KRASZEWSKI J. I. - Witolorauda. 2nd ed. With 50 woodcuts by W. Smokowski. 1846.

KRASZEWSKI J[ózef] I[gnacy] - Witolorauda. Second edition reworked and enlarged. With 50 original woodcuts by Wincenty Smokowski and music to rauds and songs by Stanislaw Moniuszko. Vilnius 1846. Nakł. J. Zawadzki. 4, pp. [2], VIII, 284. plates 8, notes k. 8, frontispiece in woodcut. broch.
Banach 381. Cover a little dusty, light creases of first pages (trace of string?). Ex. uncut and largely uncut. Woodcuts in the text. On the frontispiece: "J. I. Kraszewski - Witolorauda. A song from the stories of Lithuania. With 50 woodcuts by W. Smokowski and music by St. Moniuszko. Published by Adam Zawadzki 1846." It was published as "Anafielas. The First Song" (of three) - only "Witolorauda" was published in this edition. "An extraordinary work [...] it included 50 illustrations, initials and vignettes, drawn and hand-cut on woodblock by painter Wincenty Smokowski. The number of these ornaments was unprecedented. Nor had it been customary since the time of Chodowiecki for a draughtsman to be at the same time a conscious translator of his own artistic thought, transposed from one medium to another. Smokowski's illustrations, flawlessly attuned to the flow of the text, are an object of admiration today: it is aroused by the extraordinary individuality of the artist, imitating no one and drawing inspiration from nowhere but himself. The ornament, the texture, the specific system of cutting the block, the synthetic grasp of form [...], the absolute marriage with the parts of the print, all this strikes today's viewer extremely strongly" (Wiercińska, pp. 118-120). "Smokowski's significance for the Polish book is enormous. He was the first Polish wood engraver of the [19th] century, he introduced a new technique, gave value to the engraving, which was drawn and engraved by the artist himself. There are elements of the new content and form of Polish, national art in his work" (Banach, pp. 215-216).