FORSTER C. - Pologne. With 55 view and portrait engravings.

FORSTER Charles - Pologne. Paris 1840; Firmin Didot Fréres Éditeurs. 8, pp. [4], 348, plates 55. brochure. L'Univers Pittoresque, vol. 10.
Banach 282. spine with minor loss, covers slightly rubbed, minor signs of browning and damp inside, otherwise good condition. Text in double-page spread. On plates 55 intaglio, including fold-out map of Poland. A nice piece in the original booklet with a set of engravings.
Under a foreign-sounding name is the Polish writer, poet, journalist, translator, publisher and emigration activist Karol Forster (1800-1879). His life and work lived to see a comprehensive monograph by Roman Jaskuła, published in Krakow in 2002. The contents of the work: L'ancienne Pologne 800-1796 (Old Poland), Partages de la Pologne (Partitions of Poland), Moeurs et coustumes (Customs and clothing), Civilisation (Civilization achievements), La Pologne Renessainte (Poland reborn), Revolution Nationale 1830 -1831 (National uprising), La Pologne, Province Russe 1831-1840 (Poland as a Russian province). The steel engravings on the plates printed in Lemaitre's studio depict views of cities and individual monuments, historical scenes, portraits, regional costumes, etc. Warsaw and Wilanów figure on 10 plates (including the Sigismund's Column, the National Theater, Lazienki Park, the Namiestnikowski Palace, the Bank of Poland), Krakow and Wieliczka on 12 plates (including the city skyline, Kosciuszko Mound, Wawel Cathedral, monuments to kings). Other subjects include an allegory of the partition of Poland (the famous 'kołacz królewski'), the charge at Somosierra, views of Kalisz, Malbork and Zator, portraits of Batory, Zamojski, Stanislaw August Poniatowski and Kosciuszko.