Title: Nabożne westchnienia duszy poczynającej, postępującej, doskonale służącej

Editio princeps: no print, a manuscript of 1657

Project of copperplate engravings: Boetius a Bolswert

Access: critical edition

Short description: A collection, dedicated to duchess Katarzyna Radziwiłłowa, consists of fourty five emblems and is divided into three parts; it is intended for people doing penance and trying to convert, for those who preach their virtues and those who lead a righteous, pious life. Though the copperplates used by Mikołaj Mieleszko SI are taken from one of the first three Antwerpian editions of the famous Pia desideria by Herman Hugon, the content of subscriptions rarely allows to trace reading of the original.

The duchess, for whom altogether five Polish manuscriptural and printed emblematical cycles were created, used the collection for personal devotion. Icons, mottos composed of a short description of an image and a quote from the Bible and subscriptions written in the hendecasyllable create a consistent unity. Its aim was to animate a meditation over themes connected with God's Love for a human soul.

TR