Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, The Story of the Pale Girl from Under the Ostra Brama; Ładowa Cave [1872]

Size: 18 cm.

Volume: *The Story of the Pale Girl*: 88 pp.; *The Cave of Ładowa*: 155 pp. [two volumes in one book]

Binding: Period half-leather.

Two of Kraszewski’s works bound together: Volumes XX and XXI of *The Collection of Novels by J. I. Kraszewski*, published in Lviv by Gubrynowicz and Schmidt.

“The Story of the Pale Girl from Under the Gate of Dawn” (first published in 1841) is a sentimental Vilnius tale about Julka, a poor orphan who prays every day before the image of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn and meets her benefactor, Edward. “Ładowa Cave” (first published in 1852) is one of Kraszewski’s folk novels: it depicts rural life and the tensions between the manor and the peasants, with references to ancient Slavic beliefs. Kraszewski dedicated it to his brother Kajetan. The 1872 edition was revised and corrected by the author, who was already living in Dresden at the time.

This volume allows readers to see side by side the two phases of Kraszewski’s writing: his early sentimentalism and his later realism.

A clean copy, in a period half-leather binding.

An item from the 18th Polish Antiquarian Book Auction.