KAZIMIERZ BUDZYK'S 'BIBLIOGRAFIA KONSTYTUCJI SEJMOWYCH XVII WIEKU W POLSCE' (BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 17th CENTURY PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUTIONS IN POLAND) AS REVIEWED BY ALEKSANDER BIRKENMAJER

The article is an introduction to and a presentation of a text that has not been published so far and was written by one of the most distinguished and most versatile Polish scholars in the 20th century, Professor Aleksander Birkenmajer (1890-1967). The text itself is a review of a paper by a distinguished expert on old Polish books, Kazimierz Budzyk, entitled:'Bibliografia konstytucji sejmowych XVII wieku w Polsce' (Bibliography of 17th Century Parliamentary Constitutions in Poland), (Wrocław 1962).Both Budzyk's work and Birkenmajer's review include a number of valuable findings and reflections on printing practices associated with the publication of official texts, the so-called constitutions - resolutions passed by the Polish parliament in the 17th century. In addition, both scholars devoted a lot of attention to the research methods employed in studies on old books. The article is an attempt to make the reader acquainted with the most important, and at the same time, most controversial opinions and theses advocated by Budzyk and Birkenmajer, to which was added the opinion of Eugenia Triller, which expanded the scope of the discussion.The views and arguments of both scholars presented in this article by no means exhaust the complex and difficult subject of the constitutions' identity and chronology; however, they do extend our knowledge of this subject in an excellent manner.