SIENKIEWICZ H. - Quo vadis. 1902. with illustrations by Piotr Stachowicz.

SIENKIEWICZ Henryk - Quo vadis. With twenty heliogravures according to paintings by Piotr Stachiewicz. Warsaw 1902, Nakł. Gebethner and Wolff. 4, pp. [4], 193, plates 20. oryg. (?) fl. binding with preserved booklet cover.
Slight loss of cloth on spine and vertical edges of covers, block affixed to liners by stiff paper strips. First edition of the novel with these illustrations.
The novel was written at the end of the 19th century, it had its first printing in "Gazeta Polska" in 1895-1896, the first book edition was published in Krakow in 1896. The main theme of the novel is the clash of two worlds: pagan-Roman and Christian. "The work, in which Sienkiewicz presented a sweeping picture of Rome at the end of Nero's reign, brought him worldwide fame, documented by the awarding of the 1905 Nobel Prize, a multitude of translations (into more than 40 languages) and adaptations [...] and, finally, several films" (LPPE).