Book Inscription as an Expression of Cultural and National Identity

Panevėžys County G. Petkevičaitė-Bitė Public Library stores a unique, multi-lingual personal library bequeathed of Juozas Miltinis (1907-1994). This set consists of almost 3.5 thousand multilingual publications with a wide variety of book inscriptions. This valuable and important witness is an addition to the personal library content and provides exclusivity and uniqueness of this collection - plenty of surviving handwritten entries and dedications, varying from a compound of a few words to a letter. Personal library of director Juozas Miltinis – a reflection of his communication as an intelligent theatre and drama studio developer, a view of cultural context. By means of preserved and decoded inscriptions, this report focuses on the analysis of the set of authentic multilingual entries, establishing the relationship with donors through customs and cultural traditions, disclosing donors’ mentality and values. Reconstruction of cultural and lingual – Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian – book donation tradition is based on extant classified and investigated inscriptions from this personal book collection. This reconstruction illustrates the expression of national and cultural identity of book authors and donors.