The first edition of one of the very few books on costumes of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania.

Compiled by the Polish political activist and literary critic Zienkowicz (1808-70), who fled to France during the Great Emigration, the work bears a strong political statement. Dedicated 'Aux amis de la cause polonaise', it begins with a lyric introduction defending the national character of Poland, 'this nation [which] no longer exists but in the regrets or hopes of the people'. Zienkowicz denounces in particular the 'cruel and ridiculous' Russian decree, which forbade the use of national costumes. His work further covers the history of Polish peoples and regional characteristics, but also analyses wider aspects: a whole chapter is dedicated to Polish music, another explains the social structure of the country and the book ends with the description of the Polish army.

Zienkowicz's text is accompanied by magnificent plates lithographed by John Nepomuk Lewicki (1795-1871) - an outstanding engraver, lithographer, draftsman and a leading Polish painter working in exile. The illustrations are highly finished, showing the different peoples in the region-specific costumes set against attractive backgrounds.

After the Third Partition of Poland (1795) the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was divided among Prussia, the Austrian Empire, and the Russian Empire, which effectively ended the Polish-Lithuanian national sovereignty until 1918. Russia's attempts to further suppress the country's political and cultural freedoms led to an armed rebellion in 1830–31, known as the November Uprising, in which Zienkowicz himself took part. The defeat of the uprising in autumn 1831 led to a mass emigration of the intelligentsia that became known as the Great Emigration.

First edition; 4to (30 x 23.5 cm); 39 hand-coloured lithographed plates heightened with gum arabic by Simon after J. Lewicki and A. Wittmann, 2 leaves of music, plate captions in Polish, French, German and English, French bookseller's stamp to half-title, occasional marginal spotting; later calf-backed cloth boards, gilt spine with gilt lettering piece, later endpapers, a little rubbed, foot of spine professionally repaired, otherwise a very good copy; [8], 125, [2]pp.

Colas 3115; Lipperheide 1391 & K63; Solovev Kat.105, 158a (70 rub.).