FREDRO Alexander - Three by three. Memoirs from the Napoleonic era. With a foreword by Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki....

FREDRO Alexander - Three by three. Memoirs of the Napoleonic era. With a foreword by Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki. Edited, with an introduction and additions by Henryk Moscicki. With 52 illustrations in the text and 8 on separate pages. Warsaw 1917, Nakł. Gebethner & Wolff. 4, pp. L, 228, [1]. Covers in fl. with original cover glued to the face of the binding.
Maliszewski 1087. Missing frontispiece, otherwise good condition. Own stamp. Illustrations within pagination. One of the most honest and beautifully written memoirs of the Napoleonic wars. One of the fathers of Polish comedy, A. Fredro (1793-1876) joined the army of the Duchy of Warsaw in May 1809 at the age of 16 and participated in the Napoleonic wars for 6 years, until their very end. He recounts his sometimes dramatic adventures in a witty and colorful way, sparing no irony or mockery of the reality he witnessed and the situations he was a participant in. In doing so, he does not spare himself. He dissects the romantic myth of Napoleon and his times. The memoirs were not intended for publication, they were to remain unknown. Fortunately, the opposite happened.