Abstract
The article focuses on three albums containing engravings of Polish medals
which were prepared as illustrations to a work entitled The History of Poland, Recorded
and Expounded with Medals, by Jan Chrzciciel Albertrandi, the president of the Warsaw
Society of Friends of Learning. Four hundred and thirty-four copperplates were prepared for
the engravings between 1822 and 1828. Following the failure of the November Uprising of
1830–1831, they were seized by the Russians and given to the Russian Imperial Academy
of Sciences in St. Petersburg, where they remain to this day. Before they were taken, around
thirty copies of the set were printed.
The article presents the three albums preserved in the Krakow collection. They are analysed
from several standpoints: their history, their provenance, antiquarian importance, and
artistic value.
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