Józef Andrzej Załuski as a Literary Historian

Józef Załuski, the bishop of Kiev and Chernihiv, is a librarian, publisher, writer, translator, commentator, bibliophile, and bibliographer. He acquired printed books and manuscripts for the Załuski Library, which he founded together with his brother, Andrzej Stanisław. He authored 74 editions of his own writings: speeches, poetry, plays, religious pieces as well as didactic, historical, and bibliographical texts; 46 translations, the majority of which are plays, and 17 works which he prepared and ensured the publication of. In addition, manuscript collections in the library of the Załuski brothers were used for numerous editions of historical, genealogical, legal, and literary texts. Apart from printed books, Józef Andrzej Załuski authored an enormous number of books devoted to various subjects and hundreds of letters, which have not yet been printed today. The method of narration adopted by Józef Załuski is literary in its form. The author used, first and foremost, their own experiences as readers. In performing the task of creating a library, and writing a historical literary synthesis, Załuski sought to obtain as much information as possible about all possible releases and manuscripts.The author shared his knowledge about the books in the 56-page Programma Litterarum..., often providing information neither scientific nor confirmed, yet attractive for a potential reader. The comments therein are important both due to the assessments formulated by Załuski and bearing the mark of his style and by indicating the common grounds between texts. The author commands a flowery rhetorical style of late Baroque. Another treatise by Zalusky, Bibliotheca Poetarum Polonorum, qui Patrio sermone scripserunt, was intended for a broader readership solely as a source of information on the condition of Polish literature. The fact that it was written in Latin was intended to make it available for use by a larger group of readers.