Władysław Alojzy Strzembosz (Fr. Ladislas de Damaiowice Strzembosz), (1875-1917), librarian, bibliograph and bibliophile, collector, columnist, and emigration activist.

Strzembosz’s family belonged to the gentry. He graduated from a gymnasium in Warsaw and studied at the mathematics faculty at the University of Moscow. In 1900 he settled in Paris, where he worked at the Polish Library (since 1912 as associate director). He had a profound knowledge of Polish history, especially of the period of the Great Emigration. For several years he cooperated with "The Warsaw Courier" ("Kurier Warszawski") and "Illustrated Daily Courier" ("Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny"), where he often submitted correspondence dedicated to the life of the Polish colony in Paris, literary criticism and criticism concerning theatre performances and annual Salons.

He actively participated in the life of Polish emigration organizations in Paris, was one of the founders – and the secretary – of the Polish Literary and Artistic Association, and was a long-term treasurer of the "Honour and Bread" ("Czci i Chleba") organization. He was also famous for the general design of the iconographic conception of the monument of Adam Mickiewicz, sculpted by Emile A. Bourdelle in Paris.

Strzembosz was a friend of Kazimierz Woźnicki. Among Strzembosz’s friends and acquaintances were also: Zygmunt Batowski, Mieczysław Rulikowski, Leopold Wellisz, Mela Muter, Henryk Weyssenhoff, Antoni Kamieński and Paul Cazin.

Strzembosz wanted to give his collections to public institutions in the country. Thanks to Kazimierz Woźnicki’s suggestions and the intermediary of Dominik Witke-Jeżewski, in 1928 Strzembosz’s widow, Stanisława Maria née Kraszewska, grand-daughter of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, offered his collection of prints, together with furniture, paintings, ceramics, glass, numismatics, and precious manuscripts and Polish memorabilia from the 19th century to the National Museum in Warsaw.

The Władysław Alojzy Strzembosz collection, amounting to c. 3500 prints, has an undoubtedly iconographic character, illustrating the history of France and Poland. It encompasses a set of several hundred scenes depicting the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic and Restoration periods, some of which are satirical prints. There especially stands out a set of over 500 portraits of French writers, scientists, politicians and artists, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, and a collection of Polish prints and Polonica, illustrating the history of Poland after 1795. An interesting group is formed by a set of several prints on bibliophile subjects, depicting ancient libraries, librarians, readers lost in books, antiquarians, French bouquinists, and admirers of old prints. This set is an illustration of the greatest passion of the collector.

Marcin Romeyko-Hurko
translated by Anna Kiełczewska

Nicolas de Fer (1646-1720)
Vue of Kamieniec Podolski, 1693
Engraving, ribbed paper with a filigree (heraldic lion in an oval shield), 21,8 x 28
Signed bottom right: A PARIS| Chez le S.r De Fer dans l’Isle du Palais| Sur le Quay de l’Orloge à la Sphere| Royale. Avec Privilege du Roy.| 1693
Inscribed bottom left a description: KAMIENIEC PODOLSKI| Ville Forte des Etats de Pologne, et de l| Haute Podolie avec Titre d’Evéché et de Pa/ latinat. Situé Sur le Sammet d’une Montagne| entourée de la Rivière de Smotrycz et en| velopée de Rochers escarpez à 48. Degréz| 45 minutes de Latitude et 50. deg. 10. mins.| de Longitude. Cette Place fut prise par les Turcs Sur Polonais le 20.e Août 1672. [...] – topographic description in points 1-10; bottom right, the continuation of the legend in points 10-27
Two blue oval stamps on bottom margin on both sides: Z DAROW POSMIERTNYCH ALOIZEGO WLADYSLAWA Z DAMAJOWIC STRZEMBOSZA [FROM THE POSTHUMOUS DONNATIONS OF LADISLAS DE DAMAIOWICE STRZEMBOSZ]
National Museum in Warsaw, Inv.no.Gr.Pol.15219
Posthumous donation of Władysław Alojzy Strzembosz, 31 VII 1928

Pierre Gabriel Berthault (1748–1819), after François-Louis Prieur (1759–1795)
Death of Jacques de Flesseles, Supervisor of the Merchants in Paris, 14 VII 1789, 1802
Etching, paper, 21,8 x 27,2
Signed bottom left: Prieur inv & del; bottom right: Berthault Sculp
Inscribed: MORT DE FLESSELLES, PREVÔT DES MARCHANDS DE PARIS| le 14 Juillet 1789
Blue oval stamp in the bottom right: Z DAROW POSMIERTNYCH ALOIZEGO WLADYSLAWA Z DAMAJOWIC STRZEMBOSZA [FROM THE POSTHUMOUS DONNATIONS OF LADISLAS DE DAMAIOWICE STRZEMBOSZ]
National Museum in Warsaw, Inv.no.82388
Posthumous donation of Władysław Alojzy Strzembosz, 31 VII 1928