Piesni Proletariatu.
RARE HYMN-BOOK
ONE OF TWO TRACEABLE COPIES
[Luxemburg, Rosa.] Piesni Proletariatu. Wydanie Przegladu Socialdemokraticznego. [No place or printer, contact address: Stanislaw Gutt, Cullmannstrasse 8 in Zurich], 1903.
12mo, pp. 32; a few brown spots, otherwise in fine condition in the original printed red wrappers, with art-nouveau framework on front cover, wire-stitched; Polish calligraphic ownership-inscription in ink on front wrapper and title, dated December, 24, 1904.
This is the extremely rare revolutionary hymn-book Songs of the Proletariat issued by Rosa Luxemburg’s SDKPiL as volume V of the Biblioteka Socjaldemokraticzna. This little publication was either illegally printed in Poland, or abroad to be smuggled into Poland. It unites 20 songs, including one written by Adam Mickiewicz, the Polish counterpart of the Marseillaise, the Warszawanka, and a few written in prison. The Biblioteka Socjaldemokraticzna’s first two brochures were written by Rosa Luxemburg, and are signed with two of her pseudonyms: R. Kruszynska, and Maciej Rozga. Jozef Kozlowski, in Proletariacka Mloda Polska (p. 84, illustration 96) points out the high quality of the art-nouveau design of the cover and speculates whether the artist was Henrik Kunzek (1873-1928, Thieme-Becker xxii, p. 120).
Due to the nature and purpose of this publication, this hymn-book is extremely rare; we were able to locate a single copy only, in the German Bundesarchiv in Berlin.
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