There are two valuable collections in the library's collection: old prints (828 volumes from the 16th-18th centuries) and 19th-century polonica (about 8200 volumes), which make up the National Library Resource. Here we would like to present to you the most interesting and valuable collections that the library has in its collection. We also invite you to visit the Library of the NIKIDW Branch in Pulawy, where readers can directly acquaint themselves with selected titles.
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Gomme, George Laurence
Folklore: a handbook for those concerned with folklore
Kraków 1901
Folklore is a word for the tangible and intangible heritage of folk culture. It is divided into two groups: the tangible, which includes architecture, art and folk costumes, and the intangible, which includes songs, proverbs and legends. The most famous promoter of Polish folklore was ethnographer Oskar Kolberg. The term "folklore" was introduced into scientific circulation by British writer William Thoms in 1846, defining it as the oldest components of culture such as "ancient customs, mores, rituals, superstitions, ballads, proverbs, etc."
Polish literature is rich in items dealing with folk culture or folklore. This is often a self-authored, amateur, community writing, forming a peasant, rural stream of literature, including poetry, drama and prose.
W zbiorach Biblioteki Narodowego Instytutu Kultury i Dziedzictwa Wsi znajdują się ciekawe publikacje książkowe oraz roczniki czasopism mówiące o ludowości, kulturze tradycyjnej i folklorze. Na szczególną uwagę i polecenie zasługuje dzieło Gomme, George Laurence – „Folklor: podręcznik dla zajmujących się ludoznawstwem” z 1901 roku. Książkę tę z języka angielskiego przełożył Wojciech Szukiewicz. W 1901 roku ukazała się ona pod polskim tytułem: Folklor: podręcznik dla zajmujących się ludoznawstwem.
In the preface, Stanislaw Eljasz-Radzikowski writes that "the need for a textbook for an introduction to the study of folklore has long been felt." Citing folklore's English roots, he asked the Folklore Society of London "for permission to assimilate a textbook into our literature." Together with Wojciech Szukiewicz, after many difficulties and problems, chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph, they faithfully and literally managed to translate the work into Polish.
In the preface, the publisher also notes that an outstanding Polish folklorist was the somewhat forgotten Oskar Kolberg, and that our nation should value more and "bask inthe glory" of this great figure of tradition researcher."
The book opens with Wajdelot's Song from "Konrad Wallenrod" by Adam Mickiewicz, which begins with the words: "O tidings of the commune! Thou ark of the covenant, Between old and younger years, In thee the people lay down the weapons of their knight, Their thoughts the yarn and their feelings the flowers." This is a kind of hymn to glorify people who are not indifferent to the past of their own homeland, history, tradition and, above all, the memory of the glory days.
The publication is enriched by a list of Publications separately dedicated to ethnography and folklore, given separately Kolberg Collection and Bibliography of folklore and ethnography.
The actual I chapter of the textbook "What is folklore?" gives and develops the definition of folklore. In the following XXIII chapters, the author takes us through the world of spirits and supernatural beings, writes about beliefs relating to the great objects of nature, to trees and plants or the animal world. Passing through magic, sorcery, divination and clairvoyance, we reach folk healing, which describes the relationship of changes in the body with the mysterious activity of the spiritual world.
Among other things, we learn from the book that rituals, Christmas or Easter customs can date back to pre-Christian times. The division between festive customs, which are usually centered "around the accidents of a person's life [...] festivals celebrated in honor of Christian saints," and ritual customs centered around the accidents of an individual's life "as birth, marriage and death" de facto applies to humanity anyway.
Subsequent chapters are devoted to games, fairy tales, fables, fables and parables, the creation of the world, the elements and the Last Judgment - about which George Laurence Gomme writes that "heaven in savage, as well as civilized religions, stands open only to the good." Proverbs, nicknames, local rhymes, ballads and songs, and finally library works are the next parts of the handbook.
Folklore material, the author says, can be collected "as much in the library as among the people [...] many things are hidden in the literature that will probably never be brought to light." And for an urgent study to bring out the folklore materials deserve above all:
- ancient and medieval chronicles,
- lives of saints,
- old Latin homilies and sermons,
- local histories,
- travel descriptions,
- old journals and diaries,
- manuscripts in public and private libraries,
- treatises and books on witchcraft about astrology.
Finally, the author draws attention to the bibliography of folklore and writes about its comprehensiveness collected in various countries and languages.
Elaborated. Boguslaw Wisniewski
Editor. Joanna Radziewicz
Photo polona.pl - public domain
