Books from the Męciński and Zborowski Family Collections in the Holdings of the J. Słowacki Municipal Public Library in Tarnów

Abstract

Until 1945, the Tarnów region was inhabited by numerous families belonging to the gentry. Among the members of these clans one finds two distinguished representatives of the Męcińskis and the Zborowskis from Partyń: Józef Gabriel Męciński (1837–1921) – participant of the patriotic January Uprising, social and political activist, and his daughter Helena Wiktoria Zborowska (1876–1943) – a famous novelist and author of short stories, who published her first book under the pseudonym Blanka Halicka in 1901. In their residence, the possessors of the Partyń manor put together an interesting book collection, a fragment of which is preserved at the J. Słowacki Municipal Public Library in Tarnów. The collection was dominated by literary fi ction accompanied by historical works, and memoirs of famous personalities. Apart from that the collection encompassed numerous book series and multivolume editions. The majority of the extant books are in Polish. Of note are various bindings, made on order of the owners of the collection, and interesting bindings furnished already by the publishers, in particular with respect to German books. Among provenance marks left on the books by their owners, one is most typical – handwritten signature – obviously preferred by the majority of the family. The extant fragment of the collection encompasses a number of unique specimens of Polish and foreign editions, available only in few other libraries in Poland. Thanks to this fact, the Męciński – Zborowski collection should be treated not only as regional but also national heritage.