Kształt edytorski postylli polskich XVI i XVII wieku – w poszukiwaniu staropolskich konwencji wydawniczych

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In the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Poland-Lithuania vernacular postils, both Protestant and Catholic, were a powerful vehicle for religious reform and a useful tool of a confessional confl ict. Between 1556 and the end of the 17th century over forty editions of various postils (some of them multivolume) were printed. Together they constitute one of the largest groups of surviving Old-Polish publications connected by genre and published in vernacular to reach a wider audience. For these reason they provide excellent source material for scholars interested in the development of the form of the Polish printed book. The paper begins with rectification of some widespread yet misleading convictions about Polish postils. Results of the author’s bibliographical research allows her to prove that Polish postils should not be associated with Reformation only, but rather should be seen as a universal instrument of confessional polemic and pastoral aid. The main body of the article focuses on the development and changes of the form of Early Modern Polish postils. Because of the similarities of structure (any postil for Sundays and feasts is a set of at least a hundred sermons usually preceded by evangelical lections) and purpose of these publications the author is able to compare solutions chosen by diff erent printers in terms of format, layout, illustrations, title-page composition etc. Focusing on the most infl uential volumes printed in Krakow (especially postils by Mikolaj Rej, Jakub Wujek and Piotr Skarga) she presents how Polish printers adapted German book designs and introduced new patterns later on. Basing not only on the analysis of postils themselves, but also on surviving correspondence and other archival materials, the author sheds some light both on the circumstances of production and on the author’s and the reader’s role in shaping the form of the postil as a book. Th e question of using typography and illustration to attract Catholic readers to Protestant postils and vice versa is also raised. Analysis of the material prompts the author to conclusion that the printing craft was above religious divisions. The two most often adopted and adapted designs, associated with the postils by Rej and Skarga, also show how a combination of wellwritten content and well-designed and functional typography infl uenced the form of the book. Putting the postils in a wider context, the author is able to show that although decisions that shaped the form of the Polish postil were made mostly by printers, who were mindful of profits, it is hard not to draw a parallel between the history of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation movements in Poland-Lithuania and the history of the Polish postil as a printed book.