*The Imitation of Christ: A New Translation by Father Dassance, with Reflections Drawn from the Church Fathers, and from Bossuet, Fénelon, Massillon, and Bourdaloue, Illustrated by Tony Johannot and Cavelier.*
L. Curmer, Paris, 1836
VIII, 454 pp., [10] plates (steel engravings), pages with decorative borders; 25 cm.
Contemporary binding, full leather with features typical of bindings from the 1820s–1830s, characteristic of the Congress Kingdom. The front and back covers are framed by gilded double borders with elaborate ornamentation in the corners. The front and back covers feature blind-embossed rectangular plaques. The leather edges on the endpapers are filled with embossed ornaments enclosed in double gilded linear frames. The page edges are gilded. In the lower part of the back endpaper, there is a blind-stamped inscription reading: S. Beynarowicz. Bookbinder.
A binding signed by Symon (Szymon) Beynarowicz (Bejnarowicz)—a Vilnius master bookbinder born around 1801 and active in the second quarter of the 19th century. He is documented as a master of the Vilnius bookbinders’ guild in 1840, when he was involved in a guild dispute concerning the journeyman Hieronim Bejnarowicz. See: Janina Rodkiewiczówna, The Bookbinders’ Guild in Vilnius: A Historical Overview, Vilnius 1929.
An extremely rare example of a superbly preserved, signed binding by a Polish master bookbinder from the first half of the 19th century.
