Department VIII - Old prints and manuscripts
The nucleus of the collection of old prints was the Czapski family’s gift of over 8,000 items that had formed Emeryk Hutten-Czapski’s library. When the collections of the Chodkiewiczes, Helena Dąbczańska, Edward Goldstein, Feliks Jasieński, Wacław Lasocki, Adolf Sternschuss, Adam Wolański and others were added, the library grew to over 26,000 volumes and joined in whole the National Library Resources System. The resources of the old library were supplemented with publications dating from the first half of the 19th century.
The collecting focus has always been on polonica - monumental works relating to Polish history and legislation, and to achievements of the 16th-19th-century European science, especially law, theology and natural sciences. The Department takes special pride in its collection of prints from 16th-century Krakow publishing houses, political publications of the Great Seym, 17th and 18th-century panegyrics, programmes of school theatres, calendars and Polish and foreign magazines. The department also boasts of some books that have survived in a single copy only.
The collection of more than 2300 manuscripts was compiled in the main through gifts and legacies. They were donated to the Museum as self-contained assemblages or as parts of larger collections comprising art publications and libraries. The collection was started in 1885 by Władysław Mickiewicz, who presented an autograph of his father, poet Adam Mickiewicz. Others followed his example donating autographs of the poet’s literary works and correspondence. In the years 1887–1939 the circle of benefactors was joined by famous collectors, writers, poets and scientists, who presented historical documents, literaria and medieval manuscripts, among them Tytus Kołyszko, Zygmunt Gloger, Antoni Ryszard, Ignacy Wolski, Wiktor Windyk-Wittyg, Piotr Umiński, Wacław Lasocki, Stanisław Tomkowicz, Adam Wolański, Kazimierz W. Wóycicki as well as Emeryk Hutten-Czapski and Bohdan Czapski.
The most precious are parchment documents relating to history of Poland from the 12th to the 19th century (159 items), over 20 medieval manuscripts, including illuminated ones, autographs of Polish kings and dukes from the 14th to the 18th century, as well as autographs of luminaries of Polish political life of the 16th-18th century (Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Tadeusz Kosciusko, Prince Józef Poniatowski, Antoni Madaliński or Józef Bem) and Polish culture (Olga Boznańska, Karol Szymanowski, Henryk Siemiradzki, Feliks “Manggha” Jasieński, Stanisław Tarnowski or Tadeusz Stryjeński) as well as manuscripts of writers, and poets (for example Maria Konopnicka, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Adam Asnyk, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Stanisław Wyspiański or Stanisław Przybyszewski).
Early Polish and 19th-century ecclesiastical guild and municipal manuscripts are also richly represented, just as archives of noble families: the Chodkiewiczes of Młynow, the Sapiehas of Krasiczyn, the Rzewuskis, the Męcińskis and the Czapskis. Recently, the Museum has acquired the archives of Józef and Maria Czapski from Maison-Laffitte, along with correspondence between prominent figures of cultural and political life from the years 1944–1993, both Poles and foreign nationals. Another section are records of state offices, institutions and associations, including the archives of the Crown Treasury, customs chambers in the Polish Republic, and the Association of Numismatists in Krakow.
The sphragistic resources include seals ranging in date from the 14th to the 20th century, metal and gypsum casts of Polish and foreign seals, as well as a set of original seals affixed to municipal documents in the 16th-18th centuries.
The collection of manuscripts is stored temporarily at the Princes Czartoryski Library.
The collecting focus has always been on polonica - monumental works relating to Polish history and legislation, and to achievements of the 16th-19th-century European science, especially law, theology and natural sciences. The Department takes special pride in its collection of prints from 16th-century Krakow publishing houses, political publications of the Great Seym, 17th and 18th-century panegyrics, programmes of school theatres, calendars and Polish and foreign magazines. The department also boasts of some books that have survived in a single copy only.
The collection of more than 2300 manuscripts was compiled in the main through gifts and legacies. They were donated to the Museum as self-contained assemblages or as parts of larger collections comprising art publications and libraries. The collection was started in 1885 by Władysław Mickiewicz, who presented an autograph of his father, poet Adam Mickiewicz. Others followed his example donating autographs of the poet’s literary works and correspondence. In the years 1887–1939 the circle of benefactors was joined by famous collectors, writers, poets and scientists, who presented historical documents, literaria and medieval manuscripts, among them Tytus Kołyszko, Zygmunt Gloger, Antoni Ryszard, Ignacy Wolski, Wiktor Windyk-Wittyg, Piotr Umiński, Wacław Lasocki, Stanisław Tomkowicz, Adam Wolański, Kazimierz W. Wóycicki as well as Emeryk Hutten-Czapski and Bohdan Czapski.
The most precious are parchment documents relating to history of Poland from the 12th to the 19th century (159 items), over 20 medieval manuscripts, including illuminated ones, autographs of Polish kings and dukes from the 14th to the 18th century, as well as autographs of luminaries of Polish political life of the 16th-18th century (Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, Tadeusz Kosciusko, Prince Józef Poniatowski, Antoni Madaliński or Józef Bem) and Polish culture (Olga Boznańska, Karol Szymanowski, Henryk Siemiradzki, Feliks “Manggha” Jasieński, Stanisław Tarnowski or Tadeusz Stryjeński) as well as manuscripts of writers, and poets (for example Maria Konopnicka, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Adam Asnyk, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Stanisław Wyspiański or Stanisław Przybyszewski).
Early Polish and 19th-century ecclesiastical guild and municipal manuscripts are also richly represented, just as archives of noble families: the Chodkiewiczes of Młynow, the Sapiehas of Krasiczyn, the Rzewuskis, the Męcińskis and the Czapskis. Recently, the Museum has acquired the archives of Józef and Maria Czapski from Maison-Laffitte, along with correspondence between prominent figures of cultural and political life from the years 1944–1993, both Poles and foreign nationals. Another section are records of state offices, institutions and associations, including the archives of the Crown Treasury, customs chambers in the Polish Republic, and the Association of Numismatists in Krakow.
The sphragistic resources include seals ranging in date from the 14th to the 20th century, metal and gypsum casts of Polish and foreign seals, as well as a set of original seals affixed to municipal documents in the 16th-18th centuries.
The collection of manuscripts is stored temporarily at the Princes Czartoryski Library.