The Migration of Incunabula in 18th-Century Europe

Abstract In this paper, I discuss the fate of six 15th-century books from the collection of Polish bishop and bibliophile Józef Andrzej Załuski (1702–1774). I aim to trace the migrations of incunabula in the 18th century before the mass movements of books in response to the suppressions of religious convents. An analysis of unexploited provenance materials, such as ownership and reading marks, will make it possible to determine the methods of the bishop-bibliophile and the ways by which he acquired valuable collections for the Załuski Public Library (one of the largest in Europe at the time), which he co-managed with his brother. I will moreover answer the question of what factors caused these volumes to survive to this day, unlike most of volumes from Załuski’s book collection, which were burnt shortly after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.