Michał Rolle, *With a Leather Drawbar* [1914]

Title: With a Leather Drawbar.

Author: Michał Rolle (1865–1932) [historian, storyteller, and journalist from Lviv; long-time deputy editor of *Gazeta Lwowska*; champion of Kamieniec Podolski and the Eastern Borderlands].

Publisher: Lviv, P. Skarga Society Publishing House; printed at the Ossoliński National Institute in Lviv under the management of Bronisław Kornecki.

Year of publication: 1914.

Format: 18 cm.

Volume: [4], 67 pp., 5 plates.

Binding: Paperback cover.

“Rzemiennym dyszlem” is an illustrated tale from the history of Kamieniec Podolski, the author’s hometown, written with a clear sense of nostalgia for this famous borderland stronghold on the Smotrycz River. For centuries, Kamieniec served as the Republic’s bulwark against Turkey and the Tatars. In 1672, the Turks captured it; Jerzy Wołodyjowski fell in its defense, and the city did not return to Poland until after the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. The title refers to the Old Polish saying “to travel with a leather yoke,” meaning to travel without haste, with numerous stops and detours. It aptly captures the book’s storytelling nature, guiding the reader through successive eras of the city’s history. The book belongs to the popular science genre of Rolle’s work, alongside the volumes *From Past Centuries* and *Originals*. It was published in Lviv in 1914, a few months before the outbreak of World War I, by the Piotr Skarga Society. It was printed at the Ossoliński National Institute.

Michał Rolle was born on July 8, 1865, in Kamieniec Podolski. He was the son of historian and storyteller Józef Apolinary Rolle, known as “Dr. Antoni J.” He graduated from high school in Kraków, studied briefly at the Lviv Polytechnic, and then studied history and Polish literature at the Jagiellonian University. From 1895 until his death, he worked at the *Gazeta Lwowska* as a journalist, literary and theater critic, editorial secretary, and deputy editor-in-chief. He served as president of the Lviv Journalists’ Union. His publications included *Ateny wołyńskie* (1898), a monograph on the Krzemieniec High School, and numerous historical essays. In 1920, the Lviv community celebrated his 25th anniversary as a journalist and his 30th anniversary as a writer. He received the Lviv City Literary Award (1927) and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He died in November 1932 in Lviv and is buried at the Lychakiv Cemetery.

Provenance: on the cover is a stamp reading “Księgarnia Jagiellońska. M. Arct and Krakowska Spółka Wydawnicza, Spółka z Ograniczoną Odpowiedzialnością w Krakowie” (Jagiellonian Bookstore. M. Arct and Krakowska Publishing Company, Limited Liability Company in Kraków)—a trace of the book’s prewar circulation.

This is a Lviv-printed volume on the history of Kamieniec Podolski, featuring illustrations, in its original publisher’s cover. A must-have for collectors of Lviv-related items and literature from the Eastern Borderlands, researchers of the history of Kamieniec Podolski, and enthusiasts of old historical tales.

The text block is intact, the paper is clean, and the illustrations within the text are preserved. The original cardboard cover is in very good condition.

Catalog ID: 1450-18-A-X