MIKOLAJ REJ: SPAN FROM THE ZOO [1884].

Description

Przęsło ze Zwierzyńca is a 19th century reprint of one of the rarest and most valuable Polish old prints – chapter two of Mikołaj Rej’s “Zwierzyniec”, which was first published in 1562. The publication was issued in Poznan in 1884 by the Kórnik Library, thanks to the efforts of a prominent collector and patron of culture – Count Tytus Dzialynski, who prepared this reprint before his death. After his sudden death, the work was completed and provided with an introduction by Zygmunt Celichowski, then curator of the Kornik Library.

The work is an extremely valuable monument of Polish heraldry and Renaissance literature. It contains a rhymed characterization of the “states and houses of some noble Polish nation”. – i.e. a heraldry describing numerous noble families. The text is enriched with more than 200 Old Polish coats of arms in woodcut. The illustrations, compared to the original 16th century edition, have been further enriched with coats of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia and Polish families settled in Royal Prussia, as well as images of Polish eagles, portraits of Mikołaj Rej, King Sigismund the Old and Queen Bona.

Both 16th-century editions of the Zwierzyniec belong to bibliographic white ravens, and this 1884 reprint is also a rarity on the antiquarian market. The print is distinguished by exceptional typographical care.