The “Studies into the History of the Book and Book Collections” quarterly was established in 2006, as a successor to the series “From the History of Polish Historical Book Collections”. By publishing articles treating on subjects pertinent to the broadly understood culture of the book in historical context, the journal continues the line of its predecessor, but at the same time widens the scope of its interest to encompass the history of the book outside of Poland too. Hence, the periodical aims to provide a forum for the exchange of thought for Polish book-historians, and by inviting researchers from abroad to publish their articles with us, to present to the Polish specialists current accomplishments, initiatives, and trends in book studies abroad.
The volumes, which initially appeared at approximately annual intervals, assumed a thematic character from the fourth issue onwards – each was intended to gather articles devoted to a specific, though broadly defined, area of research. Professor Barbara Bieńkowska edited the series she had founded until the early 1990s, publishing fifteen volumes. Upon her retirement, she entrusted the editorship to Professor Józef Wojakowski, who abandoned the concept of compiling thematic volumes. After a break of more than two years, which concluded with a comprehensive reform of the publication undertaken by Professor Jacek Soszyński, the journal Studies into the History of the Book and Book Collections was established. It was intended to continue the ideas and aims of its founder while broadening the field of interest, providing a forum for presenting both individual and collective research achievements, as well as for scholarly discussion on the history of manuscript and printed book culture from the earliest times to the present day.
Since October 2016, the journal has been edited by Professor Jacek Puchalski at the Chair of Book and Media History, Faculty of Journalism, Information and Book Studies, University of Warsaw. In 2019, the Editorial Board decided to change the publication frequency from an annual to a quarterly in order to ensure faster circulation of published articles within the scholarly community and to increase their citation rate. In 2025, the position of Editor-in-Chief was assumed by Professor Agnieszka Chamera-Nowak.
The quarterly „Studies into the History of the Book and Book Collection” continues to publish the results of research concerning the broadly understood culture of the book in its historical context. At the same time, the transformations underlying the journal were guided by the idea of extending its field of interest beyond Polish materials. The journal’s mission is therefore to provide a comprehensive forum for the publication and exchange of ideas among Polish book scholars and, by inviting international researchers to collaborate, to present the latest achievements, initiatives, and trends in the study of book culture worldwide.
The development of the journal has confirmed the need for a periodical of this kind. After the first two volumes of an introductory nature—modest in size and seeking their own formula—the subsequent ones proved to be both an editorial and scholarly success. Further changes in the journal’s graphic design have taken place since 2016, in parallel with the process of adapting the publication to international standards for electronic journals. The electronic version has become the journal’s primary edition.
The Editorial Committee is counselled by a Scholarly Advisory Board comprised of researchers from all Polish academic centres which train librarians at the university level, and of scholars from the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, Hungary, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. Foreign members constitute nearly 63% of the Board. The periodical is on permanent acquisition lists of over 40 international libraries, including the Library of Congress and the British Library.
Each article published is subjected to a two-level peer-reviewing process. The periodical comprises the sections: articles, materials, reviews, and a chronicle, and is supplemented by a list of contributors. Some of the volumes encompass specialized sections devoted to a specific theme (Vol. 4: The Swiętokrzyskie Sermons; Vol. 6: Polish and foreign internet initiatives concerning a digital platform of the history of the book; Vols 7–8: digital humanities), important persons (Vol. 5: A. Kawecka-Gryczowa and J. Grycz) or proceedings (Vol. 9: Polish and Russian cultural heritage in the libraries – research perspectives; special volume in 2017: Polonica in foreign collections; t. special edition 2019: For the Independent, in which the articles present a multifaceted picture of the factors that shaped the culture of the Second Republic, but also allowed its heritage to survive during and after the Second World War; v. 3/2021– Book culture history research in Slovakia; v. 2/2023 – Cyrillo-Methodian Written Culture: From Medieval Sources to the Latest Research; v. 4/2023 – Selected resources in special libraries and archival collections in the United States and Canada).
All articles are provided with abstracts in English, as well as keywords in both English and Polish, and include a list of references. Some articles are also available in a full English-language version.
The journal is published regularly and has a website containing comprehensive information that meets the standards required of electronic journals. All articles published in the journal are freely accessible under Creative Commons licences, in accordance with the current models published by the Creative Commons organization, in particular CC BY-NC 4.0 (attribution, non-commercial use). The Editorial Board does not require any payment for accepting the articles for publication, nor does it pay any fees.
