S. Przybyszewski - Requiem aeternam. 1904. first Polish edition of Przybyszewski's scandalous poem....

PRZYBYSZEWSKI Stanislaw - Requiem aeternam.... The third book of the Pentateuch. Lvov 1904, Bookg. Poland. 16d, pp. 84. publisher's publisher's age-toned cloth.
Good condition. First edition of the famous and controversial prose poem, beginning with a scandalizing paraphrase of the first words of the book of Genesis: "In the beginning was lust. Nothing but it, and everything in it." The text is a kind of manifesto of the author's pansexual views. First printed in German as "Totenmesse" in 1893, excerpts from the Polish version first appeared in magazines, to appear in book form in 1904. Each chapter opens with a red-and-black initial; the typographical layout is somewhat reminiscent of popular prayer books. Infrequent.