Jan Kanty Rzesiński (ed.), Three French Codes. [Part I] Civil Code [1845]—a piece with a dedication from the publisher to Antoni Zygmunt Helcl

Title: Three French Codes: Civil, Judicial Procedure, and Commercial. Published by J. K. S. Rzesiński in an accurate translation, with interrelated articles included. [Part I].

Author: Jan Kanty Rzesiński [publisher; Kraków lawyer, professor of Roman law, criminal law, and philosophy of law at Jagiellonian University].

Publisher: Kraków, at the Printing House of Stanisław Gieszkowski.

Year of publication: 1845.

Format: 14 cm.

Volume: [4] leaves, 355, [4] pages.

Binding: Paperback.

This is the Kraków edition of three French Napoleonic codes: the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, and the Commercial Code. The revised Polish translation was prepared and published by Jan Kanty Rzesiński, a professor at Jagiellonian University. The Napoleonic Code was introduced in Polish territories during the time of the Duchy of Warsaw and remained in force in the Free City of Kraków as well. Its Polish translation served as an essential working tool for Kraków’s judges, attorneys, and notaries. Rzesiński annotated the text with cross-references to related articles in the various codes, making this edition a convenient handbook for legal practice. The volume presented here is the first part of the edition, containing the Civil Code. It is the most important of the three statutes and the foundation of modern private law in Europe.

The exceptional value of this piece lies in its provenance. On the endpaper is a handwritten dedication from the publisher: “To the Most Honorable Antoni Zygmunt Holtzl de Sternstein, O.P.D., distinguished in national literature and deserving of high esteem, the Publisher offers this as a token of his deep respect.” The title page bears the stamp “Antoni Zygmunt Helcel.” Antoni Zygmunt Helcel (1808–1870), a Kraków-based lawyer and legal historian, was one of the founders of modern Polish legal historiography. He published the monumental *Ancient Monuments of Polish Law* (vols. 1–2, 1856–1870) and discovered the so-called Elbląg Book, the oldest collection of Polish customary law. He taught at Jagiellonian University. As a politician, he served in 1848 as a member of the Austrian Parliament and an advocate for Galician autonomy. This piece is therefore a book that one Kraków lawyer presented to another, an eminent scholar at the same university.

Provenance: on the endpaper, a dedication from the publisher to Antoni Zygmunt Helcel; on the title page and its reverse, as well as on the last page, a stamp reading “Antoni Zygmunt Helcel”; a stamp reading “National Library—Removed from the Jagiellonian Library’s duplicate collection”; on the back endpaper, a pencil note reading “Jagiellonian Library. Kraków, March 12, 1969”; on the title page, pencil notes.

This is a signed piece from the collection of a distinguished legal historian, with a documented history of its passage through the Jagiellonian Library’s holdings, in its original binding and in very good condition. A must-have for collectors of early legal prints, researchers of the history of the Napoleonic Code in Poland, and enthusiasts of Cracovian publications and dedicated pieces.

The publisher’s cardboard binding is in very good condition; the block is intact, and the paper is clean with natural spots and discoloration. Contains only the Civil Code.