Antique books from the collection of Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz : a minor contribution to the research of bibliophilism in the environment of the Polish Armenians

Armenian Archbishop Józef Teodorowicz (1864-1938) had a collection of antique books, comprising at least 145 titles in a few languages: Latin, Polish, German, and French. Armenian antique books, published with great artistry in Venice and Constantinople, were especially interesting among these works. It was determined that over 80 percent of collection concerned different branches of theology. The rest, i.e. 20 percent, included works of philosophy, ethics, canon law, rhetoric, literature, and linguistics. During the Second World War, after the capture of Lwów by Soviet troops, the collection was partially destroyed and dispersed. In August 1940, preserved fragments were included into the collections belonging to the Library of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Socialistic Soviet Republic (Lviv Branch). Today, the preserved fragments of the collection from the library of Archbishop Teodorowicz are kept in two institutions: the Division of Antique Books of the Wasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library in Lviv and the Unit of Antique Books of the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław.