KAZIMIERZ PIEKARSKIS LETTERS TO LUDWIK BERNACKI FROM 1919-1939. Edited and introduced by Maciej Matwijow (Listy Kazimierza Piekarskiego do Ludwika Bernackiego z lat 1919-1939).

Kazimierz Piekarski's letters to Ludwki Bernacki (most letters from Bernacki have not survived) testify to many years of contacts and collaboration between these two historians of Polish books. The most important for Piekarski's future career were the contacts between 1919 and 1921 when, in accordance with Bernacki's proposal, he took on the recording of 15th-16th century printed books from the Library of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków and was employed by the Ossolineum Library in Lviv, headed by Bernacki, to catalogue its collection of early printed books. After Piekarski left the Ossolineum in 1921 and Bernacki became interested in other fields, contacts between them were mainly over Piekarski's use of the Ossolineum collections in his research. At the same time Piekarski helped Bernacki to solve various factual issues. The last stage in their collaboration (1938-1939) was associated with Piekarski's plans (eventually abandoned) to have the Ossolineum publish a monograph devoted to Polish printing houses in the 16th century. Piekarski's letters from that period bring us most details from his private life - this was a time when health problems made it extremely difficult for him to continue his work.