Piotr Jaxa Bykowski, *The Banners of the Kmitów* [1880]; Albert Delpit, *Just Like in Life* [1890] — block

Title: The Banners of the Kmit: A 17th-Century Novel Based on True Events; Just Like in Life: A Novel with Illustrations by Emil Bayard.

Author: Piotr Jaxa Bykowski (1823–1889) [novelist, lawyer, founder of the first theater in Podolia]; Albert Delpit (1849–1893) [French novelist and playwright born in New Orleans, winner of awards from the French Academy].

Publisher: Warsaw, B. Cassius; Lviv, Library of Illustrated Novels and Stories.

Year of publication: 1880; 1890.

Format: 19 cm.

Volume: 200; 269 pp.

Binding: Period half-leather binding.

This volume brings together two novels from two distinct literary traditions of the second half of the 19th century. The first, *The Banners of the Kmits*, published in Warsaw in 1880 by B. Cassius, is one of Piotr Jaxa Bykowski’s most significant historical novels. As the subtitle suggests, it is based on real events of the 17th century. The eponymous “Chorągwie Kmitów” is the coat of arms of the powerful Kmit family from the Kyiv Province, depicting two golden banners on a red field. The work fits into the contemporary trend for historical novels based on source material. The second title, “Jak w życiu,” is the 1890 Lviv edition of Albert Delpit’s novel “Comme dans la vie.” It was published in the “Library of Illustrated Novels and Stories,” which made contemporary French prose available to Polish readers in an illustrated format. The volume is adorned with illustrations by Émile Bayard (1837–1891), one of the most popular French illustrators of the era. Bayard is best known for his illustration of Cosette in Victor Hugo’s *Les Misérables*; he also illustrated novels by Jules Verne, among others.

Piotr Jaxa Bykowski was born on January 31, 1823, in Yakushynets, Podolia. He studied law at the University of Kyiv, and from 1848 onward lived in Kamianets-Podilskyi. He practiced law there and, in 1849, founded an amateur noble theater—the first organized theater in Podolia—which was legalized by the Russian authorities in 1859. From 1863 onward, he lived in Warsaw. He left behind about twenty novels, nearly one hundred short stories and sketches, and over a dozen historical works. He died in Warsaw on June 3, 1889. Albert Delpit was born in New Orleans to a wealthy tobacco merchant and was educated in Paris and Bordeaux. He began his career in periodicals founded by Alexandre Dumas, Sr. He gained fame with his poetry collection *L'Invasion*, written during the Franco-Prussian War, which was awarded a prize by the French Academy. He obtained French citizenship in 1892, a year before his death.

Provenance: a piece without stamps or ownership inscriptions.

This is a book block containing a Polish historical novel about the Eastern Borderlands and an illustrated French novel, bound in a period binding. An item of interest to collectors of 19th-century Polish historical novels, works on the Eastern Borderlands, and early illustrated publications.

Both works are bound together in a single volume, in a period half-leather binding, with natural signs of age.

Catalog ID: 8954