Polish Scientific Conference “The History of Books and Press: the Present State of Research 2013–2015” (Bydgoszcz, 27th November 2015)

Abstract

The conference “The History of Books and Press: The Present State of Research 2013–2015” took place in November 2015 in Bydgoszcz. It was an occasion to discuss a variety of interesting problems related to the broadly-defined history of books, libraries and press. The range of topics included subjects such as: the early days of the European Christian culture, the development of the European Christian Culture in the Middle Ages and its prosperity in the 16^th century, and finally the 19^th and 20^th centuries, which enjoyed the greatest popularity among the conference participants (e.g. papers on the subject matters in the Polish specialist press in the 19^th and 20^th centuries). Furthermore, relevant papers on the history of libraries were presented, including papers on the history of the Jagiellonian Library, the Malbork Castle, as well as the Dominican and seminary book collections. The conference also featured papers on the guilds in Gdańsk, the collections of the Gdańsk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the ways in which Polish bookbinders signed bindings in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. This gave us a new insight into the discussed matters. As befits the location, the history of book collections in Pomeranian manor houses was also touched upon. Despite the great diversity of topics, the conference successfully showed the contribution of the past generations of artists to the development of European and Polish culture, as well as the contemporary culture, which was explored in the papers relating to the present days of books, libraries and press. The report summarizes the meeting and briefly outlines papers presented at the conference.