The studies on the book collections of the House of Vasa
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33077/uw.25448730.zbkh.1992.426Keywords:
royal book collections in Poland in the 17th century, the book at the court of the Vasa, bibliophilism, dispersed book collections, the history of libraries of Polish kings.Abstract
The kings of the Waza dynasty, Sigismund III and his sons Władysław IV and Jan Kazimierz ruled in Poland in the period 1587-1668. They continued bibliophilic traditions of the kings of the Jagiellonian dynasty. The founder of the palace library was Sigismund III who started collecting books in Sweden as the Swedish prince. Through purchases and gifts he collected quite a large library consisting of volumes on a variety of subjects. This library was inherited almost in whole by his eldest son and the successor of the Polish throne - Władysław IV who increased the collection with new purchases. The next owner of the palace library was Jan Kazimierz. The kings had their books bound in leather or parchment and provided with blazon superexlibris. Prince Karol Ferdynand Waza - the bishop of Wrocław and Płock - collected a library in the Ujazdów Palace. The library consisted of several hundred of works in various fields. During the Swedish occupation in the years 1655-1656 the Swedes carried away many books from the Royal Palace and the Ujazdów Palace. The Wazas' books were totally dispersed. Part of them remained in the collections in the Royal Palace in Stockholm, but most of them found their way to private owners’ libraries. After the Polish-Swedish war Jan Kazimierz began collecting books again. Queen Ludwika Maria had an important part in increasing the collection as she received many books from France. King Jan Kazimierz abdicated in 1668 and left for France taking his books with him. After his death the collection consisting of about 350 volumes was dispersed.
In the years 1984-1987 I was searching throughout European libraries for books belonging to the Wazas. As a resolt I found over 150 titles in 145 volumes. Most of them are in Polish and Swedish libraries. Single copies can be found in libraries in Vilnius and in the National Library in Berlin.
The remnants of the Wazas’ collections and other materials concerning the history of these collections are the subject of a research project called ”The book in the courts of the kings of the Waza dynasty in Poland”.
