Laments

First edition thus. 8vo. 79 pp. Publisher's black cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Black endpapers. Introduction by Stanisław Barańczak. First printing of the scarce case-bound issue of this revised edition with a new preface by Seamus Heaney. Translated by Seamus Heaney and Stanisław Barańczak, with the original Polish en face to the English versions.

An impassioned yet controlled expression of grief over the death of the author's daughter Orszula, comprising a cycle of nineteen threnodies or elegies. Originally published in 1580 they form a singular highlight of Polish Renaissance literature.

[Brandes & Durkan A63]