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The article presents the place of keeping (National Library of Ukraine in Kiev), the state of preservation and the juxtaposition with well-known publications of one of Norwid’s late poems, which is a kind of ironic mockery of the idolatry attitude of the French Republic of that time towards Victor Hugo. The manuscript has not been previously used as an important material in any editorial compilations of Norwid’s works; they used the first print of the poem published as part of Wladyslaw Chodźkiewicz’s feature in the Warsaw periodical “Bluszcz” 1880, vol. 39, and its copy, which Chodźkiewicz received from Norwid. The article presents textual differences (relating mainly to punctuation) between the known versions of the poem and its Kyivan autograph.

Ludwik Gocel (1889-1966) was an expert on the November Uprising and the creator of a large historical collection documenting this national liberation uprising. He was also interested in the biography of Cyprian Norwid and the reception of the poet’s work, some of which were part of his collection. Based, inter alia, on the materials from Gocel’s archive and his legacy, and the content of his letter of December 1957, this sketch discusses a fragment of the history of Norwid’s autograph of the poem Italiam!Italiam! The sketch outlines the circumstances in which Gocel obtained the poem for his collection in 1949, which after a few years, in 1957, he handed over to Fawley Court in England, where it supplemented the collection of Father Jozef Jarzebowski, a Marian, expert on Norwid and collector of national memorabilia. The text also takes into account an important aspect of the cooperation between the two bibliophiles Gocel and Jarzebowski, owing to which Norwid’s manuscript has been preserved and today it is exhibited in the Museum in Lichen Stary. In addition, the article presents several other manifestations of Gocel’s interest in Norwid.