Makuszyński Kornel- Dusze z papieru [Lviv theater][first edition 1911].

Lvov 1911/Nakładstwa Wydawnicze, druk W.L. Anczyc i Spółka/ 12x18cm/s.206,242/ booklet binding, publisher/ good+ condition, cover corner fold and loss of spine veneer in first volume, foxing of covers and pre-title pages, stamps on pre-title pages, ownership entries on title pages, further pages clean.

First edition, publisher's complete

This collection of unpretentious sketches is a picture of the artistic output of the Lviv theater for the span of a few years; it is haphazard and casual, as haphazard and casual is the repertoire of Polish theaters, greedily absorbing all imports without due choice. This collection is incomplete; we have omitted many scenic trifles from it, and we have removed feyleton judgments about scenic works, which we have all seen from too close a distance, and not wishing to harm them, we will leave an impartial judgment about them to an unrelated future, having for disposition a thing of immeasurable value, as the prospect of remoteness. Referring directly to some of the stage works discussed in this book, coming face to face with them, unexpectedly, was perhaps often the cause of excessive but sincere admiration. They are also truncated by the prudence of later days, regulating flamboyant enthusiasms.

We have collected these ephemeral sketches into a whole, imitating French literary customs, with the only difference being that the sketches, in this book, have not the slightest pretension to anything. They can serve only one purpose: for someone who will someday write a history of the Polish theater, they will serve as an example of the expression of a moment, one day - no more. Tucked away in the darkest corner of the library, they will serve the reader (if he finds one) as an inaccurate guide to the theater of recent years. Rare.