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Research into Adam Honory Kirkor's life and work was initiated by a specialist in the history of Lithuanian culture, Michał Eustachy Brensztein, in his applied study Adam Honory Kirkor: Publisher, Editor and Vilnius Printer in 1834-67 (Adam Honory Kirkor. Wydawca, redaktor i właściciel drukarni w Wilnie od roku 1834 do 1867. Wilno, 1930). Presently his historiography has become internationally famous, and due to numerous publications in various languages it has branched out into the Polish, Lithuanian, and Belorusian trends. The Lithuanian trend was shaped by Kirkor's liberal and compromise views recognizing the merits of historical Lithuania and the prospects of its continuity as well as by the reduced possibilities of research and cultural activities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied by imperial Russia. The research and fact-finding works by Lithuanian researchers Reda Griškaitė, Antanas Kulakauskas, Pavel Lavrinets, Juozas Maceika, Zita Medišauskienė, Vytautas Merkys, Darius Staliūnas, and other authors in most cases analyze Kirkor's attitude towards the Lithuanian national revival movement and his relations with the participants of this movement. In the article by the present author, research is oriented towards the adaptations, translations into Lithuanian and their publication in Lithuania Minor following the Lithuanian press ban in Greater Lithuania of three works by Kirkor: Grand Duke Vytautas (Beликiй князъ Витовтъ) published in a book by several authors Outlines of the History and Life of the Lithuanian People (Черты изъ исторiи и жизни литовскаго народа. Вильно, 1854); A Guide to Vilnius and Its Environs (Przewodnik po Wilnie i jego okolicach. Wilno, 1880); The Graves of Grand Dukes and Kings in Vilnius (Groby wielkoksiążęce i królewskie w Wilnie. Warszawa, 1882). A deeper insight is offered into the relationship between the author and the publishers and collaborators of the monthly Auszra that promoted the ideas of the Lithuanian national revival. The latter prepared the first Lithuanian translations of Kirkor's works in conformity with the ideological aspirations of the Lithuanian nation in the new times. The sources of research were Kirkor's books published in Polish and Lithuanian as well as the archival and published documents connected with the publishing process, and the bibliographical data accumulated by the bibliologists of several generations. Use is also made of the results of the assessment of the publishing organization and culture of Kirkor's books established by the de visu method. In the course of research, a proposition is suggested that the need for Kirkor's books felt by 19th-century Lithuanian society was programed in advance. The publishing of their Lithuanian translations in Tilsit (lit. Tilžė) and Bittehnen (lit. Bitėnai) accelerated the integration of Lithuanians in Lithuania Minor and Greater Lithuania and the civic rapprochement between the residents of old and new Lithuania, fostered their historical and national identity and promoted cultural variety and progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An owner of a printing house and a publisher, Martynas Jankus (1858-1946) was a citizen of Germany and a Lithuanian of the East Prussian region. He was an active member of the Lithuanian national movement of the 19th - early 20th century. He supported the opposition of the people of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which was annexed and integrated into the Russian empire in 1795. When the usage of the Lithuanian language in Latin script was banned in 1864-1904, Martynas Jankus started printing illegal books and newspapers in his printing house and transporting them secretly to the Russian empire. He supported publishing "Auszra" and "Varpas" the most influential newspapers of the national movement. In 1918, after the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Lithuania, this veteran of Lithuanian culture and politics was highly appreciated and attracted close attention of journalists. He publicised quite many memoirs about the publishing and distribution of illegal press, known newspaper editors and book authors, printers, and publishers. The greatest value for historiographic research of the book resides in three generalised memoirs that M. Jankus attempted in his late years. They include the publication "Smuggling of Lithuanian books" („Lietuviškų Kningų Kontrabanda″) which was published in the newspaper "Tėvynė" (1918) edited by Lithuanians in the USA, and two unpublished manuscripts: an exhaustive narrative (27 pages) without a title about the state of the Lithuanian press and language during the period of the growth of the national movement, sent to the professor linguist of the Göttingen university (Germany) Eduard Hermann, and the memoirs "An encyclopedia of my adventures" (,,Mano prietikių enciklopedija″) written in the form of a scholarly encyclopedic dictionary characterizing the acquaintances of M. Jankus. The advantage of the memoirs lays in the point of view of the author who is a direct participant and observer of the factual events, political and social processes, and characters of persons. Foreign researchers appreciate the knowledge of M. Jankus' cooperation with the participants of Byelorusian, Polish, and German national and revolutionary movements and assistance in their literary publishing. On the other hand, although this author wrote many published and unpublished memoirs, they were small in size, written in the journalistic style and quite open. Therefore, they raised contradictions and critical comments of the public. Many did not understand the character of M. Jankus, which was conditioned by differences in cultural and religious traditions based on the civil rights of Prussian citizens, implying a much greater religious and political freedom. His publications and opinions were not self-controlled or limited in any way. The author sincerely depicted the positive and negative sides and character of the national movement and its participants. He was among the first to raise the issues of Polonized and estranged Catholic priests and the vices of the book smuggling as a social phenomenon. The Lithuanian society was not matured enough at his time and did not support him. The dethronement of the movements, communities, and leaders that had a national character was not tolerated during M. Jankus' lifetime; it is not tolerated in modern society, either. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this study was the personal library of Plater, a Lithuanian intellectual of the first half of the 19th century. The work on the article was inhibited by the lack of data from Jerzy Plater's lifetime as the Plater family archive was destroyed by the Soviet Army which occupied Lithuania in 1940. The aim was achieved by analyzing dispersed published and unpublished historical sources and selecting the authentic data by comparing their reliability. The owner of the library was count Jerzy Plater (Jerzy Jan Wincenty Plater, Jerzy Jan Wincenty Plater-Broel z Broelu hrabia Plater, Geor-gius comes de Plater, Jurgis Plateris in Lithuanian; born 1810 in Klaipėda (Memel), died 1836 in Raseiniai, buried in Švėkšna) - a member of an influential aristocratic family in the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth. He was educated by domestic teachers in the manor, later in the Kražiai and Vilnius gymnasiums, and graduated from Vilnius University where he studied philology and liberal arts. At the University his scholarly interests were formed. Plater was one of the most important members of the gentry that participated in the Lituanistic movement of the first half of the 19th century. The main directions of scholarly work pursued by the Count were the Lithuanian language, history of Lithuania and his personal library. His works reflect the variety of methods applied by him: they included informal communication, targeted visits to the libraries that kept printed heritage collections, book analysis de visu, and archival research. The Count was one of the first authors to write his scholarly works in Lithuanian. Plater inherited the Gedminaičiai Manor from his parents and created a basis for his research there - a personal library and a small museum. To achieve his main aims, he built a Lituanistic collection which included not only publications, but also manuscripts, graphic art, technical drawings, paintings and museum objects. The collection comprised over 3000 items. The main acquisition sources were Vilnius and bookstores in the nearby Prussian towns Königsberg (Karaliaučius), Tilsit (Tilžė) and Klaipėda (Memel). There he acquired old Lituanistic and Old Prussian research works and serials. He sought for the possibilities to enrich his library through personal contacts with outstanding researchers, creative priests, and book culture representatives. The Count was aware of the advantages of collective research and invited a creative collaborator - the writer and philologist Simonas Tadas Stanevičius - to work with him. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Martynas Jankus (1858-1946) is a historical personality. His importance does not diminish with time. The myth of Jankus was created during his life, monuments for him were erected, streets and organisations were named after him. Jankus still makes a significant influence because his interests coincided and coincide with the vital interests of the Lithuanian nation and state. He played an important role in the history of Lithuanian publishing. He established a multifunctional publishing, printing and trading enterprise in Lithuania Minor governed by Prussia. The enterprise was active in 1889-1923. It was mainly oriented towards publishing and production of Lithuanian publications in Latin script prohibited by Tsarist government, and smuggling it to Great Lithuania. It published 400 books and 27 periodicals in the Lithuanian, German, Polish and Byelorussian languages. There were two priorities in Jankus' activity: commercial and idealist. The first ensured existence of the enterprise and the family; the second allowed him to implement spiritual, educational and political goals. One of the achievements by Jankus' enterprise was the productivity of his publishing work, a variety of publications as well as their orientation towards secular and polemic issues. This was an important innovation within Lithuanian publishing, formed by Jankus' orientation towards maturing the national movement, co-operation with the majority of the nation, rapidly evolving social and political powers. Jankus' historical role is also associated with the innovative experiments in publishing (he tried to produce satirical, daily, and evening periodicals), with expansion of publishing relations between Lithuanian national-revolutionary movement and similar movements in neighbouring countries. A number of Lithuanian young people acquired the qualifications in typography in Jankus' enterprise. Some of them became initiators and professionals of publishing business in Great Lithuania after the ban on Lithuanian press had been lifted in 1904. At present, the heritage published by Jankus is increasing in value. Almost all books, brochures, periodical and small publications published by him belong to the category of rarities. The search and retrieval of this published heritage is continuing, therefore, we still do not know the precise number of publications produced by Jankus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bibliophile activity in exile is one of the important and interesting areas of Lithuanian book culture. However, it is not well researched. We rarely talk about valuabel libraries and collections of bibliophiles, except when they are donated to the memory institutions of the homeland. Many of them were collected by physicians, diplomats, artists, and priests who have reached high social standing. Justinas K. Karazija (1892-1991) belonged to the first generation of Lithuanians in the USA. He belonged to the working class (was a steel industry worker) and participated in the social-democratic movement. Karazija's personal library included publications from 1891-1976 published in exile and in the homeland: books, periodicals, maps. During the later years of his life, the owner has made a bibliographic description of this library and donated it to the American Lithuanian Cultural Archive (ALKA) in Putnam (Connecticut, USA). In this article, six aspects of the library are analysed: the age of publications languages, publishing places, contents typology, and the level of individuality. The data allows the author to claim that the library has influenced the formation of the personality, provided possibilities of the intellectual development and stimulated creativity. At the same time it symbolized a minimal, re-located homeland and was oriented to the preservation of the national identity. The library helped to create the physical space and the spiritual microcosm on the basis of the national identity. The case of Karazija's library proves that this feature of intelectual elevation was characteristic not only to the inteligentsia groups but also to the members of the working social stratas. The microcosm of a personal library enabled them to identify and forecast the future changes of the emigrant community and to define their own place and role in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Villus Gaigalaitis (1870-1945) was a distinguished Lithuanian politician and public worker, researcher and educator in book culture in Lithuania Minor. His political, public, and ecclesiastic activity created possibilities to communicate with the most significant publishers, typographers, and book traders. His research interests brought him face to face with the university researchers and required publishing his own research works. The most important among those were: a doctoral dissertation "Die litauische Wolfenbütteler Postillenhandschrift aus dem Jahre 1573" (A manuscript of Wolfenbütteler Lithuanian Postilla published in 1573) that he defended in 1900, a historiographic essay on Lithuanina book in Lithuania Minor "Lithuanian history and our writings" (1912), some chapters in other books and articles in a journal Pagalba (Help) edited by himself. Gaigalaitis always investigated the printed or manuscript heritage de visu. Old manuscripts, books, periodicals, and calendors were primary sources for his research, data analysis, synthesis, and formulation of conclusions. During his studies he developed bibliographic skills and provided bibliographic data to Silvestras Baltramaitis -- the librarian of the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg, to a serial published by Lithuanian Literary Society in Tilsit, to the professor Vaclovas Biržiška at Kaunas University. In 1905-1939 he headed a cultural-educational society „Sandora" and established its library of great scientific and cultural significance as well as increased its publishing activity. Gaigalaitis used press as an important means in realisation of strategic political and spiritual goals. He employed Lithuanian press and publications to unite the national community, to ensure its internal communication and develop national identity, to ensure its self-expression and public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]