sidorowicz-Mulak, Wrocław 2017, no. 830; Wagner A., Introligatorzy elit. O działalności Stanisława z Białej i Macieja z Przasnysza vel Mistrza Główek Anielskich [in:] Introligatorzy i ich klienci, ed. A. Wagner, Toruń 2017, p. 73-92
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.13.549
By Dorota Sidorowicz-Mulak
The books from the collection of Sigismund II Augustus were part of one of the largest private Renaissance libraries, comprising approximatively 4 000 volumes at its peak development. The library was formed by royal librarians: Andrew Trzecieski and his son, Andrew, John of Koźmin, Stanislaus Koszutski and Lucas Górnicki. First volumes were bound by Cracow craftsmen: George Moeller and Master David, others by anonymous Vilnius bookbinders. On the front covers of the books, the bookbinders stamped royal supralibros composed of the Eagle coat of arms entwined with royal monogram (“SA” for Sigismundus Augustus) and the Pahonia coat of arms; both were surrounded with a laurel wreath or with a Renaissance Antiqua circumscription with the royal name. Depending on the period when the binding was created, the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania were placed under two crowns or under one. Initially, the Eagle was depicted under the royal crown and the Pahonia under the ducal mitre. It changed when the idea of the union between Poland and Lithuania started to be promoted: the shields of the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania were presented as if they were leaning to each other, and above them, there was only one royal crown. On the back covers, bookbinders stamped the Ciceronian phrase “Sigismundi Augusti Regis Poloniae Monumentum” and the date of the binding. Because of this phrase, all royal books with the bindings described above are called “Monumenta (monuments) of Sigismund Augustus”, and form a kind of royal monument honouring the King as a bibliophile and ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the royal library, there were mainly foreign editions of the works of the greatest thinkers of the Renaissance, humanists and reformers, works by classical authors with commentaries, etc. It is known that the King had in his library a copy of a Protestant Bible translated by Martin Luther, with silver binding, given to him by this famous reformer and author. Some of the books had utilitarian functions and were used by royal physicians in their work, such as De humani corporis fabrica libri septem by Andreas Vesalius, published in Basel in 1543, a revolutionary book on human anatomy based on authors findings resulting from autopsies carried out by him. The copy of Vesalius which is presented in the exhibition can serve as an example of how the royal collection was dispersed after the King’s death – Queen Anna Jagiellon, who inherited part of the library, donated the book to her doctor Sylvester Roguski in 1586.
[1] Binding by Master David, Cracow 1543
Object type: Volumes from the library of Sigismund II Augustus – Sigismundi Augusti Regis Poloniae Monumenta
Bookbinders: [1-2] Master David, Cracow bookbinder ; [3] anonymous Vilnius bookbinder
Created: [1] Cracow, ca 1543; [2] Cracow, 1547; [3] Vilnius, 1559
[1]
Author: Vesalius, Andreas (1514-1564)
Title: De humani corporis fabrica…
Published: Basael: Johann Oporinus, 1534
Physical description: [6] leaves, 659, [1] pages, [18] leaves ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Provenance: 1. [Sigismund II Augustus]; 2. Datu[s] est m[i]hi doctori Sylvestro [Roguski per] Regina[m] Poloniae Annam 1586; 3. Staraniem Wincentego Nowińczyka Smagłowskiego Biblioteki Dyrektora i Archiwisty miasta królewskiego Stanisławowa wydobyte i przesłane Zakładowi Narod. Im. Ossolińskich a Orędownictwa J. Oś. X. Lubomirskich we Lwowie dnia 19. Czerw. 1873; 4. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library, shelfmark. 64.611; Ta karta tytułowa znajdowała się w Bibliotece Warszawskiego Towarzystwa Muzycznego w Warszawie. Biblioteka przekazała ją Bibliotece Ossolineum pismem z dnia 14 X 1967 r. (L.dz. II/51/67), poczem została ona dolepiona doczepiona do macierzystego dzieła pod wyżej podaną sygnaturą. Wr. 24 V 1969. JSzczepaniec
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F. 13820
Bibliographic references: Kawecka-Gryczowa A., Biblioteka ostatniego Jagiellona. Pomnik kultury renesansowej. Wrocław 1988; Kosiński J., Monumenta Zygmunta Augusta w zbiorach Ossolineum, „Roczniki Biblioteczne” 1967, no. 11, p. 407-422; Piech Z., Monety, pieczęcie i herby w systemie symboli władzy Jagiellonów, Warszawa 2003; Sidorowicz-Mulak D., Królewskie księgi w Ossolineum i ich proweniencje. O kilkunastu woluminach z biblioteki Zygmunta Augusta [in:] W czwartek o szesnastej, ed. T. Sokół. Wrocław 2016, p. 151-172; Sidorowicz-Mulak D., Wagner A., Dzieło Vesaliusa w oprawie Mistrza Dawida a problem początków księgozbioru króla Zygmunta Augusta. „Roczniki Biblioteczne” 2015, p. 299-324; Wagner A., Superekslibris polski, Toruń 2016
By Dorota Sidorowicz-Mulak
The books from the collection of Sigismund II Augustus were part of one of the largest private Renaissance libraries, comprising approximatively 4 000 volumes at its peak development. The library was formed by royal librarians: Andrew Trzecieski and his son, Andrew, John of Koźmin, Stanislaus Koszutski and Lucas Górnicki. First volumes were bound by Cracow craftsmen: George Moeller and Master David, others by anonymous Vilnius bookbinders. On the front covers of the books, the bookbinders stamped royal supralibros composed of the Eagle coat of arms entwined with royal monogram (“SA” for Sigismundus Augustus) and the Pahonia coat of arms; both were surrounded with a laurel wreath or with a Renaissance Antiqua circumscription with the royal name. Depending on the period when the binding was created, the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania were placed under two crowns or under one. Initially, the Eagle was depicted under the royal crown and the Pahonia under the ducal mitre. It changed when the idea of the union between Poland and Lithuania started to be promoted: the shields of the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania were presented as if they were leaning to each other, and above them, there was only one royal crown. On the back covers, bookbinders stamped the Ciceronian phrase “Sigismundi Augusti Regis Poloniae Monumentum” and the date of the binding. Because of this phrase, all royal books with the bindings described above are called “Monumenta (monuments) of Sigismund Augustus”, and form a kind of royal monument honouring the King as a bibliophile and ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the royal library, there were mainly foreign editions of the works of the greatest thinkers of the Renaissance, humanists and reformers, works by classical authors with commentaries, etc. It is known that the King had in his library a copy of a Protestant Bible translated by Martin Luther, with silver binding, given to him by this famous reformer and author. Some of the books had utilitarian functions and were used by royal physicians in their work, such as De humani corporis fabrica libri septem by Andreas Vesalius, published in Basel in 1543, a revolutionary book on human anatomy based on authors findings resulting from autopsies carried out by him. The copy of Vesalius which is presented in the exhibition can serve as an example of how the royal collection was dispersed after the King’s death – Queen Anna Jagiellon, who inherited part of the library, donated the book to her doctor Sylvester Roguski in 1586.
[2] Binding by Master David, Cracow, 1547
Tytuł: [Koran :] Machvmetis … Alcoran…
Adres wydawniczy: Bazylea: Nicolaus Bbrylinger & Johann Oporinus, post 20 I 1543
Opis fizyczny: [14], [4] k., 230 s., [5] k., 178 s., [1 cz.] k., 163, [1] s. ; 2°
[Adl.] Autor: Jan VI Kantakuzen (1292-1383)
Tytuł: Contra Mahometicam fidem Christiana & orthodoxa assertio…
Adres wydawniczy: Bazylea: Nicolaus Brylinger & Johann Oporinus, 1543
Opis fizyczny: [6] k., 124 s., [6] k., 108 s. ; 2°
Proweniencja: 1. Sigismundi Augusti Regis Poloniae Monumentum 1547 [superekslibris herbowy i napisowy], 2. Nicolao Prandotae Pszczóla de Wilczopole Vicecap. Terrarum Kijovienisum [superekslibris], Nicolau Prandota Pszczółka Wilczopolski; 3. Kupno od Kajetana Jabłońskiego w 1862 r. do zbiorów Ossolineum; 4. Dawna kolekcja Ossolineum we Lwowie, sygn. 51.054, 51.055
Lokalizacja: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich
Sygnatura: XVI.F. 13963 adl./13964 adl.
By Dorota Sidorowicz-Mulak
The books from the collection of Sigismund II Augustus were part of one of the largest private Renaissance libraries, comprising approximatively 4 000 volumes at its peak development. The library was formed by royal librarians: Andrew Trzecieski and his son, Andrew, John of Koźmin, Stanislaus Koszutski and Lucas Górnicki. First volumes were bound by Cracow craftsmen: George Moeller and Master David, others by anonymous Vilnius bookbinders. On the front covers of the books, the bookbinders stamped royal supralibros composed of the Eagle coat of arms entwined with royal monogram (“SA” for Sigismundus Augustus) and the Pahonia coat of arms; both were surrounded with a laurel wreath or with a Renaissance Antiqua circumscription with the royal name. Depending on the period when the binding was created, the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania were placed under two crowns or under one. Initially, the Eagle was depicted under the royal crown and the Pahonia under the ducal mitre. It changed when the idea of the union between Poland and Lithuania started to be promoted: the shields of the coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania were presented as if they were leaning to each other, and above them, there was only one royal crown. On the back covers, bookbinders stamped the Ciceronian phrase “Sigismundi Augusti Regis Poloniae Monumentum” and the date of the binding. Because of this phrase, all royal books with the bindings described above are called “Monumenta (monuments) of Sigismund Augustus”, and form a kind of royal monument honouring the King as a bibliophile and ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the royal library, there were mainly foreign editions of the works of the greatest thinkers of the Renaissance, humanists and reformers, works by classical authors with commentaries, etc. It is known that the King had in his library a copy of a Protestant Bible translated by Martin Luther, with silver binding, given to him by this famous reformer and author. Some of the books had utilitarian functions and were used by royal physicians in their work, such as De humani corporis fabrica libri septem by Andreas Vesalius, published in Basel in 1543, a revolutionary book on human anatomy based on authors findings resulting from autopsies carried out by him. The copy of Vesalius which is presented in the exhibition can serve as an example of how the royal collection was dispersed after the King’s death – Queen Anna Jagiellon, who inherited part of the library, donated the book to her doctor Sylvester Roguski in 1586.
[3] Anonymous binding, Vilnius, 1559
Author: Silius Italicus, Caius (ca 26-ca 101)
Title: Pvnicoru[m] libri. xvij…
Published: Basel: Thomas Wolff, 10 XI 1522
Physical description: [4], 234, [2] leaves ; 8°
Provenance: 1. Sigismundi Augusti Regis Poloniae Monumentum Anno 1559 [armorial and letter supralibros]; 2. Balthasari Cudnikowski Art. & Philosophiae Bac. Emptushic liber A.D. 1649 27 7bris gs 6; 3. [Hieronymus Pinocci:] Nro 118; 4. Joseph Maximilian (1748-1826); 5. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmarks 15.496, 28.264
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmarks: XVI.O.9591 adl./ 9592 adl.
Bibliographic references: Kawecka-Gryczowa A., Biblioteka ostatniego Jagiellona. Pomnik kultury renesansowej. Wrocław 1988; Kosiński J., Monumenta Zygmunta Augusta w zbiorach Ossolineum, „Roczniki Biblioteczne” 1967, no. 11, p. 407-422; Piech Z., Monety, pieczęcie i herby w systemie symboli władzy Jagiellonów, Warszawa 2003; Sidorowicz-Mulak D., Królewskie księgi w Ossolineum i ich proweniencje. O kilkunastu woluminach z biblioteki Zygmunta Augusta [in:] W czwartek o szesnastej, ed. T. Sokół. Wrocław 2016, p. 151-172; Sidorowicz-Mulak D., Wagner A., Dzieło Vesaliusa w oprawie Mistrza Dawida a problem początków księgozbioru króla Zygmunta Augusta. „Roczniki Biblioteczne” 2015, p. 299-324; Wagner A., Superekslibris polski, Toruń 2016
By Dorota Sidorowicz-Mulak
The books from the library of Melchior Krupek, a Cracow patrician, are proof that Renaissance burgher libraries were large and opulent. It is believed that Krupka received a collection of humanist and Protestant books from Andrew Trzecieski and his son, Andrew Junior, as a debt payment. Both Andrew Trzecieski father and Andrzej Trzecieski son were active members of the Reformation movement; Trzecieski the Younger was also a writer and one of the translators of the Brest (or Radziwiłł) Bible. The library comprised carefully selected books which were bound during a short period of 1550-1554. Krupka did not leave any volumes bound differently. The bookbindings from this visually coherent collection are similar to the ones made for Sigismund II Augustus by Master David and George Moeller. Both the design on the front cover (empty ornamental framing, Krupka coat of arms surrounded by a laurel wreath in the centre, roulette decoration with medallion with busts) and the supralibros composed of letters on the back cover „Melchioris Crupek Monumentum” resemble the bindings from the library of Sigismund II Augustus. The presented volume Belli Sacri Historia Libris XXIIII comprehensa by the French chronicler Guillaume de Tyr, published in Basel in 1540, describes the history of the Crusades. Its binding (boards, brown leather tooled in blind and gild) clearly refers to the series of bindings made for King Sigismund II Augustus in Cracow by Master David and George Moeller. The inscription “Melchioris Crupek Monumentum” was pressed on the back cover. Currently, books from the Krupka collection are held by institutions in Prague, Bratislava and Poland.
Object type: Volume from the library of Melchior Krupka = Melchioris Crupek Monumentum
Bookbinder: Master David, Cracow bookbinder
Created: Cracow, 1551
Binding: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind, silver and gold, plaquette
Author: Guillaume de Tyr (ok. 1130-ok. 1190)
Title: Belli Sacri Historia…
Published: Basel: Nicolaus Brylinger & Johann Oporinus, III 1549
Physical description: [16] leaves, 578 pages, [5] leaves, 253 [1] pages ; 2°
Provenance: 1. Melchioris Crupek Monumentum 1551 [armorial and letter supralibros]; 2. Ex […]iensis; 3. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 4. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 28.756, 38.195
Bibliographic references: Lewicka-Kamińska A., Krupka (Krupek, Krupski) Melchior [in:] Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. 15. Wrocław 1970, s. 414-415; Katalog druków XVI wieku z historycznej kolekcji Ossolineum, ed. D. Sidorowicz-Mulak, Wrocław 2017, no. 1334
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.13675/13676 adl.
By Sidorowicz-Mulak
Volume donated by Johannes Dantiscus, a poet, diplomat and Bishop of Chełmno, to Nicholas Pilecki, Voivode of Bełz, in 1518. Dantyszek began his career at the court of King John I Albert and later was appointed a royal writer by Alexander Jagiellon. He demonstrated his diplomatic talent during a mission given to him by Queen Bona to recover the Duchy of Bari for her, which finished with a success. During his numerous journeys, he established contacts with greatest humanist thinkers: Erasmus Roterodamus, Thomas More, Philip Melanchthon and Jan van der Campen; he also knew Martin Luther. Dantiscus was a renowned author who wrote in Polish and Latin. For his work, he received the poetical laurel from Maximilian I. Nicholas Pilecki, who obtained this rare Italian astrological book, might have wanted to commemorate the gift he had received from such an eminent person and commissioned a binding with an inscription: “Sortilegium Magnifico D [omi] no Nicolai Pilcen [si] Palatino Belsen [si] a Ioan [ne] Dantisco Datum 1518” (i.e. Sortilegium donated to Nicholas Pilecki, Voivode of Bełz, by Johannes Dantiscus, in 1518). Dantiscus probably brought this richly illustrated volume during his first diplomatic mission to Italy.
Object type: Volume from the collection of Johannes Dantiscus
Bookbinder: anonymous
Created: 1518
Bindings: boards, brown leather, tooled in blind and gold, plaquette
Title: Sortilegium
Published: Venice: Bernardino Benalio, 1515
Physcal description: [16] leaves, 191, [1 blank] pages, [8] leaves ; 2°
Illustrations: woodcuts
Provenance: 1. Sortilegium Magnifico D[omi]no Nicolao Pilcen[si] Palatino Belsen[si] a Ioan[ne] Dantisco Datvm 1518 [pressed on the front cover]; 2. Mikolaij Dunin szpoth; 3. Pro Con[ven]tu Crac[oviensi] Ad S. Fran[ciscum]; 4. Joseph Maximilian Ossoliński (1748-1826); 5. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 16.128
Bibliographic references: Katalog druków XVI wieku z historycznej kolekcji Ossolineum, ed. D. Sidorowicz-Mulak, Wrocław 2017, no. 2777
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.13511
By Dorota Sidorowicz-Mulak
Art of the Polish Golden Age
Obverse with a bust of Sigismund I the Old, right side. The King is wearing a plain hat with a small wreath, a szuba or coat with fur collar and a chemise underneath with adorned stand-up collar showing. He has an ornate Order of the Golden Fleece on his neck. An inscription around the border: „ SIGISMUNDVS P[RIMVS] REX POLONIÆ – DVX LITVANIÆ RVSSIÆ PRVSS[I” (Sigismund I the Old, King of Poland, Duke of Lithuania, Russia, Prussia).
Reverse with a shield with the Jagiellonian Eagle entwined with the letter “S”, an inscription around the wide border: „ET MAZOVIÆ ETZ[ETERA] ANNO D[OMI]N[I]: MDXXXVIII REGN[I] SVI XXXII” (and Mazovia etc. Anno Domini 1538, of his reign 32).
The medal was probably casted on the occasion of the engagement of Sigismund II Augustus with Elizabeth of Austria on May 16, 1538. It is known that the medal was given to guests of the royal wedding that took place in 1543.
Producer: Giovanni Giacomo Caraglio (ca 1500-1565)
Object type: medal of Sigismund I the Old
Production: Cracow, 1538
Physical description: casted circular gold medal, diameter 36,1 mm, weight 25,98 g
Bibliografia: Raczyński E., Gabinet medalów polskich oraz tych, które się dziejów Polski tycza począwszy od najdawniejszych aż do końca panowania Jana III (1513 – 1696). Tom I, Wrocław 1838, 26-27, no 8; Więcek A., Dzieje sztuki medalierskiej w Polsce, Kraków 1989, p. 21-23, ill. 14; Wojciechowski J., Caraglio w Polsce, Rocznik Historii Sztuki, vol. 25, 2000, p. 42-43, no 1; Morka M., Sztuka dworu Zygmunta I Starego. Treści polityczne i propagandowe, Warszawa 2006, p. 325-326, ill. 210; Baran E., Złote monety i medale Zygmunta I Starego w zbiorach ZNiO we Wrocławiu (cz. II), „Przegląd Numizmatyczny”, no 2(73)/2011, p. 13, no 6
Provenance: 1. Henry Lubomirski (1777-1850); 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv
Notes: unsigned medal
Held by: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Muzeum Książąt Lubomirskich
Shelfmark: G 1561
By Łukasz Koniarek
Obverse with a bust of Sigismund II Augustus facing left. The King is wearing a closed crown with bands and cross over the head, decorative antique-style Renaissance armour decorated with floral ornament on the plate armour, mascarons on the spaulder and coats of arms of Poland and Lithuania below, and a coat slung over his armour and fastened with a knot; he has a decorative chain around his neck with a lion (?) pendant. The inscription around the border divided into two parts with the crown’s top: „SIGISMVNDVS□AVGVSTVS – D□G□REX□POLONIÆ || □M□DVX□LITVANIÆ □ – □RVSSIÆ□P□M□E□T[?]” [Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Russia, Prussia, Mazovia and […] l(ands?)]. Narrow, slightly protruding edging.
Reverse with a symbolic representation of Faith – woman figure wearing a loose coat, with her right hand pointing upwards and right holding a cup. The inscription around the border: „DVM □ SPIRITVS □ HOS □ REGET □ ARTUS” [So long as the spirit controls limbs].
Producer: Caraglio, Giovanni Giacomo (ca 1500-1565)
Object type: medal of Sigismund II Augustus
Produced: Cracow, 1554-1565, restrike
Physical description: cast circular bronze medal, diameter: 56,7-56,8 mm, weight: 25,98 g
Bibliographic references: Raczyński E., Gabinet medalów polskich oraz tych, które się dziejów Polski tycza począwszy od najdawniejszych aż do końca panowania Jana III (1513 – 1696). Tom I, Wrocław 1838, 104-105, no. 24; Gumowski M., Medale Jagiellonów, Kraków 1906, p. 87-90, tabl. XXII: 88; Więcek A., Dzieje sztuki medalierskiej w Polsce, Kraków 1989, p. 23, ill. 17; Wojciechowski J., Caraglio w Polsce, „Rocznik Historii Sztuki”, vol. 25, 2000, s. 48-49, no. 5; Stahr M., Katalog zbiorów Muzeum Narodowego w Poznaniu. Tom II: Medale polskie i z Polską związane od XVI do XVIII wieku, Poznań 2008, p. 29-30, no. 11
Provenance: former collection of the National Ossoliński Institute in Lviv
Notes: without signature
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: G 50
By Łukasz Koniarek
Obverse with a bust of Sigismund II Augustus facing right. The King is depicted with his head bare and short beard of a youth, wearing Renaissance armour without spaulders, distinct bevor, chemise underneath with adorned collar showing, and an antique-style coat thrown over his armour, which is tied at his left arm. Small closed crown on the left side of the medal, inscription around the border: „□SIGIS□AVG□REX□POLO□MG□DVX□LIT□ÆT□S□XXIX□” [Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania at the age of 29].
Reverse with the massive Eagle with talons, neck shaped in the letter “S”, wings with several rows of feathers of different size and crown with a cross above, surrounded by the inscription: „□ANO□D□NRI□M□DXLVIII□DOMINICVS□VENETVS□FECIT” [Anno Domini 1548, Dominic of Venetia produced it].
The medal was produced to celebrate the enthronement of Sigismund II Augustus. It was a sole case in the history of Poland when the king’s successor was elected and crowned before the old king (here Sigismund I the Old) died (vivente rege). It is a masterpiece of Renaissance medal art, but little is known about its producer, Dominic of Venice. It is one of the few medals of that time that bear the artist’s signature. The medal held in the Ossolineum is an only existing copy casted in gold.
Producer: Dominicus Venetus (active 1st half of the 16th century)
Object type: medal of Sigismund II Augustus produced on the occasion of his enthronement
Production: Cracow, 1548
Physical description: casted circular gold medal, diameter: 49,4-49,5 mm, weight: 95,30 g
Bibliographic references: Raczyński E., Gabinet medalów polskich oraz tych, które się dziejów Polski tycza począwszy od najdawniejszych aż do końca panowania Jana III (1513 – 1696). Tom I, Wrocław 1838, 60-61, no. 16; Gumowski M., Medale Jagiellonów, Kraków 1906, p. 78-79, tabl. XX: 75; Więcek A., Dzieje sztuki medalierskiej w Polsce, Kraków 1989, p. 21, ill. 13; Skarby Historii Polski. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich gościem Wiednia. Katalog Wystawy, Wrocław 2009, p. 96.
Provenanace: former collection of the National Ossoliński Institute in Lviv
Notes: with signature
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute, Museum of Princes Lubomirski
Shelfmark: G 1611
By Koniarek
A copy of comedies by Plautus published in 1510 that were once in possession of Giovanni Silvio de Mathio, a doctor of law and teacher of young Sigismund II Augustus. Giovanni Silvio de Mathio (Lat. Ioannes Silvius Amatus), nicknamed Siculus (łac. Siculus – Sicilian), was one of many Italians who lived and were active in Poland during the Golden Age. Mathio, who arrived in Cracow around 1499, was, among other, a lecturer teaching Greek at the Cracow Academy – his lectures were so popular that all handbooks were sold out and new ones had to be brought from Venice. In 1529, at the initiative of Queen Bona, he was appointed as a teacher of nine-year-old Sigismund. The book presented at the exhibition belonged to Siculus once, as evidenced by numerous commentaries made by him in ink inside the book.
Author: Plautus, Titus Maccius (ca 250-ca 184 p.n.e.)
Title: Actii Plauti Asinii Comoediae uiginti…
Published: Parma: Francesco Ugoleto and Ottaviano Saladi, March 9 [i.e. after April 7], 1510
Physical description: [8], CCCV [i.e. 309], [1 blank] leaves ; 2°.
Bibliographic references: Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 2386; Quirini-Popławska D., Działalność Włochów w Polsce w I połowie XVI wieku na dworze królewskim, w dyplomacji i hierarchii kościelnej, Wrocław 1973, p. 32-34
Provenanace: 1. Ioannis Syluij Amati I.V.D. Panhormitani C.P.; 2. Jacobus Clobuczki Canonicus Leopolien. possessor; 3. Donated to the Ossolineum Library by the heirs of Joseph Dzierzkowski in 1840; 3. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 34.183.
Bbinding: half-leather – 19th century
Notes: marginal notes in Latin, underlines by Giovanni Silvio de Mathio (16th century)
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.13288
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
An extremely rare occasional publication written by Andrew Krzycki, Primate of Poland, poet and royal secretary, for the wedding of Bona Sforza and Sigismund I the Old. The event wasimmortalized in writings by many other authors, but since these kind of publications were usually occasional and not intended for regular book distribution but gifted to wedding guests, their copies are scarce nowadays. Bona’s wedding and coronation ceremony took place in Cracow on April 18, 1518. On the morning of that day, King Sigismund, wearing a scarlet cloak, and Bona, wearing a blue dress with beehive embroidery, walked in the coronation procession from the castle stairs to the cathedral door; the road was covered with red carpet. The crowd of people is told to be so large that the Tatars who were keeping order had to use force to prevent them from pressing against the rows of attendants. The wedding ceremony gathered in Cracow over 600 Italians. It is often regarded as a beginning of close contacts between Polish and Italians that lasted throughout the entire Golden Age. During almost 40 years of the Queen’s stay in Poland, over a thousand Italians, who performed various functions, passed through her court. Merchants, craftsmen and artists were followed by courtiers and diplomats, and “never has Cracow streets resonated so intensely with the Italian language”. Bona also introduced new customs, fashion and cuisine, and her influence on the politics of the time was so huge that she remains the most colourful and famous queen in the history of Poland.
Author: Krzycki, Andrew (1482-1537)
Title: Epithalamion Cum Aliis Lectu Non Iniocundis
Published: Cracow: Johann Haller, 1518.
Physical description: [16] leaves ; 8°.
Illustrations: woodcut (coat of arms)
Bibliographic references: Bogucka M., Bona Sforza, Wrocław 2009; Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1905, vol. 20, p. 330; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 135
Provenance: 1. P. K. 9309; 2. Former collection of the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, shelfmark 20.347.
Binding: cloth – 20th century
Held by: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich
Shelfmark: XVI.O.468
By Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła
A re-edition of the first edition of a widely read work Sarmatiae Europeae descriptio (Description of the European Sarmatia) by Alessandro Guagnini, a naturalized Italian who served as a soldier in King Sigismund Augustus’ army, having left – as the story tells – Italy for Poland in search of luck and fortune. The author described the lands of the so-called Sarmatia, i.e. a territory inhabited in the ancient times by courageous Sarmatians. According to the Polish gentry, Sarmatians were predecessors of Slavic people, including Poles. The work presents the rulers of Poland, Lithuania, Prussia and other neighbouring countries, and contains numerous woodcuts with images of crowned heads and some more important coats of arms. Guagnini struggled with multiple problems while printing his work. It was published by Matthias Wirzbięta in 1574 with a dedication to King Henry III of France, but after the King’s escape to France in the same year, the distribution was put on hold (only Henry received one copy), and the author ran into financial problems. In 1578, a kind of re-edition was released to the book market: the dedication to Henry was torn out of the already printed volumes and replaced with a new one, this time addressed to next King Stephen Báthory. When the re-edition was issued in 1578, the author was accused of plagiarism – Matthias Stryjkowski, who was Guagnini’s subordinate when they served together in the military in Vitebsk, accused him of stealing a handwritten copy of his work with the same title. As researchers emphasize, Sarmatiae Europeae descriptio is a compilation, and although it does contain fragments similar to Stryjkowski’s work, Guagnini managed to create an original work. The troubles listed above did not affect the popularity of the book. Until the end of the 16th century, it was reissued several times in various European publishing houses, its fragments (with or without the author’s name) were reprinted as part of historical publications, and the text translated into many languages, including Italian, all the time disseminating the idea of Polish Sarmatism.
Author: Guagnini, Alessandro (1538-1614)
Title: Sarmatiae Evropeae Descriptio, quae Regnum Poloniae, Lituaniam, Samogitiam, Rusiam, Massouiam, Prussiam, Pomeraniam, Liuoniam, & Moschouiae, Tartariaeque partem complectitur…
Published: Cracow: Matthias Wirzbięta, [post 20 VI 1578]
Published: [5], 79 leaves, [1] sheet in pl° ; [1], 33 leaves ; [1], 13 leaves ; [1], 9 leaves ; [1], 47 leaves ; [1], 10, [8] leaves ; 2º
Illustrations: woodcuts
Bibliographic references: Estreicher K., Bibliografia polska. Cz. 3: Stólecie XV-XVIII w układzie abecadłowym, Kraków 1899, vol. 17, p. 484-485; Katalog starych druków Biblioteki Zakładu Narodowego im. Ossolińskich: Polonica wieku XVI, ed. M. Bohonos, Wrocław 1965, no. 995; Wilgosiewicz-Skutecka R., Komu było dedykowane dzieło Gwagnina Sarmatiae Europeaedescripto? – rozwiązanie zagadki znanego polonicum XVI w., „Biblioteka” 2007, no. 11 (20), p. 11-28
Provenance: 1. Gervasius Szlubic Załęski aedifex Mozyr. mp. [ca 1778]; 2. Ex-Libris Com. Branicki Sucha [bookplate]; Bibliothek des Zentral-Instituts für Oberschlesiche Landesforschung [stamp]
Binding: half-leather – 19th century
Notes: handwritten Latin notes on 79v.
Held by: National Ossoliński Institute
Shelfmark: XVI.F.4203
By Konrad Szymański
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