Jura Gajdzica (1777 – 1840). Chłopski bibliofil i pamiętnikarz z ziemi cieszyńskiej

Jura (Jerzy) Gajdzica from Cisownica Mała near Ustroń, situated near Cieszyn, a farmer and a cart driver by trade, was a peasant bibliophile and a memoirist. His love for the printed word developed under the influence of his extraordinary respect for the Holy Bible, which was typical of him and other Poles belonging to the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, who constituted the majority of the population of the Cieszyn district. Jura Gajdzica marked his books with ownership prints: the oldest, handmade peasant ex-libris known in Poland, and a stamp. He left a memoir entitled Dlo pamięci rodu ludzkiego and a chronicle entitled Nieco z kroniki Cieszęśki. Memoirs concerned the years 1805-1823, e.g. wars of Austria and Russia with Napoleon. Jura Gajdzica as well as his memoir and some of the bookplates were discovered by Jan Wantuła (1877-1953) from Ustroń in Cieszyn Silesia, a farmer and a worker, as well as a book lover, bibliognost and a historian.