Handwritten elements in the Old Polish early printed books

Abstract

The article concerns problems of handwritten elements to be found in early printed books in the Old Polish period. The author analysed provenance notes sensu stricte, but also other different marks (e.g. underlines, erasures, marginalia, manicule) left by the readers on the pages of a printed book in the 16th and 17th centuries. Co-existence of external features applicable to a medieval manuscript (the same location of the notes made usually in traditional, neat handwriting), expressions taken from the ancient literature, and the contents expressing the personality of a man of a new epoch in handwritten notes, enables (according to the author) to perceive them as an element specific for the Old Polish culture.