The subject of the article is Stanisław Wyspiański’s bookplate design for Lucjan Rydel, drawn by watercolour on grey paper (23,8 x 16,9 cm). As a standing rectangle, it shows symmetrically arranged twigs with flower buds, which resemble magnolias and freesias. e signs that appear next to the twigs, which are painted emerald green and light violet, are Z Księgozbioru (“From the book collection”) as well as Dr (?) LRydla [“Dr (?) LRydel’s”], the latter being the facsimile of a signature. It can be assumed that this drawing was Wyspiański’s present for his friend, gifted sometime in the years 1894–1899. Rydel never made a decision to have it printed, which undoubtedly contributed to its status of being unknown among experts and absent from the topic literature, either printed, handwritten or epistolary. The piece is nevertheless particularly important for the history of Polish bookplates. is seemingly ordinary drawing appears revolutionary when one considers that it shows an emblem shield deprived of the actual emblem, lacks an epic theme, does not have any text, and features art nouveau embellishments as well as a handwritten signature of the owner. It can be compared to the works created already in the first decade of the twentieth century by artists such as Jan Bukowski, Antoni Procajłowicz and Kazimierz Sichulski.
In 1808 the Warsaw Society of Friends of Science decided to publish a work of John Baptist Albertrandi „Historia polska medalami zaświadczona i objaśniona” (History of Polish MedalsRecorded and Expounded). The book was supposed to be illustrated with images of all medals stamped and known in Poland. Despite many years of ongoing preparations, the completed and ready numismatic study was not published. The copperplates for the engravings, of which there are four hundred and thirty-four, were created between 1822 and 1828. After the fall of the November Uprising they were conscated and exported to Russia to enrich the holdings of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, where they remain to this day. Before they were carried off, around thirty copies of the set were printed. The subject of this article are four albums including copies of prints from the copperplates for the engravings, stored in National Museum in Krakow, Jagiellonian Library (two albums) and Science Library of PAU (Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences) and PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences) and one album from National Museum in Poznan containing so called new prints stamped in 1872 in Saint Petersburg. e article contains a presentation of all four albums, which are analysed from several standpoints, namely, historical, provenance, as collector’s items, as works of art and as works created to be printed.
In 1901, the association Polska Sztuka Stosowana (Polish Applied Arts) announced a contest for a bookplate to be featured at the National Museum in Kraków. It was the fi rst competition of this sort in the Polish lands, and the result was the fi rst artistic Polish bookplate created by a traditional technique. Its author was Jan Bukowski, then starting his career in typography and illustration. Marking books with a decorative label, usually pasted onto the front endpaper, was becoming fashionable among bibliophiles and was an expression of their taste, education and artistic culture. For the following twenty or so years, the contest became a model for many other similar competitions. This article analyzes the form and content of the bookplate in question, which for many years became the trademark and logo of the National Museum in Kraków. It was also the paragon of the Polish exlibris valuable not only for its artistic but also Polish national features. Lastly, it was an object of exchange between the museum and Polish and foreign institutions,on the one hand, and between collectors, on the other.
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