Yearbook of Bibliology and Press Studies

Summary

An essential source of information on the subject of the activities of Polish book-lovers is their private correspondence, kept in library and archival collections. The letters of Bonawentura Lenart to Kazimierz Witkiewicz, found in the collections of the Przypkowski Museum in Jędrzejów and in the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow, deserve attention. The letters contain personal and professional problems of Bonawentura Lenart, who shared them willingly with his friend. The most important letters concern Lenart's activities as an artist-bookbinder and conservator of antique books. A preserved fragment of the correspondence also brought to light the contribution of Bonawentura Lenart to the education of students of the difficult bibliopegistic art and to the creation of bibliopegistic glossary commonly used in Poland. Lenart's correspondence embraces the years of his greatest professional activity, which happened in the time of great social and political transformations in Poland. In spite of adversities, he tried to accomplish his professional plans, which consequently contributed to the establishment of Lenart's high rank in the history of Polish artistic bookbinding.