What did remain of the worn out editions? The collections of the local and foreign libraries as the base for research of the Polish popular books of the second half of the 19th century (a case study of selected religious and didactic publications)

Abstract

The paper offers an insight into the poor state of preservation of the Polish popular publications of the second half of the 19th century, based on systematic queries for the new edition of the Estreicher family Bibliografia Polska XIX stulecia (Polish Bibliography of the 19th century). The queries revealed that many of the editions in question are now completely lost, and quite often the only one or two survived copies can be found either abroad or in small local libraries/museums. The discussed examples include several popular books by the Roman Catholic bishop, Szymon Marcin Kozłowski; the commonly used primer for country children (Elementarz dla chłopców wiejskich for boys and Upominek dla dziewcząt wiejskich for girls); and the religious publications of Blessed Father Honorat OMFCap (Florentyn Wacław Koźmiński). Problems with the preservation of popular books from cultural borderlands are illustrated by the case of the Lutheran catechism published by Rev. Karol Kotschy for the local Silesian evangelical community in Ustroń. Finally, a few examples of the 19th-century Polish-American mass publications are discussed.