An antique book from a Belarusian parish is being sold for 700 euros at a Polish auction. How can such exhibits be exported abroad?

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It is unknown how exactly the book ended up in Poland and who put it up for sale. Experts note that such documents should normally be kept in church or state archives, as they have significant scientific value.

The cover of the manuscript reads: «Zurnały plebanii Eysymonttowego od roku 1833 do roku 184…» («Journals of the Eysymontt Rectory from 1833 to 184…»). The book is a copybook — a collection of ecclesiastical and secular authorities' decrees, as well as various official correspondence.

Most entries belong to the parish priest and Grodno dean Michał Sezianiewski (1784—1850), who headed the parish from 1812 to 1850. The book contains documents and entries with titles such as «To the Bishop», «To the County Court», «To the Consistory», «To the Military Governor», «Certificate», «To the Clergy of the Grodno Deanery», and others.

The manuscript also reflects various aspects of the life of the parish and the local community. For example, it contains a list of people who were supposed to transport stones for the construction of the church. Although the book is not a metrical book, it contains information about church acts (baptism, marriage, burial), as well as mentions of individual family histories. The book contains a lot of information of interest to the region.

Interestingly, in the parish itself, as far as Most knows, there are no books older than the second half of the 20th century.

"An invaluable source"

«I looked at the photos of the book pages posted by the seller. There is a lot of diverse information — about logging, stone hauling, smallpox vaccinations, mentions of metrical records. Details about the life of the parish and the local community in the first half of the 19th century, which probably did not make it into other historical sources. Therefore, it is an invaluable source for those who might want to research and describe the life of a local community in the 19th century. In addition, surnames of local residents appear there, which in turn can be valuable for those who study the history of their families,» Belarusian local historian Jan Rameika told Most.

"Collectors often buy such books hoping for their value to increase"

The Polish society Rody Grodzieńskie, which collects and studies information about the Grodno region, has already shown interest in the book. On the society's Facebook page, they ask if there is a way to find the book other than buying it out. Rafał Jurowski, a representative of Rody Grodzieńskie, answered Most's questions.

— How do such books end up at auctions? Is it common practice for old parish books or other documents from former archives to appear on the market?

— Most often at auctions, we encounter family documents originating from private homes: letters, photographs, as well as various types of documents concerning, for example, land sales. Such materials should naturally remain in the hands of families.

More rarely, church books appear in private hands, which in principle should remain exactly where they originated. It would be best if documents of this kind remained in the church, or even better — in the appropriate archive.

However, it is known that it happens that metrical books end up in private hands — more often in Belarus, less often in Poland. It is very possible that sometimes this was due to a situation where someone kept such a book, protecting it during difficult times. Later, after the death of the person who kept it and realized that it was church property, the book could have been handed over for auction.

— Why are such books important for local history?

— This book contains certain genealogical information, but its value is even higher for researchers of the history of the parish and the people who belonged to it.

Already on the first pages, it is clear that the priest who kept it recorded a lot of information concerning both the social and economic life of the parish. Such data cannot be obtained from metrical books, which contain only basic, dry information about someone's birth, marriage, or death.

In this type of book, we get a much broader view of what the life of the parish looked like in the first half of the 19th century.

— As far as we know, this is not the first book from these places to appear at auction. Can we really talk about a certain trend? Where might such documents come from?

— I don't think we can talk about any obvious trend, because such books appeared before. I remember that more than 10 years ago someone offered — it seems, at a Belarusian auction — a metrical book from Ishkaldz (a village in Baranavichy district. — Note by Most). I don't know what happened to it then. Perhaps it fell into good hands, or perhaps to someone who is waiting for it to gain more value, and only then will sell it.

Quite often I come across information in genealogical communities on Facebook about offers to sell various documents — both church-related and those originating from state institutions.

— Who most often sells such books — heirs, collectors, or perhaps institutions?

— Here we are dealing with an auction house, which should verify the origin of the document. However, the owner of the book is probably some private individual or someone who previously bought it from another person.

— Is there a risk that documents important for the region's history fall into private collections and become inaccessible to researchers?

— Unfortunately, this is a certain problem. It happens that after being purchased by a collector, such books do not see the light of day for a long time. Collectors often buy them expecting their value to increase.

In reality, however, without encountering someone interested in this parish, they do not have great market value. For a historian or genealogist, high-quality scans of such a book are usually quite sufficient.

We know, for example, about books from the Kamenka parish. Some time ago, Polish professor Krzysztof Hejke, who was looking for traces of Eliza Orzeszkowa in Kamenka, wrote about them in his article "Z Notatnika Fotografa" ("From a Photographer's Notebook").

They are probably still somewhere in Kamenka, in someone's attic. Despite attempts to find out exactly who has them and to obtain at least photographs of these books, this has not been achieved.

If they ever end up at auction, paradoxically, it might be a better solution than if they were eventually destroyed and eaten by mice. However, it would be best if such books went directly to church or state archives.

What is known about the parish in Vyalikiya Eismonty

The Parish of the Name of the Most Holy Virgin Mary and Saint John of Nepomuk in Vyalikiya Eismonty today belongs to the Grodno Catholic Diocese. The first wooden church here was built in 1659, and in 1843-1850, a new brick church was erected, consecrated in 1851.

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