Oprawy książkowe ozdobione herbem Gdańska z 16–18 wieku

This paper seeks to present the characteristic types of collectors’ marks with the coat of arms of Gdańsk on the historical bindings of books from the collections of the Gdańsk Library. The city’s coat of arms as adopted in 1457 did not undergo any changes in the subsequent centuries, although its graphic form did. Its various elements were transformed relatively frequently, which created a sequence of heraldic varieties. This concerned in particular the shape of the escutcheon, as well as the representation of the crosses and the crown. The images of the two lions supporting the escutcheon also underwent changes. We have managed to identify more than twenty different representations of the coat of arms from the 16th–18th centuries on the original bindings of the gradually extended collection of manuscripts and early printed books.