A REVIEW OF PROFESSOR KAZIMIERZ BUDZYK'S BOOK ENTITLED 'BIBLIOGRAFIA KONSTYTUCJI SEJMOWYCH XVII WIEKU W POLSCE' (BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 17th CENTURY PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUTIONS IN POLAND)

The Review...that has remained in its typescript form so far, was written by A. Birkenmajer in January 1955 as a review of Kazimierz Budzyk's doctoral thesis (though it has to be noted that in the Polish system of academic degrees and titles - based on the Soviet model - at that time a PhD corresponded to today's postdoctoral degree). Budzyk's research focused on the resolutions of the Polish parliament (Sejm) printed in the 17th century, the so-called constitutions (ca 250 editions of specific resolutions and their collections, first editions and reissues, in one thousand copies). Birkenmajer's review - which gave high marks to Budzyk's work - also contains a number of valuable critical and methodological comments concerning the ways of identifying various editions and their variants by means of analysing the placement of signatures, methods of publication dating, and the printing organisation and techniques in the 17th century. Birkenmajer's review is a valuable addition to the Polish literature on the theory and methodology of research into the history of printing.