It is easy to tell that a cataloguer has struggled with a set when its classmark sequence comes out as 758:53.c.201.33(1a-1c,2a-2h,4c-4d,5a-5b,5e-5f,5i,6a-6b,7a-7c).  This was one of the last things I catalogued before lockdown, and provides the beginnings (and hopefully more!) of the Library’s fine new set of Bolesław Prus.

Buying a major new set of collected works has always been a big step, and that is of course even more the case now.  Significant new academic editions often come with a similarly significant price tag, and our budgets are under pressure as never before.  Added to this is the very topical question of whether an electronic copy (if available) should be preferred (to which the answer, no matter how much readers might prefer a physical book, generally needs to be yes at the moment, price differences permitting (ebooks are largely more expensive, sometimes unbelievably so)).

Bolesław Prus (the nom de plume of Aleksander Głowacki), 1847-1912, was a major and significant writer of prose, yet the UL had relatively scant holdings.  This new set is Pisma wszystkie (Complete works), which will run to dozens of volumes.  Until this acquisition, we had only a 6-volume Pisma wybrane (Selected works) from the early 1980s and an incomplete set of a 1940s Pisma (Works; we hold v. 1, 2, 4-9, 22, 23, 25…), alongside fewer than 30 publications of individual works in Prus’ original Polish or in English translation.  The new set, providing not only Prus’ complete works but also major academic commentaries, was too good an opportunity to miss – particularly with the ever-growing success of the Cambridge Polish Studies programme, which attracts more and more undergraduates and postgraduates.

The Prus volumes were ordered and received before lockdown, in far easier times.  Well, not easier for the cataloguer.  An electronic set would not have needed classmarks…  Nor would certain vagueness on the publisher’s part in terms of volume sequence have been such an issue.  The volumes we received (the publication is ongoing) are listed below in their subsets, followed by classmarks and, where appropriate, the cataloguer’s lament.

• seria A (Humoreski, nowele, opowiadania), t. 1-5
  • –> 758:53.c.201.33(1a-1c)
    • 5 tomy [tomes] in three physical volumes: a hint of trouble to come.
• seria B (Powieści), t. 1-2, Placówka, Lalka, Emancypantki, Dzieci
  • –> 758:53.c.201.33(2a-2h)
    • hideously complicated: the volumes named for the novels they contain were unnumbered (I decided to order them in chronological sequence of publication), and there were some multi-volume sets within the subset.
• seria D (Publicystyka filozoficzno-społeczna i literacka), t. 3-5
  • –> 758:53.c.201.33(4c-4d)
    • also a challenge: tomy 3-5 were printed in 2 volumes rather than 3 (always a horror (and mystery) for the cataloguer) – so will the unpublished tomy 1-2 turn out to be two volumes (for which I’ve retained 4a and 4b) or only one (in which case 4b would remain forever unused)?
• seria E (Kroniki), t. 1-5, 8-11, 14
  • –> 758:53.c.201.33(5a-5b, 5e-5f, 5i)
    • the publisher was really warming to their theme here: tomy 1-5 in TWO volumes only, then 8-11 in two, but 14 in one; again gaps needed to be left in the sequence sufficient for 1 tom = 1 physical volume but likely to remain partially unused.
• seria F (Korespondencja), t. 1-2
  • –> 758:53.c.201.33(6a-6b)
• seria G (Notatki twórcze), t. 1-3 
  • –> 758:53.c.201.33(7a-7c)

Had the last two subsets not been so straightforward, a fit of temper might have been caused.  In terms of physical presentation, however, the publisher provided rather a treat.  It is a handsome set with a colour for each subset.  In the picture below is an example, from left to right, of subsets A-B, D-G.  Of course, the most important thing is the contents.  At last we have, albeit not yet complete, a good and proper set of Prus.  The set’s iDiscover record can be seen here.  I hope that readers will be able to admire (and then read) the volumes in situ on North Wing 5 before too very long.  In the meantime, options for getting hold of them to borrow or read in the Library can be found here.

Mel Bach