{"id":38455,"date":"2026-10-12T11:12:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/?p=38455"},"modified":"2026-10-12T11:33:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:33:36","slug":"witkacy-farewell-to-autumn-inscribed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/witkacy-farewell-to-autumn-inscribed\/","title":{"rendered":"Witkacy Corrects Witkacy: First Editions Inscribed by the Author"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some books are bought for the text, and some for what someone added to it. The copy that has long been part of our collection belongs to both groups. Dealers call such books association copies: what matters is not only who wrote them, but to whom, when and in what circumstances the author gave them. It is a first edition of Stanis\u0142aw Ignacy Witkiewicz\u2019s \u201cPo\u017cegnanie jesieni\u201d (\u201cFarewell to Autumn\u201d), published in Warsaw in 1927 by F. Hoesick, and it bears traces of the author\u2019s hand: an inscription, two ink drawings, a pencil sketch in the margin of the text and, a few years later, a correction to the novel\u2019s own printed dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Title<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first novel published in the author\u2019s lifetime<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFarewell to Autumn\u201d was the first of Witkacy\u2019s novels to appear during his lifetime; the earlier \u201cThe 622 Downfalls of Bungo\u201d, written in 1910\u20131911, was published only after his death. The title page carries a motto from Antoni S\u0142onimski and the imprint Warszawa 1927, F. Hoesick. Critics were unkind: Emil Breiter titled his July 1927 review in \u201cWiadomo\u015bci Literackie\u201d simply \u201cPseudo-novel\u201d. Witkacy did have defenders, among them Stanis\u0142aw Alberti, husband of the recipient of our inscription, who in 1928 published the essay \u201cA Solitary Artist. On the margin of \u2018Farewell to Autumn\u2019\u201d in \u201c\u015awiat Kobiecy\u201d. A proof copy with the author\u2019s corrections also survives, and modern editions of the novel draw on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo Mrs Kazimiera Alberti\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the half-title, around the printed title, Witkacy wrote in ink: \u201cPani Kazimierze Alberti ofiarowuje z wyrazami szacunku i sympatii Witkacy 1927 XI NP12 Warszawa\u201d (presented to Mrs Kazimiera Alberti with expressions of respect and sympathy). Below a ruled line he drew a scene of figures, plants and a building, signed separately \u201cWitkacy XI 1927 NP13\u201d. Kazimiera Alberti (1898\u20131962) was a poet, novelist and journalist, a graduate of Jan Kazimierz University in Lw\u00f3w. Witkacy knew her and her husband Stanis\u0142aw from at least 1926, when his letters to his wife mention visits to the Albertis in Krak\u00f3w; after the summer of that year the couple moved to Warsaw, which matches the place in the inscription. Witkacy portrayed Kazimiera several times, and her 1927 collection \u201cM\u00f3j film\u201d includes a section titled \u201cThree Portraits\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Witkacy's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What \u201cNP12\u201d means<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who has seen the pastels of Witkacy\u2019s Portrait Firm knows these abbreviations. \u201cNP\u201d meant he had not smoked, and \u201cN\u03a0\u201d, with a Greek pi, that he had not drunk. According to auction catalogue descriptions, the number after \u201cNP\u201d gave the days since his last cigarette. In our copy the inscription carries \u201cNP12\u201d, and the drawing below it and a full-page drawing on another leaf carry \u201cNP13\u201d. The pencil sketch in a page margin bears the number 14, but the abbreviation before it is hard to read. All the notes are dated November 1927. It looks as if Witkacy returned to the book on at least two consecutive days before handing it over; this is our reading of the notes, not a documented fact. A few small pencil notes beside two drawings cannot be read with certainty, so we do not interpret them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Full-page<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Witkacy's<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Witkacy corrects Witkacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The novel\u2019s printed dedication reads \u201cTo Mrs Zofia and Tadeusz \u017bele\u0144ski\u201d. In this copy \u201cTadeusz\u201d is struck through and the surname altered so that the dedication now reads to Mrs Zofia \u017bele\u0144ska alone. Beside it are the date \u201c9\/VI 1933\u201d and the marks \u201cN\u03a0 NP\u201d. From 2 to 12 June 1933 Witkacy was staying with the Albertis, who from 1930 lived in Bia\u0142a Krakowska and kept a literary salon there. Everything therefore points to the correction having been made in the recipient\u2019s home, in her copy. Tadeusz Boy-\u017bele\u0144ski had for years been one of Witkacy\u2019s closest friends and one of the first to recognise his work; their relations cooled in the early 1930s. Whether the strike-through was a gesture of resentment, a joke for his hostess, or both, no document tells us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Printed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The copy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stanis\u0142aw Ignacy Witkiewicz, Po\u017cegnanie jesieni. Powie\u015b\u0107. Warsaw 1927, F. Hoesick. First edition. Leather binding executed in our bindery, gilt edges, original publisher\u2019s wrappers retained. Autograph presentation inscription in ink on the half-title to Kazimiera Alberti, dated \u201c1927 XI\u201d, with an ink drawing signed \u201cWitkacy XI 1927 NP13\u201d; full-page drawing in ink and pencil signed \u201cWitkacy 1927 XI NP13\u201d; pencil sketch in the margin of a text page, dated \u201c1927 XI\u201d; in the printed dedication the name of Tadeusz Boy-\u017bele\u0144ski struck through in the author\u2019s hand, with the note \u201c9\/VI 1933\u201d. Provenance: Kazimiera Alberti (inscription); later history unknown; now in the Antykwariat Polski collection.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our conservation studio the book underwent comprehensive conservation and restoration, aimed at stabilising the paper and preserving all of the author\u2019s inscriptions and drawings in their original state. Our bindery then gave it a new leather binding with gilt page edges, retaining the original publisher\u2019s wrappers. The book is now stable and safe to handle, while the patina of the paper, a natural trace of its nearly hundred-year history, has been left untouched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other inscribed books in our shop include Julian Stryjkowski\u2019s \u201cAusteria\u201d (1966), Ryszard Kapu\u015bci\u0144ski\u2019s \u201cImperium\u201d (1993) and Zygmunt Nowakowski\u2019s \u201cZ ksi\u0119gi za\u017cale\u0144 pielgrzymstwa polskiego\u201d (Brussels, 1949). This copy of \u201cFarewell to Autumn\u201d is not for sale: for us it is a true rarity, and it remains in the Antykwariat Polski collection. If you are looking for similar books, would like conservation or a new binding for your own copy, or simply want to talk about Witkacy, contact us<\/a>; to hear about new arrivals first, join our newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some books are bought for the text, and some for what someone added to it. The copy that has long been part of our collection belongs to both\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[861],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38456,"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38455\/revisions\/38456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antykwariat-polski.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}