Collection of Resolutions of the Permanent Council from the Sejm of 1776 to the Sejm of 1782, Warsaw 1785

Title: A Collection of Resolutions of the Permanent Council Necessary for the Information of the Judicial Authorities and Citizens of Both Nations, Compiled from the Sejm of 1776 to the Sejm of 1782. Reprinted.

Publisher: Cadet Corps Printing House, Warsaw. Under the direction of Piotr Dufour, Court Counselor and Printer to His Royal Highness.

Year of publication: 1785

Format: 32 cm (folio)

Volume: [2] pp. (title page and table of contents), 240 pp.

Binding: original period half-leather, with minor losses of leather on the spine (the spine has been reattached to the block) and scuffing on the edges of the covers.

An official legal publication containing a collection of resolutions by the Permanent Council—the first permanent executive body of the modern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, established in 1775 under pressure from the partitioning powers, which soon became an efficiently functioning government apparatus; its departments are sometimes compared to today’s ministries. This volume contains the Council’s resolutions from 1776 to 1782, arranged alphabetically, on judicial, tax, and administrative matters concerning both nations—a valuable source for the history of law and administration during the Stanisław era.

The print was produced at the Cadet Corps (Knight School) Printing House under the direction of Piotr Dufour—a French typographer, a court counselor and printer to His Majesty, one of the leading figures in Enlightenment-era printing in Poland, known for his elegant, classicist typesetting and high-quality handmade paper.

On the first title page and its reverse side, there is a provenance stamp reading “Biblioteka Jełowickich”; there are old handwritten notes in ink and pencil marginalia in the text—evidence of the volume’s practical use by a former lawyer or civil servant.