![Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, *Mirror of the Night*. *Empty Shell*. *Slave*. *Confession*, *Apology for "Divinatory Names"*. *Cheerful Poems* [1928]](https://gcp-la8-storage-cdn.lot-art.com/public/upl/71/Kazimiera-Illakowiczowna-Mirror-of-the-Night-Empty-Shell-Slave-Confession-Apology-for-Divinatory-Names-Cheerfu_6ac030a139245-full-72902300_1790980258-6ac030a2b1fd3.jpg "Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, *Mirror of the Night*. *Empty Shell*. *Slave*. *Confession*, *Apology for \"Divinatory Names\"*. *Cheerful Poems* [1928]")
Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna, *Mirror of the Night*. *Empty Shell*. *Slave*. *Confession*, *Apology for "Divinatory Names"*. *Cheerful Poems* [1928]
Title: Mirror of the Night. The Empty Shell. The Slave. Confession, Apology for “Omen Names.” Cheerful Poems.
Author: Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna (1888–1983) [poet, translator, and prose writer; secretary to Józef Piłsudski from 1926 to 1935]
Publisher: Warsaw, J. Mortkowicz Publishing House.
Year of publication: 1928. Series: Under the Sign of Poets. New Series.
Format: 18 cm.
Number of pages: 90.
Binding: publisher’s cloth.
“Zwierciadło nocy” was published in 1928 by Jakub Mortkowicz’s Warsaw publishing house as part of the series “Under the Sign of Poets. New Series,” the publishing house’s poetry series. The title page lists the cycles included in the volume: *The Empty Shell*, *The Slave*, *Confession*, *Apology for Omen-Bearing Names*, and *Cheerful Poems*. The publisher, Jakub Mortkowicz (1876–1931), born in Opoczno, studied in Munich, Brussels, and Antwerp, and in 1903, together with Teodor Toeplitz, founded a publishing house that became one of the most important book companies in pre-war Poland. He died by suicide and was buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw.
Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna was born in Vilnius; she made her debut as a poet in 1905, studied in St. Petersburg, and from 1910 to 1914 studied Polish and English philology at Jagiellonian University. From 1915 to 1917, she served as a nurse on the Eastern Front, and after Poland regained its independence, she worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1926, she served as the personal secretary to Marshal Józef Piłsudski, an experience she chronicled in her memoir *Ścieżka obok drogi* (*The Path Beside the Road*). During the interwar period, she received the Vilnius City Literary Award (1930), and in 1935, the State Literary Award and the Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature. She translated works by, among others, Goethe, Schiller, Emily Dickinson, and Tolstoy’s *Anna Karenina*. After the war, she settled in Poznań, where in 1956 she wrote the poem “My Heart Was Shot in Poznań,” and in 1981 she received an honorary doctorate from Adam Mickiewicz University. She died in 1983 and was buried at Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery; an award for debut authors, established that same year, bears her name. The National Library’s Polona blog calls her “a poet by the grace of God.”
Provenance: on the half-title page, a handwritten note reads “on December 23, 1929. W”; the author and recipient remain unknown.
A must-have item for collectors of interwar poetry and publications from the Mortkowicz publishing house.
The block is intact, the paper is clean (except for the inscription described in the provenance section), with no stains or yellowing. The cloth binding is in very good condition, with no wear or deformation.
Catalog ID: 13416-18-A-X
Reserve
Time, Location
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Title: Mirror of the Night. The Empty Shell. The Slave. Confession, Apology for “Omen Names.” Cheerful Poems.
Author: Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna (1888–1983) [poet, translator, and prose writer; secretary to Józef Piłsudski from 1926 to 1935]
Publisher: Warsaw, J. Mortkowicz Publishing House.
Year of publication: 1928. Series: Under the Sign of Poets. New Series.
Format: 18 cm.
Number of pages: 90.
Binding: publisher’s cloth.
“Zwierciadło nocy” was published in 1928 by Jakub Mortkowicz’s Warsaw publishing house as part of the series “Under the Sign of Poets. New Series,” the publishing house’s poetry series. The title page lists the cycles included in the volume: *The Empty Shell*, *The Slave*, *Confession*, *Apology for Omen-Bearing Names*, and *Cheerful Poems*. The publisher, Jakub Mortkowicz (1876–1931), born in Opoczno, studied in Munich, Brussels, and Antwerp, and in 1903, together with Teodor Toeplitz, founded a publishing house that became one of the most important book companies in pre-war Poland. He died by suicide and was buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Warsaw.
Kazimiera Iłłakowiczówna was born in Vilnius; she made her debut as a poet in 1905, studied in St. Petersburg, and from 1910 to 1914 studied Polish and English philology at Jagiellonian University. From 1915 to 1917, she served as a nurse on the Eastern Front, and after Poland regained its independence, she worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1926, she served as the personal secretary to Marshal Józef Piłsudski, an experience she chronicled in her memoir *Ścieżka obok drogi* (*The Path Beside the Road*). During the interwar period, she received the Vilnius City Literary Award (1930), and in 1935, the State Literary Award and the Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature. She translated works by, among others, Goethe, Schiller, Emily Dickinson, and Tolstoy’s *Anna Karenina*. After the war, she settled in Poznań, where in 1956 she wrote the poem “My Heart Was Shot in Poznań,” and in 1981 she received an honorary doctorate from Adam Mickiewicz University. She died in 1983 and was buried at Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery; an award for debut authors, established that same year, bears her name. The National Library’s Polona blog calls her “a poet by the grace of God.”
Provenance: on the half-title page, a handwritten note reads “on December 23, 1929. W”; the author and recipient remain unknown.
A must-have item for collectors of interwar poetry and publications from the Mortkowicz publishing house.
The block is intact, the paper is clean (except for the inscription described in the provenance section), with no stains or yellowing. The cloth binding is in very good condition, with no wear or deformation.
Catalog ID: 13416-18-A-X
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
