The numerous cimelia of the Kórnik Library include Stanisław Sarnicki’s work Descriptio veteris ac novae Poloniae, printed by Aleksy Rodecki in Cracow in 1585. It is protected by a parchment binding with orientalising decoration marked with a supralibros dedicated by Jan Sienieński to King Stephen Báthory. In view of a scant number of the surviving bookbinding bathoriana, the paper provides a book cover-focused analysis of the work. It makes it possible to examine the binding against the Polish bookbinding art of the late 16th century, identify its maker, link it to other bindings of printed books from Báthory’s book collection, and picture the connections between the decoration of the covers and the illustrations of the publication the binding protected.

The eternal traveller, who was to become the founder of the Gdańsk Library, traversed Moravia several times and sojourned there at least twice. During his stay of 1562–1564, which was probably the longest, died his little dog named Viola, a reminiscency of his Apulian fatherland taken along in exile. Bonifacio wrote elegies after that death, in which he utters many names of persons of similar Weltanschauung he knew. Together with him mourned his favourite servant Julia: she was to be unable to stand the consequent void of the death and abandoned her master (and lover). So Bonifacio was hit by a double loss. He tried to overcome the depression in which he stayed: He succeeded with the animal, the dogs, who were to accompany him as far as to Gdańsk, but he failed with the women. He was to go his way without company, dedicating his leisure to the reading of his books (he possessed over 1000 volumes), but merging into depression. Blinded in a shipwreck, he bequeathed his books and the manuscript with the verses on Viola in 1591 to the city of Gdańsk; he died six years later.