502, 4 pp. volume, profusely illustrated throughout from photographs, drawings, and maps. Quarto (9 7/8 x 7 inches). Later cloth-backed boards, gold-stamped titled to spine, original illustrated cover bound in. Some abrasions and bumping to boards, minor areas of paper loss, interior bright and clean, very light foxing mostly along fore-edge, small ownership marking in ink to title page, overall very good. Poznan, Poland: Ksiegarnia Sw. Wojciecha, 1939.

Józef Kisielewski (1905-1966) was a Polish writer, journalist, and right-wing member of Poland's nationalist political party. Ziemia Gromadzi Prochy documents a series of trips he took in 1937 and 1938 across then-northern Germany, through Berlin, Hanover, Hamburg, Stettin, and Leba. This volume was published shortly before the outbreak of World War II and criticially analyzes daily life in prewar Nazi Germany while also highlighting Germany's Slavic history. He draws parallels between the explusion of the Slavs in the 12th century and the modern-day activities of the Nazis. Kisielewski was well-aware of their and correctly predicted the outbreak of the war. His book was subsequently targeted by the "Publikationsstelle" in Berlin-Dahlem, an important institution of "German Eastern Research". Kisielewski fled to Romania in 1939 and then France and Great Britain, knowing the Germans wanted to capture and punish him for his work. Ziemia Gromadzi Prochy was later reprinted in Scotland and by the Polish anti-Nazi resistance.

This volume was designed by Waclaw Boratynski (1908-1939), a Polish painter and graphic artist. Early in his short career he studied at the State School of Art and Artistic Industry in Krakow and joined the artistic group Szczep Rogate Serce, which was founded by Polish sculptor Stanislaw Szukalski and centered on artists seeking inspiration in the nationalism and culture of Old Slavic history and art. Boratynski moved to Poznan in 1931 and opened his workshop, where he collaborated with Polish artistic magazines, designed stamps for the Polish postal system, designed the medal for the 5th National Philatelic Exhibition in Warsaw in 1938, and collaborated with the publishing house Ksiegarnia Sw. Wojciecha, which published this work. In 1939, he joined the Polish Army and was assigned to the 18th Infantry Regiment. He fought the Germans in defense of Lviv, where he was fatally injured.

This work is an excellent example of Constructivist typography and photomontage. The eye-catching green and black cover and many of the numerous illustrations within are indicative of the important Constructivist and avant-garde influences active in Poland in the 1930s. A rare copy of the original 1939 Poznan printing of this work; as of May 2026, OCLC locates only five holdings of this edition in North America.

Book ID: 53150

Price: $1,850.00