The book collections of medical doctors in Warsaw in the 19th century as a basis for assessment of the scholar culture of the community
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33077/uw.25448730.zbkh.1985.411Keywords:
book collections of medical doctors in Warsaw in the 19th century, private book collections in the 19th century, bibliological studies, sources to the history of libraries.Abstract
The medical doctors have belonged to the intellectual and cultural elites of the society in Poland since the 15th century, as well as to the most progressive and active group of the bourgeois. The author analyses libraries of the medical doctors in Warsaw in the 19th century, and book reception in this community. As preserved sources (among others - recollections and diaries) reveal, the medical doctors in Warsaw were the owners of rich libraries, abundant with professional literature and publications from other areas. The main research topic was first and foremost the medical book, its circulation, and reception, as well as the effects of these processes and people participating in them. Non-professional reading interests of medical doctors were analysed as well. Their libraries indicate non-medical reading preferences of their owners, mostly in culture and the art in the broad sense. The research was based on archival materials (e.g. mortgage records, notarial acts, inventories, testimonies).
