Interesting Things. A biweekly edited by St. A. Wotowski [1924–1925]

[ed.] St. A. Wotowski / Interesting Things / Warsaw, November 1924–December 1925 / Publisher: Piotr Szwede, later St. A. Wotowski at Zakł. Graf. Piotr Szwede/ later at the T. Jankowski printing house/ 19 issues in two formats, hand-bound in full leather, signed ArtZeg/ p. 23; 24; 24; 24; 24; 20; 28; 20; 20; 24; 16; 20; 16; 28 / each piece features the original cover [designed by P. Peradzki, M. Gajewski, and others] as well as numerous illustrations [mainly by Marjan Wawrzeniecki] and photographs / The pieces of the magazine have undergone conservation treatment; missing pages have been replaced/ condition: very good—minor scuffs and tears along the page edges, slight underlining, and pen marks on a few pages . A rare complete set.

Full-leather binding crafted at the ArtZeg art studio in Łódź; the front cover features a raised, typographically intriguing title; 8-panel spine, divided by raised bands.

A complete set of 19 issues of the interwar, short-lived biweekly “Rzeczy Ciekawe, ” edited and published in Warsaw by Stanisław Antoni Wotowski from November 1924 to December 1925.

“Rzeczy Ciekawe” was a periodical devoted primarily to topics within its editor’s sphere of interest—the occult, Freemasonry, the issue of Bolshevism, Polish and foreign literature, theater, and various phenomena considered unusual or mysterious. Some issues took the form of monographs and were devoted to selected topics, including aviation, the Czechoslovak Republic, and the first decade of the Polish security services.

At that time, Stanisław Antoni Wotowski gave lectures on the occult and Freemasonry, while also pursuing his literary career. He was the author of numerous crime and thriller novels, often incorporating supernatural motifs. In his work, he drew on the experiences he had gained in Warsaw’s esoteric circles [according to rumors circulating at the time, he was said to have collaborated with the police as a secret agent investigating that milieu; it is also known that he ran a private detective agency]. Due to his political views and the clearly anti-Bolshevik nature of his published articles and satirical drawings, his work was subject to censorship after World War II, and the books he published were removed from libraries during the People’s Republic of Poland.

The magazine published Wotowski’s articles devoted, among other topics, to Masonic symbolism, the interpretation of astral images, mesmerism, the afterlife, spirit summoning, the organization of spiritualist séances, and the activities of Masonic lodges. The collection also includes articles by Henryk Wardęski describing witches’ sabbats, by Janina Maszewska-Knappe on animal psychology and the protection of animal rights, as well as texts by Prosper Szmurła—a Polish metapsychologist, Freemason, and founder and president of the Polish Psychophysical Society. The magazine also contains numerous essays and columns by Polish and foreign authors, including “The Enchanted Mirror” by George Appleton and “The System of Dr. Smoła and Professor Pierz” by Edgar Allan Poe.