Siberia: Images and Memories [1916]

Siberia: Images and Memories / Warsaw 1916 / Gebethner and Wolff / half-cloth binding / p. 153 / in good condition, provenance stamps and visible stitching of the text block in several places, scuffing, discoloration of the binding, scuffing and creases on the edges of the binding, soiling and losses in the binding, minor notes on the title page, soiling on the pages,

A small but powerful memoir dedicated to the fate of Poles exiled to Siberia. The preface itself emphasizes that the book aims to reveal “the horror of Siberia” and to preserve the image of the land of exile present in Polish national memory. The core of the volume is Józef Kopeć’s account, drawn from his Travel Diary, describing the arduous journey through Kamchatka and Okhotsk, a journey through the snow, using dog sleds, under extremely harsh climatic and living conditions. The work as a whole is patriotic in nature and takes the form of a memoir, presenting a literary portrayal of Siberia as a place of hard labor, exile, and suffering.