Book collections which belonged to Polish families living in the Eastern Podillia province in the forepart of the 20th century: general description of the owners and composition of collections (according to the library stocks of the Vinnytsia Regional Sci

Abstract

The article covers personal book collections belonging to the Poles residing in the Eastern part of the Podilla province, then nationalized by Soviet authorities in 1919-1920, and currently reposited in library stocks of the Vinnytsia Regional General-Purpose Scien- tific Library named after K.A. Timiriazev. There are about 5100 volumes in Polish, French, Russian, German, English, Latin and Ukrainian languages (listed in a decreasing order of books quantity) altogether. The editions were printed in the territory of Poland and other European countries in the 16th – the turn of the 20th century. The books came from eight family libraries of manor houses as well as from 45 personal collections. The available library stock makes it possible to characterize composition of the collections, the Poles’ interests and everyday life habits associated with books, as well as the role books played in the process of national identity formation.