Abstract:
The article discusses the dissemination of the printed word in the provinces of Samogitia
and Central Lithuania in the XVI century. It explores how city residents, landed gentry and clergy of
Central and Western Lithuania started their acquaintance with the book. The article also addresses
possible ways of obtaining books, bibliophilic nature of private book collections, the migration of
personal book collections to the growing libraries of educational centres. Most attention is accorded
to the XV–XVI centuries‘ books with ownership-testifying inscriptions, which are kept in libraries
of the present-day Kaunas. Some interesting copies of such books have marginals written by famous
upholders of Lithuanian culture. The author concludes that 1) the spread of books in Central and
Western Lithuania was predetermined by the establishment of the new religion – Christianity; 2) the
European orientation of the new nobility encouraged the need of higher education, which was instrumental
for the appearance of the personal collections amassed either for the purposes of study or
post-study; 3) the expansion of literacy among the lower classes made the book important as both an
educational aid and a possession; 4) the spread of books in the provinces demonstrated a more active
integration of the provinces of Lithuania into social and political life of the state.
