Letter to Maria Maćkowska-Wydrowa and the poem Pious Rhymes
1938
National Museum in Lublin
Part of the collection: Józef Czechowicz
On 31 May 1931, Józef Czechowicz attended a very interesting meeting of Lublin bibliophiles with the famous typographer Samuel Tyszkiewicz. The hero of the bibliophile symposium," writes Maria Gawarecka, "was a Polish printer, publisher, bookbinder and bibliophile, who founded a handicraft publishing house in Florence in 1928 and published exclusively bibliophilic prints in editions of 100 to 300 copies on handmade paper, with filigrees, woodcuts, in artistic bindings, often parchment.
The meeting with the author of the Florentine folios took place under the lindens in the garden of the Lublin Museum, which was then located at 4 Narutowicza Street, now home to the Hieronim Łopaciński Regional Public Library. Located at the back of the Museum, the "wild garden with old lime trees and benches" seemed to be an unusual place. According to Urszula Kurzątkowska, it was "a secluded place, yet in the city centre and close to important institutions, so the garden soon became a social meeting place for artists, writers - one could say Lublin's cultural elite".
At that time, the poet served as a secretary of the Lublin Society of Book Lovers and took minutes of bibliophile meetings, "using an almost calligraphic handwriting". After a meeting with Samuel Tyszkiewicz, he wrote a beautiful poem, which he placed in the book of minutes instead of the actual minutes of the meeting of 31 May 1931. Feliks Araszkiewicz, a member of the Society, recalled: "Tyszkiewicz himself created works of exquisite beauty, exquisite taste and craftsmanship on the pedal. Our "patron" bibliophile priest Dr Zalewski summoned his companions to the museum hall for a book-lovers' feast, to receive the guest. It was then that Chekhovich was also in Lublin and even secretary in the Society. After that evening, he wrote a unique report - a poem, later printed in the "Anthology of Lublin Poets" for the years 1918-1939. You have to read this poem to be able to enter the charm of that evening of a beautiful book".
The manuscript of the poem, published under the title Z kroniki bibliofilów lubelskich [From the Chronicle of the Lublin Bibliophiles], can also be found in the Józef Czechowicz Museum. In the manuscript kept in the museum's collection, the text was not provided with any title by the poet.
Author / creator
Dimensions
cały obiekt: height: 15,3 cm, width: 17,3 cm
Object type
manuscript
Technique
manual script
Material
paper
Creation time / dating
Creation / finding place
Owner
The National Museum in Lublin
Identification number
Location / status
1938
National Museum in Lublin
1939
National Museum in Lublin
1931
National Museum in Lublin
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Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów
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