Henares, P., *The Air in Barcelona, or The Last Letters of Two Lovers* [1823]

Year of publication: 1823.

Volume: 202, [2] pp.

Size: 16 cm.

Binding: Original period half-leather.

Translator: “The Lonely Translator,” a pseudonym attributed to Franciszek Salezy Dmochowski (1801–1871).

An epistolary novel, published a year after Mickiewicz’s *Ballads and Romances*. It is set in Barcelona during the yellow fever epidemic of 1821 (referred to as “powietrze” in the Polish of the time): the city’s quarantine serves as the backdrop for the tragic love story of two lovers, in the spirit of the sentimental literature popular at the time. It was published by the Zawadzki and Węcki printing house in Warsaw. The translator, writing under a pseudonym, was most likely the young Franciszek Salezy Dmochowski, son of Franciszek Ksawery, who later became a writer, critic, and publisher.

Provenance: on the front endpaper, a signature reading “Eleonora Mikoszewska” and a second, smudged signature; on the following page, a pencil inscription reading “Dmochowski Franciszek Salezy”; on the title page and back endpaper, illegible notes.

A rare Warsaw print from the pre-Romantic era.

The binding shows scuffs on the leather and edges; the spine is sturdy. There are traces of past water damage in the margins of the first dozen or so pages. The text block is intact, the print is legible, and there is foxing. The fold-out map of Barcelona is missing.

An item from the 19th Polish Antiquarian Book Auction.