![Klementyna Hoffmanowa née Tańska, General History for Women, Vol. I: Ancient History [1866]](https://gcp-la8-storage-cdn.lot-art.com/public/upl/39/Klementyna-Hoffmanowa-nee-Tanska-General-History-for-Women-Vol-I-Ancient-History-1866_6ac030606ad31-full-91921400_1790980193-6ac03061e06c6.jpg "Klementyna Hoffmanowa née Tańska, General History for Women, Vol. I: Ancient History [1866]")
Klementyna Hoffmanowa née Tańska, General History for Women, Vol. I: Ancient History [1866]
Title: General History for Women. Volume I: Ancient History.
Author: Klementyna Hoffmanowa, née Tańska (1798–1845) [writer, educator, editor, and publisher; teacher at the Institute for Governesses; known as the “Mother of the Great Emigration”].
Publisher: Warsaw, H. Natanson; S. Orgelbrand (printed by S. Orgelbrand).
Year of publication: 1866.
Format: 20 cm.
Number of pages: 253.
Binding: period half-leather.
The first volume of the three-volume posthumous work by Klementyna Hoffmanowa (née Tańska), covering ancient history. The subsequent volumes are subtitled “Medieval History” and “Modern History.” The entire work was published in Warsaw by two leading publishers, Henryk Natanson and Samuel Orgelbrand, and printed at the latter’s press. Orgelbrand (1810–1868) was the creator of the *Encyklopedia Powszechna* and the publisher of several hundred titles. The edition was published after the defeat of the January Uprising and is an example of a history book aimed at girls and young women, combining historical instruction with moral education.
Klementyna Hoffman, née Tańska, was born on November 23, 1798, in Warsaw, the daughter of Ignacy Tański, a civil servant with an interest in literature, and Marianna, née Czempińska. She spent her early years in the village of Wyczółki, which her father leased, and until the age of thirteen she was raised under the care of her father’s relative, Aniela Szymanowska (née Świdzińska). In 1819, she published “A Memento of a Good Mother, or Her Final Advice to Her Daughter,” signed “A Young Polish Woman,” which brought her widespread recognition. In 1824, she founded “Rozrywki dla dzieci” (“Entertainment for Children”), the first Polish magazine for children, which was published until 1828. From 1826 to 1831, she taught moral education at the Government Institute for the Education of Girls, known as the Institute of Governesses, as the only woman among the teaching staff. In 1829, she married Karol Boromeusz Hoffman, and after the fall of the November Uprising in 1832, she settled in Paris. She died on September 21, 1845, in Passy near Paris and was laid to rest at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery.
Provenance: a piece without old institutional stamps, ownership signatures, or later underlinings in the text.
A must-have for collectors of Hoffman’s writings, researchers of the history of Polish pedagogy and women’s education, and enthusiasts of the Warsaw publishing legacy of Natanson and Orgelbrand. A nineteenth-century interpretation of ancient history, tailored for young female readers, in a sturdy period binding.
The inner block is compact, tightly bound, and mechanically stable; the original stitching firmly holds the pages in place, with no loose leaves. The paper has retained its proper stiffness, with scattered foxing spots, yellowing, and minor soiling along the margins from past reading. The period half-leather binding is in good condition; the construction is fully rigid, with superficial scuffs on the leather surface of the spine and wear on the paper at the edges and corners of the board.
Catalog ID: 11923x1-20-A-Z
Title: General History for Women. Volume I: Ancient History.
Author: Klementyna Hoffmanowa, née Tańska (1798–1845) [writer, educator, editor, and publisher; teacher at the Institute for Governesses; known as the “Mother of the Great Emigration”].
Publisher: Warsaw, H. Natanson; S. Orgelbrand (printed by S. Orgelbrand).
Year of publication: 1866.
Format: 20 cm.
Number of pages: 253.
Binding: period half-leather.
The first volume of the three-volume posthumous work by Klementyna Hoffmanowa (née Tańska), covering ancient history. The subsequent volumes are subtitled “Medieval History” and “Modern History.” The entire work was published in Warsaw by two leading publishers, Henryk Natanson and Samuel Orgelbrand, and printed at the latter’s press. Orgelbrand (1810–1868) was the creator of the *Encyklopedia Powszechna* and the publisher of several hundred titles. The edition was published after the defeat of the January Uprising and is an example of a history book aimed at girls and young women, combining historical instruction with moral education.
Klementyna Hoffman, née Tańska, was born on November 23, 1798, in Warsaw, the daughter of Ignacy Tański, a civil servant with an interest in literature, and Marianna, née Czempińska. She spent her early years in the village of Wyczółki, which her father leased, and until the age of thirteen she was raised under the care of her father’s relative, Aniela Szymanowska (née Świdzińska). In 1819, she published “A Memento of a Good Mother, or Her Final Advice to Her Daughter,” signed “A Young Polish Woman,” which brought her widespread recognition. In 1824, she founded “Rozrywki dla dzieci” (“Entertainment for Children”), the first Polish magazine for children, which was published until 1828. From 1826 to 1831, she taught moral education at the Government Institute for the Education of Girls, known as the Institute of Governesses, as the only woman among the teaching staff. In 1829, she married Karol Boromeusz Hoffman, and after the fall of the November Uprising in 1832, she settled in Paris. She died on September 21, 1845, in Passy near Paris and was laid to rest at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery.
Provenance: a piece without old institutional stamps, ownership signatures, or later underlinings in the text.
A must-have for collectors of Hoffman’s writings, researchers of the history of Polish pedagogy and women’s education, and enthusiasts of the Warsaw publishing legacy of Natanson and Orgelbrand. A nineteenth-century interpretation of ancient history, tailored for young female readers, in a sturdy period binding.
The inner block is compact, tightly bound, and mechanically stable; the original stitching firmly holds the pages in place, with no loose leaves. The paper has retained its proper stiffness, with scattered foxing spots, yellowing, and minor soiling along the margins from past reading. The period half-leather binding is in good condition; the construction is fully rigid, with superficial scuffs on the leather surface of the spine and wear on the paper at the edges and corners of the board.
Catalog ID: 11923x1-20-A-Z
