An exceptional book for an exceptional gift – three extraordinary copies

The search for an exceptional gift for a very wealthy person led us to three extraordinary objects: works by Ignacy Krasicki with unique provenance, a set by Klementyna Hoffmanowa, and a case with Napoleon Bonaparte's superexlibris. This is the story of antique books, beautiful bindings, remarkable owners, and copies whose value goes far beyond the price of the book itself.

How to choose an exceptional book for an exceptional gift? Three extraordinary copies from the 19th century

When a book is meant to be more than just a gift

There are situations when choosing a book as a gift is not an easy task at all.

It’s not about a book you can find in a popular bookstore. Nor is it about an impressive but easily accessible reprint, a collector’s edition, or a copy whose value can be quickly checked by typing the title into a search engine.

There are occasions when the gift is meant to have a much more personal and exceptional character.

This is exactly how our recent search for the right book for a client began. The assistant to the president of a large company contacted us, looking for an antique book to be given as a special token of gratitude on an occasion of exceptional significance.

In this case, it was not just about a valuable book. The sought-after item was one whose price, appearance, history, and above all the uniqueness of the specific copy would correspond to the importance of the occasion.

First proposals – beautiful books in impressive bindings

Initially, three interesting titles were considered:

• Władysław Łoziński – “Polish Life in Former Ages”,
• Aleksander Kraushar – “The Royal Castle”,
• J.I. Kraszewski – “Poland during the Three Partitions”.

All three copies stood out with very decorative, ornate bindings, which at first glance were their greatest asset.

And indeed – a beautiful binding can completely change the perception of a book.

However, in the case of a gift for someone for whom the mere fact of purchasing an expensive item is not something special, another question arises:

is the value of the binding and the condition alone enough to make the book a truly exceptional gift?

In this particular case, the answer turned out to be not obvious.

Price, condition, and the true value of the copy

In an antiquarian bookshop, we very often encounter situations where two seemingly similar books can differ in price many times over.

This is not always due to the condition.

A beautiful binding can of course increase the value of a book, as can very good condition. However, this is not always the most important element deciding the uniqueness of a particular copy.

For a collector, the following can also be extremely important:

provenance, dedications, inscriptions of former owners, bookplates and super-bookplates, the history of the specific copy, its origin, rarity, and the possibility of reconstructing its previous fate.

Therefore, we also recommend our earlier article dedicated to the differences between the condition of a book and its actual value and market price to those interested in this topic.

In this case, however, we decided to go even further.

Instead of another beautiful binding – three books with history

Meeting the client’s expectations, we proposed a completely different set.

We were no longer just looking for a nice and expensive book.

We were looking for a copy that cannot be easily replaced by another copy of the same edition.

Ultimately, the choice narrowed down to three objects:

1. Ignacy Krasicki – “Works”, Paris–Geneva 1830
2. Klementyna Hoffmanowa – “Descriptions of Various Regions of the Kingdom of Poland”, Wrocław 1833
3. A box in the form of a book with Napoleon Bonaparte’s super-bookplate

Each of these objects represents a completely different kind of collector’s uniqueness.

1. Ignacy Krasicki – “Works”, 1830

Ten volumes in one volume and an extraordinary story of family inheritance

Paris–Geneva 1830, Barbezat
VIII, 906 pages
Format: 15.5 × 23.5 cm

This is an exceptional edition of the works of Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801), comprising ten volumes bound into one.

The book includes, among others, Fables and Parables, Monachomachia, Antymonachomachia, The Chocim War, Ossian’s Songs, Letters, Satires, Poems, On Rhyme and Rhymers and The Lives of Noble Men from Plutarch.

On the frontispiece there is a steel-engraved portrait of Krasicki made by Antoni Oleszczyński.

Binding

The copy has preserved the original half-leather binding from the period.

The covers are decorated with a single gold line and blind-stamped frames. The spine has raised bands, decorative embossing, and gilded lettering. The pages have marbled edges, and inside there is a decorative endpaper.

This is a very impressive example of 19th-century binding, but this time the binding is not the only, nor even the most important, asset of the copy.

Dedication from Adam Bartoszewicz

On the front endpaper there is a handwritten dedication:

“I received this book from my dear Grandfather Adam Bartoszewicz”

and the signature of the recipient.

This is an extremely personal trace.

The dedication documents the family transfer of the book by Adam Mateusz Bartoszewicz (1792/1794–1878) – educator, professor, school inspector, mathematics teacher, paremiographer, bibliophile, and collector.

His collecting activity gave rise to the famous Bartoszewicz family archive and library.

The copy also bears the ownership stamp of Bolesław Kalinowski, a participant in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

Thus, we get an extraordinary continuity of history:

19th-century bibliophile → family transfer of the book → next owner → participant of the Warsaw Uprising.

It is precisely such elements that make a particular copy come alive and cease to be just one of many copies of a given edition.

Condition: Very Good+.

2. Klementyna Hoffmanowa – “Descriptions of Various Regions of the Kingdom of Poland”, 1833

A complete set of two volumes from the period, with beautiful steel engravings

Wrocław 1833, at Wilhelm Bogumił Korn
Volumes I–II – complete set
Format: 18 cm

This is a complete set of two volumes of travel descriptions of Poland by Klementyna z Tańskich Hoffmanowa (1798–1845).

The author presents, among others, Warsaw, the Lublin region, the Sandomierz region, Kraków and surroundings, Nieborów, and Arkadia.

Two steel engravings

The edition is enriched with two impressive plates:

• The Sibyl’s Temple in Puławy,
• St. Mary’s Church in Kraków.

Their iconographic significance is particularly interesting – they depict places and monuments of Poland seen through the eyes of 19th-century artists.

Bindings from the period

Both volumes are preserved in hard half-parchment bindings from the period, with colorful spine labels.

These are authentic 19th-century bindings that emphasize the historical character of the set.

Condition: Very Good+.

There are wear marks on the bindings, paper discoloration, and traces of old water damage in volume I. Volume II is uncut.

In this case, the uniqueness is primarily based on the completeness of the set, authentic period binding, age, subject matter, and attractive illustrations.

3. Napoleon Bonaparte’s Super-bookplate

Not a book, but an extraordinary object hidden in the form of a book

The third object completely changes the character of our set.

Here we have a decorative box – a container made in the form of a book, imitating a 19th-century volume.

Format: 10 × 16.5 cm
Compartment interior: 7.5 × 13 cm

The use of a title page and subsequent numbered pages makes the object look from the outside like an ordinary book standing on a shelf.

This kind of solution allowed discreet storage of small items, documents, or correspondence.

Binding

The box is made of full leather from the period.

The spine is divided into panels and richly gilded. The cover is decorated with embossing, a gold line, and a decorative border. Marbled endpapers and colored page edges have also been preserved.

However, the true key to the uniqueness of this object is something else.

Napoleon’s Super-bookplate

On the front cover there is a super-bookplate of Napoleon Bonaparte.

A super-bookplate is an ownership mark placed directly on the book’s binding. In this case, we have a characteristic imperial emblem:

an eagle holding lightning bolts, a shield, and crossed insignia of power in its talons, surrounded by a cloak and topped with a crown.

Such a distinctive mark indicates a connection of the object with the library of Napoleon I and his collection.

We had three similar objects from this collection in our possession.

What is particularly interesting is that one of them contains an inscription by Bonaparte himself, providing an additional, direct trace of the object’s connection with the emperor.

It is precisely this kind of detail that shows the difference between an item that is simply old and impressive, and an item that has a specific, tellable history.

Condition: Very Good Minus.

Three different definitions of uniqueness

A book you can’t just find “on Google”

This is where we come to the most important element of the whole story.

In the case of an exceptional gift, it is not always most important that there is a first edition of a given title, that the book is old, or that it has been beautifully bound.

The greatest value may lie in a specific copy.

A copy that has a dedication from a specific person.

A copy whose owner can be identified.

A copy whose fate can be partially reconstructed.

A copy connected with an important historical figure.

Or – as in the case of the Napoleonic object – an item bearing a distinctive ownership mark of a specific historical library.

Therefore, two copies of the same edition can be completely different items from a collector’s point of view.

One may be simply a book from 1830.

The other may be a book that for nearly two hundred years passed from hand to hand, leaving traces of its owners along the way.

Not every path leads to the most expensive binding

The story of this choice also shows that searching for an exceptional gift can lead in a completely different direction than we initially assumed.

At first, we were primarily looking for beautifully bound, expensive books.

In the end, we found three objects in which equally important – and sometimes more important – than the binding itself are:

age, provenance, history, rarity, authenticity, and uniqueness of the specific copy.

And that is why all three objects presented here belong to our special circle of books and items that can be placed in several categories at once.

Among them are antique books, beautiful leather bindings, copies with exceptional provenance, and items of particular historical significance.

We also place this entry in our section “Stories of Found Copies”, because in the case of such objects the book itself is only the beginning of the story.

We also invite you to the section dedicated to leather bindings and to our special category of objects “The Best of the Best”, where we present copies distinguished not only by their material value but above all by their history, rarity, and uniqueness.

If you are looking for a book for a special gift, a keepsake with exceptional provenance, or an item that cannot be replaced by another random copy of the same title, we encourage you to contact our antiquarian bookshop.

In such cases, we do not simply look for a “expensive book.”

We look for a copy that has its own story.

Author: Paweł Kołata
Antykwariat Sobieski