Almost 550 years ago, in Krakow, a first known Polish print came out – a 1474 calendar prepared in the Kasper Straube’ printing house in Krakow, published most probably in 1473. Krakow, as the cradle of Polish print and the place of activity of some famous early printing houses (e.g. Schweipolt Fiol’s, Kasper Hochfeder’s, Jan Haller’s, the Ungler family, Hieronymus Vietor’s, the Scharffenberg family, the Cezary family, the Piotrkowczyk family and the Schedl family printing houses), makes also a perfect location for a debate on the history of printing.

The aim of this conference, third of the scheduled meetings revolving around special collections, is a comprehensive reflection about the development and heritage of the art of printing – old prints published up to 1800, which constitute a research subject for multiple disciplines. The discussion shall focus on the issues of creating, collecting, developing, maintaining, protecting, preserving and sharing the old prints collections (in traditional and digital form) as well as the phenomena of first prints and libraries, their availability and use. As far as the production technology is concerned, the issues such as printing houses, paper mills, foundries, patrons, tegumentology and censorship will be covered and from the receivers’ perspective – purchases, catalogues, the social and educational aspects of the popularisation of print, owners and bookplates, collections, historic libraries and the so-called ‘life of a book’. The event will also create an opportunity to talk about the current status of old prints – from a demand to change time frames up to the functioning of the oldest books on the antiquarian market.

The theme "Explicitus est liber”, a notation put at the end of a scroll to inform that the book had been unfold, opens the possibility to look at old prints from many perspectives – as the stage of development of communication media as well as their evolution and meaning as a tangible medium.

The event will be accompanied by two presentations of old prints – one from the collection of the Scientific Library of PAU and PAN in Krakow and the other from the collection of the Archive and Library of the Carmelite Monastery at Piasek. A themed walk on the history of Krakow print is also planned.

Conference languages: Polish, English