Księgarstwo w polskich badaniach nad książką do 1989 roku

Abstract

The theme of book-selling, while present in the oldest texts on a history of books, has been considerably neglected for a long time. One of the main reasons was the nature of the market dealing with the selling of old books: many companies were responsible for two different kinds of services – publishing as well as book-selling. A significant change came in the second half of the nineteenth century. There came out manuals and guidebooks devoted to book-selling issues. Additionally, scholars and historians began to turn their interest to this kind of book distribution. One of the most important historical and theoretical texts on this subject includes Jan Muszkowski’s Życie książki (1936; “A Life of the book”). The time after WWII saw a dynamic development of book-selling networks, which also gave rise to bibliophilic studies. It is important to remember, however, that these changes took place in a very specific context of the communist regime. Nevertheless, the research conducted at that time is of great value and remains useful even today. The most important texts that deserve attention are those authored by Radosław Cybulski and Bohdan Cywiński, affiliated with Instytut Książki i Czytelnictwa Biblioteki Narodowej (The Books and Readership Institute of the National Library).