Sigismund II Augustus’ Volumes in Åbo Akademi Library, Finland : Renaissance Books in a Transnational, National and Regional Context

Abstract

The present article explores the history of three medical volumes that once belonged to the important book collection of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus (1520–1572), and its possible itinerary to Finland, where it is currently located in Åbo Akademi Library, Turku. The article sheds light on the people and professions who were interested in the valuable continental, Renaissance books originally possessed by the uncle of the deposed Catholic King Sigismund (1566–1632) and their meaning to both the national and regional cultures in Sweden and Finland. It stretches the concept of a Renaissance book collector geographically to Northern Europe, and temporally to the emergence of the modern period.