DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0030
with metal, and bindings were fastened with metal clasps in order to protect and preserve the priceless
treasure which every book represented in those days. The various decorations on the covers and miniatures
with which such codices were adorned served to translate the mysterious meaning of writing into the ge-
nerally understandable language of art, fashioned in the most precious materials — gold, jewels, enamel
and ivory.
The art of printing reached Cracow about the year 1475 from Southern Germany, where it was first
invented. With the opening of several renowned printing shops during the 16th century, Cracow became
the principal centre of the art of printing in Poland. To begin with, the method of binding printed books
was similar to the traditional medieval method of binding codices, but gradual evolution of style and tech-
nique led to the emergence of an original Cracow school of book-binding, the products of which differed
from the work of its German, Italian and Dutch counterparts. The earliest Cracow book-binders are
distinguished by the initials with which they signed their work, their full names remaining unknown. The
book-binder who signed his work with the initials I.C., active in the 1480s, was noted for his high technical
proficiency and the variety of designs he employed; he used a press with the motif of the Polish Eagle.
The bindings of Cracow magistrate books Advocatalia Cracoviensis were made in his shop. Another book-
binder, who signed his work with the initials J.L., gained renown in the following decade; he was active
for close on forty years, carrying the Gothic style in book-binding far into the 16th century. In his shop
he had a large choice of stamps and fillets for making ornamental designs on leather bindings, for example
stamps with motifs of a 'spinning' rosette, a leafy branch, an architectural niche, the heraldic Polish Eagle
and the Lithuanian Pogon (Chase). He was the first to apply such ornamental designs as palmettes,
fleurons and half-moons fringed with small pearls. Over a hundred bindings made by this master have
survived in Cracow, some of them of unique designs, for example with the arms of the city of Cracow or
the kerchief of St. Veronica borne by an angel. They are all provided with calligraphic inscriptions
in gilded Gothic lettering. The favourite motif used by the Master J.L. was a central architectural compo-
sition with bunches of flowers or figures of saints between Gothic arcades.
Many book-binders worked in Cracow during the 16th century. They are distinguished by
contemporary experts according to the style of their work and favourite motifs, and suitably have been
given such names as the Master of Medallions, the Master of the Four Saints, the Master of Angels'
Heads, and as regards those active later, the Younger Master of the Medallion of St. George, or the
Second Master of Jagiellon Portraits. The first real names were discovered in connection with research
on the bibliophilic interests of the last two kings of the Jagiellon dynasty. The first libraries were founded
earlier, by Alexander Jagiellon; unfortunately information on that period is scarce. In 1 510, the library
which Sigismund the Old formed in Vilna boasted a Bible bound in silver, and Polish books in bindings
of crimson velvet and golden damask with gilded silver fittings, probably the work of Vilna masters.
It is known that the Cracow book-binder Georg Moeller worked for Sigismund the Old. He made the
binding of a guide to hygiene printed in the Czech language, under the Latin title Regiment Sanitatis, at
present in the National Museum in Cracow. The date 1537 which figures on it, refers to the binding
only. The front cover features the Polish Eagle in a circular medallion while the back cover is emblazoned
with the arms of Lithuania (Chase). Following the example of his royal father, Sigismund Augustus took
an interest in the expansion of library collections. His ties with Vilna were closer than those with Cracow;
in fact he became Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1547. Thus it was in Vilna that he formed his private
library, which towards the end of his reign numbered some 5,000 volumes, though not all of them bound.
After the king's death this collection was dispersed but the individual books that have survived bespeak the
exceptional value and quality of the collection. The part of the collection which was bequeathed to Vilna
University by Queen Anne the Jagiellon is still to be seen there. Before 1556 the bindings for the king's
private library were made by Cracow book-binders, the above-mentioned Moeller and a certain David
(surname unknown). Later this work was taken over by Vilna book-binders, who adopted the style of
their Cracow counterparts. The most valuable volumes in the Sigismund Augustus collection had on
the front cover a panel stamp featuring the royal armorial bearings: the Eagle of Poland with the initials SA
and the Chase of Lithuania, the whole surmounted by a hooped crown and surrounded by a laurel wreath.
It is known that the stamps with the royal arms were made in Cracow by the goldsmith Jan and the
engraver Kilian, with Canon Stanislaw Gorski acting as an artistic adviser on the question of the general
idea the binding was to convey. The volumes were half bound in brown calfskin. The title of the work
and the royal stamp described above, surrounded by a rolled rectangular Irame, figured on the front face,
treasure which every book represented in those days. The various decorations on the covers and miniatures
with which such codices were adorned served to translate the mysterious meaning of writing into the ge-
nerally understandable language of art, fashioned in the most precious materials — gold, jewels, enamel
and ivory.
The art of printing reached Cracow about the year 1475 from Southern Germany, where it was first
invented. With the opening of several renowned printing shops during the 16th century, Cracow became
the principal centre of the art of printing in Poland. To begin with, the method of binding printed books
was similar to the traditional medieval method of binding codices, but gradual evolution of style and tech-
nique led to the emergence of an original Cracow school of book-binding, the products of which differed
from the work of its German, Italian and Dutch counterparts. The earliest Cracow book-binders are
distinguished by the initials with which they signed their work, their full names remaining unknown. The
book-binder who signed his work with the initials I.C., active in the 1480s, was noted for his high technical
proficiency and the variety of designs he employed; he used a press with the motif of the Polish Eagle.
The bindings of Cracow magistrate books Advocatalia Cracoviensis were made in his shop. Another book-
binder, who signed his work with the initials J.L., gained renown in the following decade; he was active
for close on forty years, carrying the Gothic style in book-binding far into the 16th century. In his shop
he had a large choice of stamps and fillets for making ornamental designs on leather bindings, for example
stamps with motifs of a 'spinning' rosette, a leafy branch, an architectural niche, the heraldic Polish Eagle
and the Lithuanian Pogon (Chase). He was the first to apply such ornamental designs as palmettes,
fleurons and half-moons fringed with small pearls. Over a hundred bindings made by this master have
survived in Cracow, some of them of unique designs, for example with the arms of the city of Cracow or
the kerchief of St. Veronica borne by an angel. They are all provided with calligraphic inscriptions
in gilded Gothic lettering. The favourite motif used by the Master J.L. was a central architectural compo-
sition with bunches of flowers or figures of saints between Gothic arcades.
Many book-binders worked in Cracow during the 16th century. They are distinguished by
contemporary experts according to the style of their work and favourite motifs, and suitably have been
given such names as the Master of Medallions, the Master of the Four Saints, the Master of Angels'
Heads, and as regards those active later, the Younger Master of the Medallion of St. George, or the
Second Master of Jagiellon Portraits. The first real names were discovered in connection with research
on the bibliophilic interests of the last two kings of the Jagiellon dynasty. The first libraries were founded
earlier, by Alexander Jagiellon; unfortunately information on that period is scarce. In 1 510, the library
which Sigismund the Old formed in Vilna boasted a Bible bound in silver, and Polish books in bindings
of crimson velvet and golden damask with gilded silver fittings, probably the work of Vilna masters.
It is known that the Cracow book-binder Georg Moeller worked for Sigismund the Old. He made the
binding of a guide to hygiene printed in the Czech language, under the Latin title Regiment Sanitatis, at
present in the National Museum in Cracow. The date 1537 which figures on it, refers to the binding
only. The front cover features the Polish Eagle in a circular medallion while the back cover is emblazoned
with the arms of Lithuania (Chase). Following the example of his royal father, Sigismund Augustus took
an interest in the expansion of library collections. His ties with Vilna were closer than those with Cracow;
in fact he became Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1547. Thus it was in Vilna that he formed his private
library, which towards the end of his reign numbered some 5,000 volumes, though not all of them bound.
After the king's death this collection was dispersed but the individual books that have survived bespeak the
exceptional value and quality of the collection. The part of the collection which was bequeathed to Vilna
University by Queen Anne the Jagiellon is still to be seen there. Before 1556 the bindings for the king's
private library were made by Cracow book-binders, the above-mentioned Moeller and a certain David
(surname unknown). Later this work was taken over by Vilna book-binders, who adopted the style of
their Cracow counterparts. The most valuable volumes in the Sigismund Augustus collection had on
the front cover a panel stamp featuring the royal armorial bearings: the Eagle of Poland with the initials SA
and the Chase of Lithuania, the whole surmounted by a hooped crown and surrounded by a laurel wreath.
It is known that the stamps with the royal arms were made in Cracow by the goldsmith Jan and the
engraver Kilian, with Canon Stanislaw Gorski acting as an artistic adviser on the question of the general
idea the binding was to convey. The volumes were half bound in brown calfskin. The title of the work
and the royal stamp described above, surrounded by a rolled rectangular Irame, figured on the front face,