Obraz Anglii w polskim piśmiennictwie geograficznym i podróżniczym w epoce nowożytnej

Abstract

In this book, the Author reconstructs the image of England and the English people as perceivedby the inhabitants of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Modern Era. The basicsources were travel literature, instructions written by family members, popular geographicalpublications, geography textbooks, popular compendia and encyclopaedias affecting the awarenessand the minds of the widest reading circles. Furthermore, a lot of geographical informationwas included in calendars, newspapers as well as the nobility’s ‘silva rerum’. A report of an expeditionbeyond the Polish-Lithuanian borders could be prepared in literary form, and printed.However, the vast majority of accounts were written as journals, existing only in manuscriptform. The aim of the book was to present not only the place and role of travel in old Polishawareness, but also the influence of travel, sightseeing and observation on the shaping of thementality of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth inhabitants.