The book collection of Aleksander Benedykt Batowski

Abstract

Aleksander Benedykt Batowski (1760–1841) was a politician and diplomat active at the turnover of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. He was a bibliophile and owner of interesting book collection. His library was sold in 1826 to the Library of the Council of State of Kingdom of Poland (the collector needed money for a dowry for his daughter Dorota). Then Batowski moved to France. The library presented in this article included mostly publications in French (only approx. 10% in English, and approx. 5% in Latin). As for the contents, these were books on history, botany, diaries and correspondence, travelogues, legal codes, as well as literary books, dramas or dictionaries. Batowski was a conscious and patient bibliophile, therefore he collected valuable library in both content and graphical aspects. It seems that Aleksander Benedykt mostly purchased books, only a few of them he received as a gift. The library is a modern collection. Its owner was a cultural, literate man, well oriented in belles lettres. Analysis of his collection extends existing knowledge about its owner, and introduces new, interesting figure into the history of bibliophilism and collecting.