Contemporary book culture in Poland and its background

Abstract

Contemporary Polish book culture is the sum of the historical experience of the Polish state and nation, whose fate was varied and often dramatic over the last thousand years. The dynamics of development in times of war and enslavement were marked by slowdowns. The Poles suffered immense population and material losses. Readership, for a long time, was reserved for the upper layers of the society. The peasants were not generally included in the area of literacy until the mid-twentieth century, the consequences of which are visible to this day. The contemporary Polish book culture is firmly rooted in tradition, however, it is subject to far-reaching transformations and modifications related to the technological and social changes taking place in Poland and worldwide, that overlapped in the transition period. After 1989, the rebuilt free publishing and bookselling market, after the turbulent period of structural transformation, is now relatively orderly and functions efficiently.

Author Biography

Grzegorz Nieć, Pedagogical University of Cracow

Polish scholar, historian, bibliophile, and book expert. He works at the Institute of Information Sciences at the Pedagogical University in Cracow. Since 2016, he has been employed there as Associate Professor. Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences Press Studies Branch in Cracow. His research interests focus on issues of history, culture, Polish and Czech 19th‑ and 20th-century press and books and also of editing. Recently, focuses most on the issues of bibliophilia and the secondary book market as well as books and readership in the Czech Republic. He is the author of books, e.g.: Jakub Szymkiewicz „Szlachcic na Łopacie” – satyryczny reporter „Wiadomości Brukowych” (Kraków 2006), Wtórny rynek książki. Instytucje, asortyment, uczestnicy (Kraków 2016) and dozens of articles published in scientific journals and collective publications, including entries in the Encyklopedia książki (Wrocław, 2017). He has edited and co-edited several volumes of works and sources, including inedita of Stanisław Tarnowski. Furthermore, active as a journalist and expert on the book market, secondary book market, bibliophilia, and librarianship. Founder and editor of the series by Księgarnia Akademicka Regiony-Historia-Kultura and Polskie Podróżopisarstwo i reportaż XIX i XX wieku; member of the editorial committee of „Roczniki Biblioteczne”, a national scientific book and library science journal, scientific councils of the yearbooks: „Rocznik Historii Prasy Polskiej PAN” and „Rocznik Biblioteki Naukowej PAU i PAN w Krakowie”. A book lover.

Published
2018-07-20
How to Cite
[1]
Nieć, G. 2018. Contemporary book culture in Poland and its background. Perspectives on Culture. 22, 3 (Jul. 2018), 43-66.
Issue
Vol. 22 No. 3 (2018): Book
Section
Book

Copyright (c) 2020 Perspectives on culture

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Autor, zgłaszając swój artykuł, wyraża zgodę na korzystanie przez Wydawnictwo Uniwersystet Ignatianum z utworu na następujących polach eksploatacji:

  1. utrwalania utworu w formie papierowej, a także na nośniku cyfrowym lub magnetycznym;
  2. zwielokrotnienia utworu dowolną techniką, bez ograniczenia ilości wydań i liczby egzemplarzy;
  3. rozpowszechniania utworu i jego zwielokrotnionych egzemplarzy na jakimkolwiek nośniku, w tym wprowadzenia do obrotu, sprzedaży, użyczenia, najmu;
  4. wprowadzenia utworu do pamięci komputera;
  5. rozpowszechniania utworu w sieciach informatycznych, w tym w sieci Internet;
  6. publicznego wykonania, wystawienia, wyświetlenia, odtworzenia oraz nadawania i reemitowania, a także publicznego udostępniania utworu w taki sposób, aby każdy mógł mieć do niego dostęp w miejscu i czasie przez siebie wybranym. 

Wydawca zobowiązuje się szanować osobiste prawa autorskie do utworu.