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 holdings of the Kórnik Library include a small printed book by Walenty Schreck published by the Königsbergian printing house of Johann Daubmann in 1559. At the beginning of the book, there is a hand-written dedication from the author to Duke Albrecht Frederick, a son of Albrecht of Prussia (von Hohenzollern), and a versed poetic work. Since the volume was a gift to a juvenile duke (and indirectly to his father), it was bound in a masterly manner: in covers with rich, almost entirely gilded ornamentation and with gilded edges. The paper offers an analysis of this book-binding work, taking similar objects from Polish collections and information from relevant literature as a point of reference. This allowed a thesis that the object is a representative creation of the leading 16th century Königsbergian book-binder Kaspar Angler, in which he used several of his characteristic decorating tools (such as a roll with fi gures of cupids and putti, a roll with a cortège of a king and bishop, and 3 medallion plaques with Biblical scenes). Taking into account its high artistry and almost untouched condition, the work seems to be one of the most impressive objects of the 16th century European bookbinding industry in the collection of the Kórnik library. Its high historical value also results from its provenance – it originates from the ducal library in Königsberg.

This paper is devoted to a precious sobiescianum from the Kórnik Library’s collection of manuscripts – the binding of a hand-written panegyric with emblems by Johann Jakob Rollos, dedicated to King John III Sobieski. This piece of bookbinding art is marked by its restrained although exquisite decoration centred around the monarch’s supralibros in the form of a monogram under a royal crown, encircled by palm branches. First, the binding is analysed in terms of its materials, technique, and decoration. Conclusions from the analysis were used to situate the work in the context of French 17th-c. bookbinding, which led to the conclusion that it is a classic example of an à la Duseuil (à la Du Seuil) binding, which has numerous counterparts in the output of French bookbinders of the Baroque era. The genesis of the form of the supralibros is then analysed, indicating French sample design books presenting inter alia designs of monograms. Analogies between the Sobieski’s supralibros and the French supralibros with a monogram or an escutcheon under a crown and encircled by palm branches or similar motifs turned out to be significant. Attention was also devoted to the genesis of the form of the marbled paper from which the endpapers were made. Finally, it was attempted to situate the book in the context of John III Sobieski’s book collection, from which only a handful of volumes have managed to survive until our own times. Attention was also paid to the issue of the royal monograms in Poland in the last years of the 17th century and the first decades of the 18th century.