GĘBAROWICZ Mieczysław, TYSZKOWSKI Kazimierz - Zaklad Narodowy Imie Ossolińskich in Lviv. (With 10 likenesses). Lviv 1926

GĘBAROWICZ Mieczysław, TYSZKOWSKI Kazimierz - Zaklad Narodowy Imie Ossolińskich in Lviv. (With 10 likenesses). Lviv 1926 - Zaklad Narodowy imienia Ossolińskich.

Pp. 24. plates 10. h. 25 cm. Booklet binding with ep. Own stamps. Rudolf and Juliusz Mękicki.
Rips and soiling of the binding.

From the introduction: "When the Homeland lay in the grave, when the living body of the Nation was being torn into three parts, some of the more ardent patriots sought salvation with arms in hand on the battlefields of Kosciuszko or Dabrowski, while others again, like Staszic, garnered for solace in economic and social work, or faded away in the secluded asylums of scholars. There, amidst books and manuscripts, one would reflect on past moments of national splendor. And with growing fondness, in an instinctive desire to save the treasures of the spirit for future generations, they collected cultural and artistic monuments, books, parchments, records. This is how the great collections of the Czartoryskis, Czacki, Dzialynski, Raczynski and others came into being through the efforts of individuals. In this plethora of collectors, heirs to the everlasting memory of Załuski, stood in the first row Jozef Maksymilian Ossoliński.

A fluent erudite, a profound expert in history and native literature, he settled in Vienna after the partitions and here devoted the rest of his life and property to collecting books. Vigilant, unbelievably busy despite his blindness, he took every opportunity to increase his beloved collection, as he knew and reiterated that "with science as much as with the saber we earned our nobility." In the intentional work, in carrying the strenuous refuge of the nation "for the hard times of slavery," he was aided by Samuel Bogumił Linde, favored by the Josephine suppression of monasteries, a peculiar catch for bibljophiles. After some hesitation, moreover, having agreed with Henryk Ks. Lubomirski in the matter of the Museum, Ossoliński chooses Lviv, threatened by the flood of Germanness, as the future seat of the Institute. For this purpose he acquires the buildings of the Carmelite convent of the visceral Carmelites [...]"

Rudolf Mękicki (1887-1942) - Polish medalist, herald, art historian and museologist. He designed, among other things, ex-librises, book covers, occasional prints, diplomas, but also coins, medals, badges and plaques.
He taught at the Lviv Polytechnic University. From 1922 until his death he was curator at the King John III National Museum in Lviv. He donated to the aforementioned institution, among other things, a magnificent collection of coins from the Lviv mint.
He died in 1942 and was buried in Lviv's Lychakiv Cemetery.