News of the World The Role of Handwritten Newspapers in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Early 18th Century

The article is a first attempt at a holistic analysis of the issue of the scale of information transfer between European royal courts and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the first half of the 18th century. Handwritten newspapers were – apart from correspondence – one of the most important sources of information and opinion-forming tools in the 18th century. The presented research results are the effect of source queries conducted in the Central Archives of Historical Records, the Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kórnik, the National Archives in Krakow, the Library of the National Ossoliński Institute in Wrocław, the Central State Archives of Ukraine in Kyiv, the National Historical Archives of Belarus in Minsk, and Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden. The preserved archival materials provide an opportunity to conduct unique research concerning the scale of information dissemination in 18th-century Europe, as well as to show particularly interesting topics and issues shaping the information policy of the day. The presented analysis not only reveals the scale of information dissemination, but also allows for conclusions concerning the significance and popularity of specific messages. The preserved source material makes it possible to identify the characteristics of information policy formation in relation to the realities of that era's society, but also serves as an excellent source for researching its mentality. Reports presented in handwritten newspapers are also an excellent source for an analysis of the scale of information dissemination in 18th-century Europe.