On the need for further research on bibliological Polonica in Sweden

Abstract

The most serious losses in Polish written heritage occurred during the Polish- -Swedish wars in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. During each of the three war campaigns the Swedes plundered and took out to Sweden the Polish church (monastery, cathedral or capitular) libraries as well as secular ones, including book collections belonging to Polish kings (Sigismund II Augustus and Sigismund III Vasa). Owing to the Polish endeavors, the 1660 Peace of Oliwa contained a clause that ensured the return of the seized Polish cultural assets but it was not implemented in practice. Consequently, the Polish scholars faced the task of seeking and registering the Polish possessions kept in Swedish book collections. The measures undertaken in this area in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries showed the wealth, diversity and value of the books belonging to Polish written heritage but they covered only a part of it. It is therefore necessary to continue research of this kind, which will enable more thorough knowledge of different aspects of the history of book culture in Poland. They will be also a significant source for historical-bibliological, literature-science, science of science, and similar studies.