Mickiewicz, Adam

2 volumes in one, 8vo (145 x 100mm.), engraved frontispiece medallion portrait of the author, half-title to volume two, modern calf, some foxing, ?lacking half-title to volume 1, frontispiece and contents to volume 2 laid down, title-page and few other leaves reattached, a few leaves loose

Bought in Berlin by the shoemaker Antoni Malinski in the early 1900s; he returned to Poland with his family including his son Józef (born 1909), whose stamp is on the title-page; by descent to the present owner

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

FIRST EDITION of Mickiewicz's masterpiece and Poland's national epic, Master Thaddeus, which describes the life of a rural community at the arrival of Napoleon in 1812. At this time the dual Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania had been dismembered by the various Partitions of Poland-Lithuania undertaken by Prussia, Russia and Austro-Hungary, and Mickiewicz's poem was a lament to that lost time.

Mickiewicz (1798-1855) was born in Lithuania but wrote in Polish, and is considered the national poet of Poland. He had been exiled from his native land for his part in the political uprisings against the Russian authorities, and in 1832 he settled in Paris, where Pan Tadeusz was published, free from the restrictions of the Russian censors.

The publisher, Jelowicki (1804-1877), was a fellow Polish political exile in Paris who published a substantial number of Polish works and also ran a bookshop which acted as a meeting point for Polish exiles.