Home book collections of the intelligentsia and landowners in Galicia (1795-1914)

Abstract

The author describes 223 home book collections of the intelligentsia and Polish landowners in Galicia in the years 1795-1914. He identified them in inventories, library catalogues, and historical works. He offers a deep analysis of these collections in regard of their number, forms (manuscripts, old prints, iconography, etc.) and contents in a subject order: general section, humanities, and social sciences, mathematical, natural, and technical sciences, earth sciences, and agricultural sciences. He also describes - sometimes complicated - history of analysed collections (e.g. 66 of them were moved to different institutional libraries) and their usage. Concluding, he states that book collections had become not only a symbol of the social status of their owners but also a tool of professional work, in particular for the scholars, teachers, medical doctors, etc. The article is completed with: the List of the owners of home book collections in Galicia (approx. 1000 and more volumes); the List of the owners of home book collections in Galicia (less than 1000 volumes); the List of other owners of home book collections in Galicia (information incomplete).