Crawford Francis Marion, Zoroaster [1889]

Author: Francis Marion Crawford (F. Marion Crawford) [1854–1909, American novelist who wrote primarily in Sorrento, Italy; nephew of Julia Ward Howe, author of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”; son of sculptor Thomas Crawford]

Publisher: “Wieku” Publishing House, Warsaw

Year of publication: 1889 (first Polish edition; volume 16 of the “Wieku” Library series)

Size: 20 cm

Binding: Period half-leather bookbinding with embossing on the spine

The novel is set in Persia in the 6th century B.C. The protagonist is the young Zoroaster, entangled in the intrigues at the court of King Darius and in love with the Jewish princess Nehushta; the backdrop is the birth of Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldest religions. Francis Marion Crawford (1854–1909), a popular American novelist, spent most of his life in Sorrento, Italy; he was known for the grandeur of his plots and his attention to historical detail. The original was published in 1885, and the Warsaw-based publishing house “Wieku” released a Polish translation in 1889 as part of its fiction series.

Provenance: On the title page is a square stamp reading “Ex Libris Lesław Gołębiowski,” and on the half-title page is a bookplate with the same text affixed.

The block is intact; the pages are clean, bright, and free of foxing and water stains. The period half-leather binding holds the block firmly; the spine leather is heavily worn, with a tear in the leather at the head, and the corners are worn down.

An item from the 19th Polish Antiquarian Book Auction.