Karol Estreicher (senior)

Karol Józef Teofil Estreicher (22 November 1827 in Kraków – 30 September 1908 in Kraków) was a Polish bibliographer and librarian who was a founder of the Polish Academy of Learning.[1] While he is known as the "father of Polish bibliography",[2] he is also considered the founder of the bibliographical method in literary research.[3] His "monumental work",[3] Bibliografia Polska is called the "most outstanding bibliography of Polish books, and probably one of the most famous bibliographies in the world".[4]

Karol Estreicher (c.1904)

Estreicher was the son of Alojzy Rafał Estreicher, a natural history professor at the Jagiellonian University. After completing university studies in philosophy and law, he worked in the judiciary in Kraków and Lviv, where bibliography became his passion.[1] Margrave Aleksander Wielopolski appointed him in 1862 as under-librarian and assistant professor of Bibliography at the Szkoła Główna Warszawska where he presented Bibliography for the first time as a standalone discipline.[1] In 1868 he returned to Kraków and became director of the Jagiellonian Library where during a 37-year tenure he modernized and tripled its collection.[1][3]

He was also an author, historian, literary critic, journalist, and theater critic.[1]