Tomasz Staliński (Stefan Kisielewski): Ludzie w akwarium [1976]

Tomasz Staliński was the pen name of Stefan Kisielewski, writer, composer and columnist of “Tygodnik Powszechny”. After March 1968 he was banned from publishing in communist Poland and brought out his political novels in exile, at Jerzy Giedroyc’s Instytut Literacki in Paris. Under the Staliński name it published “Widziane z góry” (1967), “Cienie w pieczarze” (1971), “Romans zimowy” (1972), “Śledztwo” (1974) and “Ludzie w akwarium” (1976).

This is the first edition of “Ludzie w akwarium”, issued in 1976 as volume 263 of the “Biblioteka Kultury” series. On the title page the author states that all characters and events are invented and only the quotations from the Warsaw press are real. In Poland the novel circulated underground: in 1981 it was reprinted by the clandestine publisher “Suplement” in Szczecin.

A clean copy. We hand-bound the book in our bindery in dark green natural leather: raised bands, navy spine label “T. STALIŃSKI LUDZIE W AKWARIUM” lettered in gilt, covers with decorative blind tooling, plain endpapers with the label of the Antykwariat Polski bindery.