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DOI Artikel:Girsztowt, Aleksandra: The book collection of the Loitz family in the Elbląg library: Current State of research, overview of the collection, and a supplement to the list of prints
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66965#0282
Aleksandra
Girsztowt
The gymnasium itself was founded in 1535 by the rector Mylius, earlier
efforts having been in vain. The library was only founded in 1601. It was
endowed with collections of importance for both teaching and learning, via
various channels. In addition to purchases financed from students’ fees, the
library’s holdings were augmented by donations of books from citizens includ-
ing local bibliophiles such as Heinrich Loitz, Andreas Neander, Johann Jacob
Martini, and Johann Daniel Hoffman, who donated their entire book collec-
tions to the Elbląg gymnasium in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries;
thanks to financial donations, most often bequests; and in the form of books
endowed by members of municipal authorities, burgraves, merchants, wealthy
citizens, visitors, and the City Council itself.3
In the second half of the seventeenth century, the Elbląg gymnasium library
received a donation of nearly 400 works from Heinrich Loitz (son of Stephan,
d. 1679). Around 1660, he donated to his alma mater a rich collection of works
on theology and the subjects known collectively today as the humanities -
the core of the family collection. The Loitzes’ collection also included books
on geometry, mathematics, nature, logic, philosophy, history, astronomy and law.
The donation did not consist of all the books that had been collected by three
generations of the family; the remaining works were probably sold or kept by the
donor himself.4 According to the inventory drawn up when the book collec-
tion was made over to Heinrich in 1624, it numbered 760 items, among which
were also typically utilitarian books, such as family account ledgers, and vol-
umes described as “Ein buch von beschreibenen und umbechreibeben Papieren
in Rechts”, “Ein geschriebenen Buch, so intituliret wird, das newe gruine Zins-
buch, Ein altes schuldbuch”, or “Ein schuldbuch des Simon Litzen geschrieben”.5
The entire inventory is quite lengthy, and one of its larger parts is the list of the
books left by Simon II Loitz. The section dedicated to this book collection
numbers 21 pages. The books are organized according to their format (folio,
quarto, octavo, duodecimo) (fig. 1).
The beginnings of this library are associated with the figure of Simon I Loitz,
a merchant from Szczecin, who, together with his brother Michael II, moved
to Gdańsk to establish a branch of the family’s company there in 1528. His two
sons remained in Royal Prussia - Simon II was the chief lawyer of the city of
Gdańsk, while Stephan I became the secretary of Elbląg city council. Both broth-
ers, like their father, were bibliophiles, and built on the book collections they
inherited from their father. In 1617, after Stephan’s death, Simon II, who lived
3 Podlaszewska, Prywatne biblioteki..., pp. 48-49; Sekulski, Biblioteka Gimnazjum...,
pp. 65-66; Marian Pawlak, Biblioteki profesorów gimnazjum elbląskiego w XVI-XVIII wieku,
“Między Nami Bibliotekarzami” 2002, nr 3, pp. 3-6; Iwona Imańska, Biblioteki mieszczan elblą-
skich w XVIII wieku, “Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici” 1993, t. 28, pp. 156-157.
4 Sekulski, Biblioteka Gimnazjum..., p. 26.
5 Inventory, pp. 501-521.
280
Girsztowt
The gymnasium itself was founded in 1535 by the rector Mylius, earlier
efforts having been in vain. The library was only founded in 1601. It was
endowed with collections of importance for both teaching and learning, via
various channels. In addition to purchases financed from students’ fees, the
library’s holdings were augmented by donations of books from citizens includ-
ing local bibliophiles such as Heinrich Loitz, Andreas Neander, Johann Jacob
Martini, and Johann Daniel Hoffman, who donated their entire book collec-
tions to the Elbląg gymnasium in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries;
thanks to financial donations, most often bequests; and in the form of books
endowed by members of municipal authorities, burgraves, merchants, wealthy
citizens, visitors, and the City Council itself.3
In the second half of the seventeenth century, the Elbląg gymnasium library
received a donation of nearly 400 works from Heinrich Loitz (son of Stephan,
d. 1679). Around 1660, he donated to his alma mater a rich collection of works
on theology and the subjects known collectively today as the humanities -
the core of the family collection. The Loitzes’ collection also included books
on geometry, mathematics, nature, logic, philosophy, history, astronomy and law.
The donation did not consist of all the books that had been collected by three
generations of the family; the remaining works were probably sold or kept by the
donor himself.4 According to the inventory drawn up when the book collec-
tion was made over to Heinrich in 1624, it numbered 760 items, among which
were also typically utilitarian books, such as family account ledgers, and vol-
umes described as “Ein buch von beschreibenen und umbechreibeben Papieren
in Rechts”, “Ein geschriebenen Buch, so intituliret wird, das newe gruine Zins-
buch, Ein altes schuldbuch”, or “Ein schuldbuch des Simon Litzen geschrieben”.5
The entire inventory is quite lengthy, and one of its larger parts is the list of the
books left by Simon II Loitz. The section dedicated to this book collection
numbers 21 pages. The books are organized according to their format (folio,
quarto, octavo, duodecimo) (fig. 1).
The beginnings of this library are associated with the figure of Simon I Loitz,
a merchant from Szczecin, who, together with his brother Michael II, moved
to Gdańsk to establish a branch of the family’s company there in 1528. His two
sons remained in Royal Prussia - Simon II was the chief lawyer of the city of
Gdańsk, while Stephan I became the secretary of Elbląg city council. Both broth-
ers, like their father, were bibliophiles, and built on the book collections they
inherited from their father. In 1617, after Stephan’s death, Simon II, who lived
3 Podlaszewska, Prywatne biblioteki..., pp. 48-49; Sekulski, Biblioteka Gimnazjum...,
pp. 65-66; Marian Pawlak, Biblioteki profesorów gimnazjum elbląskiego w XVI-XVIII wieku,
“Między Nami Bibliotekarzami” 2002, nr 3, pp. 3-6; Iwona Imańska, Biblioteki mieszczan elblą-
skich w XVIII wieku, “Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici” 1993, t. 28, pp. 156-157.
4 Sekulski, Biblioteka Gimnazjum..., p. 26.
5 Inventory, pp. 501-521.
280