Jan Walter of Chojnice (*about 1445, †1512), initially a vicar, and then a parson of St. Peter and Paul’s Church, as well as a secretary of Gdansk City Council, is one of the best known figures associated with the old book culture in Gdansk. The article describes one of the aspects of his bibliophilia: book covers marked with supralibros. It first discusses works by local bookbinders made for Walter, and then analyses a supralibros in the form of a miniature oval featuring the mark of a bibliophile (the head of a Negro) against the background of the European and local tradition of marking books in late Middle Ages. As a result, it is demonstrated that six from among the Gdansk citizen’s books we currently know, which contain the mark, were provided with it secondarily. This is mainly indicated by the non-typical locations of the supralibros – each one is in a way “squeezed in” between the regularly spaced elements of the blind embossing adornment of the covers.

The article presents the significant role of director Marian Pelczar in the post-war rescuing of the collections of the Municipal Library in Gdansk (currently Gdansk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences). The actions related to the protection of book and manuscript collections after the Second World War were of key importance for the reconstruction of the Polish libraries and library science. Of particular importance was the period from 1945 until 1946, when the fate of the physical survival of many library materials hung in the air. Dr Marian Pelczar lavished tender care on the most precious collections of the Municipal Library and managed to extend them to include fragments of historical books and manuscripts from the region of Pomerelia. Acting during the exceptionally difficult post-war times, he contributed to the preservation of the precious heritage of regional, domestic, and European written culture of various provenance.

The article presents the content of non-published prose works by Stanisława Przybyszewska (1901–1935) from the Gdansk period of her oeuvre, i.e. from the period between 1923 and 1935. The author focuses on the widespread belief that Przybyszewska was interested only in the French Revolution and shows that this is erroneous: her works are much richer in topics, and are not limited solely to the play The Danton Case. On the basis of materials kept in the PAN Archives in Warsaw, the PAN Branch in Poznan and their digital copies kept in the Gdansk PAN Library, along with the description of manuscripts and typescripts, the author summarises the plot and issues discussed in such works as Asymptoty, Po omacku, Fons iuventutis, Twórczość Gerarda Gasztowta, Pasiphaë, Wybraniec losu, Eine realistische Studie, I Roma przeszła, Marcowy poranek, Sterylitas and Vanitas vanitatum, showing the extent to which Przybyszewska’s works can be useful in research devoted to the Polish literature from the interwar period as well as the history of the culture of the Free City of Danzig.

The Gdansk chronicle by Bernt Stegmann was written in the East Central German language (Ostmitteldeutsch) in 1528 and is the oldest surviving historiographic artefact concerning Gdansk. The article sums up the author’s latest findings concerning the circumstances in which the chronicle was written and the probable addressee of the work. She also puts forward some hypotheses regarding the origin of the compiler, discusses the structure of the manuscript and the manner of its production.
The chronicle is a compilation of some older historiographic sources, which place the history of the Main City of Gdansk in world history: the Jerusalem rulers and the history of the Teutonic Order. It is a type of a universal town chronicle. The content is moralizing – the compilation is a collection of historical examples teaching how to rule the town properly. It was probably written for didactic purposes for young Hans Kremer, the future mayor of Gdansk.
Bernt Stegmann was a merchant trading in such places as Stockholm and Reval. The toponymic criterion indicates that his family could originate from the area of Brandenburg or Braniewo, while the dialect in which he wrote the chronicle as well as the numerous Silesian threads in the content also make it possible to be open to the hypothesis that Stegmann’s family could have come from Silesia. This question remains unresolved. The manuscript was written and made personally by Bernt Stegmann, as indicated by the atypical arrangement of its sections and non-professional binding.

The cult of the book in Gdansk manifested itself in the numerous substantial private libraries, marked by the features and qualities of bibliophile facilities, as indicated by the artistic bindings, ex-libris and supralibros of their owners. After their owner’s death, many of the book collections of Gdansk bibliophiles were provided to the municipal library, of which the current Gdansk PAN Library is the heir and continuator. The books have historical bindings, represent a variety of styles and epochs, and many different adornment techniques. The majority of Gdansk patrician families and wealthy burghers belonging to the political, cultural, and scientific elite of the city had coats-of-arms granted to them by the Polish, Danish, or Swedish rulers, or Roman-German emperors. From among many volumes kept in the collection of the Gdansk Library and marked with coat-of-arms supralibros, sample prints from the collections of thirteen representatives of Gdansk bibliophiles were selected.

This article presents Gdansk calendars by the mathematician Johann Gottlieb Bartoldi (1736–1788), which were published from 1776 until 1789. The almanacs were entitled: “Neuer und Alter Kunst- und Tugend-Calender”, “Neuer und Alter Haus- und Geschichts-Calender” and “Allgemeiner Landwirtschafts-Calender”. This text highlights those aspects which depict the traditionalism and conservatism of the calendars, originating from the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Being one of the most important centres in the history of Polish medicine, Gdansk attracted many eminent doctors. Physicians (municipal doctors) and professors from the anatomy department of the Academic Gymnasium Danzig won their doctoral degrees at European universities, and when arriving in Gdansk, they often provided a copy of their dissertation to the Library of the City Council. The article presents results of the initial analysis of the medical print resources kept by the Gdansk PAN Library, including works by the Gymnasium graduates and doctors’ publications other than their doctoral dissertations printed in Gdansk. A comparative analysis of the selected twenty five prints (call marks Fa 69 8o, Sa 30 8o, XIX q. 83d, XIX q. 83f) was carried out with a view to determining the potential research problems and their relationship with the relevant sources.

The bibliography includes printed matriculation albums of universities, registers of members of student fraternities and nationalities preserved in the holdings of the PAS Gdańsk Library. The matriculation albums are a valuable source of information in biographic, genealogical, cultural and social research. Due to their merits as important scientific tools they were edited and published as early as in the 19th century. The bibliography includes sources dated 1289–1944 from 59 towns and 14 European countries (listed in the article under the modern country names), the oldest of which is matriculation record of the University in Bologna, the last one is a list of Polish students of the Medical Department at University in Königsberg. The items in the catalogue are arranged according to the names of the mentioned towns (in the Polish version). Within the category of the towns the author enumerates the matriculation albums, registers of nationalities and student fraternities, as well as other kinds of records, all arranged in alphabetical order. The sources that were impossible to be allocated to any of the above mentioned groups were placed in the appendix.

Magnus Bruski (1886–1945) was ordained to the priesthood in 1913. Bruski’s whole life was strongly connected with Gdansk. His duties as a priest were manifold and comprised remaining the office of a parish priest at St. Nichola’s Church (1935–45) and a vicar general of the diocese of Gdańsk (1934–38). Bruski actively worked in the Free City of Gdańsk succumbed at that time to National Socialism. He was frequently criticised for popularising the knowledge about the Polish language among German clergymen. Bruski died of typhus on July 9th, 1945. The St. Nichola’s Church’s book collection including the private library of Magnus Bruski (75 items) was lucky enough to be preserved only thanks to support from the Dominican friars in 1945. The collection is now a part of the holdings of PAN Gdansk Library. It is now a testimony of their owner’s great need of personal development and his mission to prevent and reduce alcohol abuse in Gdańsk.

Poniższy tekst jest polskim tłumaczeniem publikacji Die Danziger Stadtbibliothek. Ihre Entwicklung und ihr Neubau, Danzig 1905, która ukazała się z okazji otwarcia nowego gmachu Biblioteki Miejskiej w Gdańsku. Autorzy, Otto Günther i Karl Kleefeld, przedstawili dzieje książnicy, powstałej jako Biblioteka Rady Miasta Gdańska w 1596 roku i przekształconej w Bibliotekę Miejską w 1817 roku, oraz kolejne siedziby instytucji w byłym klasztorze franciszkańskim i kościele św. Jakuba; a także architekturę, wystrój i wyposażenie nowego budynku przy obecnej ul. Wałowej 15.

Occasional poetry included important genres of Gdańsk literature. The development of the poetry climaxed in the 17th century when Gdańsk experienced rapid growth in the field of science, culture and economy. Johann Peter Titz (1619–1689) was a professor of rhetoric at the Academic Gymnasium in Gdańsk and one of the most prolific authors of occasional poetry. Besides writing poems for the occasion, Titz was often himself a formal addressee of the poems. The events in Titz’s life became the subjects of a number of epithalamiums, epitaphs and gratulatory poems written by Titz’s friends including students and professors of the Academic Gymnasium in Gdańsk (Samuel Schelwig (1643–1715), Christoph Behr (1642–1704), Friedrich Büthner (1622–1701) and the members of the patriciate in Gdańsk (Johann Ernst Schmieden (1626–1707), Constantin Freder (1643–1707). The article provides a preliminary analysis of the occasional poetry composed for Titz and the register of the poems that have survived in the holdings of the PAS Gdańsk Library.

The portrait of Heinrich Schwarzwald IV (1619–1672) was incorporated into the PAS Gdańsk Library’s collection back in 1832. Heinrich Schwarzwald IV was the founder of the book collection for the Petrischule in Gdańsk. The oil painting on canvas in a period frame with no signature was painted in the mid–1600s. Both the book collection and the portrait were actually donated to the school at St. Peter and Paul Church after the death of Heinrich Schwarzwald IV’s nephew, Heinrich Schwarzwald V, in 1708. For a long period of time the uncle’s merits were attributed to the nephew due to the same names. In 1860 Gotthilf Löschin identified the real founder of the above mentioned library. The article, in turn, settles down the matter of the identification of the portrayed person. The painting was presumably painted by Andreas Stech (1635–1697). The source data confirm the mutual contacts between the painter and Heinrich Schwarzwald IV. Before being donated to the library, the painting underwent an intensive and thorough restoration performed by Franz Joseph Manskirch in the 1820s.

The aim of this article is to describe the silver tankard made by Nathaniel Pressding I for the wedding of Johann Peter Titz with Aurelia von Strackwitz in 1678. The bride and groom received the cup from the students of the Academic Gymnasium in Gdańsk. One of the customary rituals in Gdańsk involved giving gold and silver coins, medals and dinnerware as wedding gifts. Silver tankards were one of the most popular gifts in the late 1600s. The decorations on the tableware were chosen to match the importance of an occasion. In the case of wedding gifts the ornaments were taken either from Bible stories (Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Isaac and Rebecca, the Wedding Feast at Cana) or from Greek and Roman art. The scene of the relief of the tankard’s corpus presents popular decorative elements with Cupid taken from Otto van Veen’s Amorum emblemata… (Antverpiae 1608). The described object is striking in the perfection of its workmanship and refined expression of the creator’s expertise. It is also an example of the first use of the master craftsman’s mark.

Gerhard Cimmermann (1541–1602), a Gdańsk councillor, donated 49 books to Bibliotheca Senatus Gedanensis (August 13th, 1598). The abbreviated descriptions of the donatory collection items were included on three pages in Index Librorum, the first catalogue of Bibliotheca Senatus Gedanensis. Fifteen books from the original collection have survived until the present day. The identification was based on the owner’s dedication note and bookplate attached to the books. Apparently, before donating his books, Gerhard Cimmermann ordered a special bookplate to mark his ownership. Cimmermann’s oval-shaped copperplate bookplate with the Polish Korab coat of arms in the centre has two letters, G and C, on both sides and the date: 1597 beneath the heraldic design. The article includes a list of the preserved books.

The Covid-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on health systems, on many economic sectors and on the labour market. This critical situation is also accompanied by social destabilisation, which has exacerbated inequalities and severely affected the most disadvantaged population groups, such as migrant workers. This study provides insights into the consequences of the first wave and the lockdown period in Spring 2020 of the Covid-19 pandemic on Romanians living in Italy, using data collected by the International Association Italy-Romania ‘Cuore Romeno’, within a project financed by the Romanian Department for Di-aspora and developed to support actions while strengthening the link with Romanian institutions during the pandemic. Findings show that, during the lockdown, two opposite situations occurred among Romanians. Workers in the ‘key sector’ become indispensable and experienced only small changes, while others lost their job or experienced a worsening of working conditions, with lower wages or an increase in working hours. Most workers chose to stay in Italy, relying on their savings or the support of the Italian government. Job losses, not having new employment, and having limited savings all influenced the decision of a smaller group to return to Romania. In conclusion, the analysis suggests that measures adopted should take into consider-ation that the Covid-19 pandemic might disproportionally hit population groups such as migrants, women, young people and temporary and unprotected workers, particularly those employed in trade, hospitality and agriculture.