MICKIEWICZ Adam - Pan Tadeusz czyli ostatni zjazd na Litwie [illustrations by ANDRIOLLI] 1882

A beautiful, richly illustrated edition from 1882. First edition with woodcuts by Michal Elviro Andriolli.

In 1881, Lviv publisher Herman Altenberg published a prospectus announcing a new, as it soon turned out: an extremely rich, first illustrated edition of the national epic. We are familiar with these illustrations by Michal Elwiro Andriolli, reflected in woodcut technique by the best engravers, designed by the Warsaw xylographer Mr. Zajkowski. The work came out in twelve notebooks, at monthly intervals. Each notebook is filled with the text of one book, inscribed in a double line frame, the first pages of the book are decorated with a rich initial. The text is supplemented by two full-page engravings and several smaller ones, broken into the text. Printing was done on high-quality paper, with new fonts specially made for this edition. The publisher ordered the cover in three colors: red, celadon and brown (readers could choose it according to their own taste). It is also to the credit of this publisher that it was on his initiative, in 1882, that a poem with the incipit "O tymże dumać na paryskim bruku" appears for the first time in a national edition as an actual epilogue. Interestingly, in subsequent editions Altenberg abandoned its reprinting. (after Teresa Winek, "What kind of Pan Tadeusz was read in the 19th century?")

The presence of the epilogue "O tymże dumać na paryskim bruku" confirms that the piece on display is the 1st edition with illustrations by Androli from 1882

Year of publication: Lviv 1882, published by H. Altenberg Bookstore

s. 294, [1], 25 full-page illustrated plates.

Format: 37 x 28 cm

Binding: cloth-covered with skaiom using original publisher's binding facings/ edges of pages minimally trimmed

Condition: complete and consistent, no signatures or underlining in the text, [PROVENANCE: on the first two pages name stamp "M.Bucylin "*, minor stamp on title page**], minor foreign signature at bottom edge of one graphic [in pencil], minor rust discoloration [foxing - no damage to text or illustrations], minor rust soiling with rubbing on 2 pages [minimal rubbing of edges of illustrations], at the bottom edge of the last 15 cards a small dry trace of former flooding [minor discoloration of the paper - no damage to the text and illustrations], minor rubbing on the face, rubbing and minor scratches and minor dings on the back cover

* Nikolai Bucylin - member of the KD PPR. Mentioned in the Polish Monitor of 1947 and 1948 as a member of various associations.

**Probably the export mark of the German publishing house Insel -Bücherei from 1916-17. Booksellers were allowed to send only books with export stamps to Allied and neutral countries, as well as to occupied territories. To this end, publishers and printers had to submit all printed materials to the appropriate command authority for inspection. (per https://mediengeschichte.dnb.de/DBSMZBN/Content/DE/Zensur/06-zensurzeichen-und-symbole.html)