The same year, he commissioned painter Michał Elwiro Andriolli to produce a series of illustrations for his edition of Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz.

Although exclusively released as Altenberg's limited edition, prints by Andriolli have not been well received by the critics due to preconceived notions about the poem itself.

After Herman Altenberg's death in 1885 the company was successfully run by his wife, Zuzanna (Susan) née Eber (1851–1921) together with Władysław Bałz.

[3] Within a few years, the Altenberg Publishing run by Zuzanna, received a license to operate bookstores in several different cities including Krynica, Brody, Drohobycz, Jarosław, Rawa Ruska, and Sambor.

As part of a new series of great writers, Alfred Altenberg published also the collections of works by Jan Kasprowicz, Maria Konopnicka, Juliusz Słowacki and more poetry by Mickiewicz.

It was saved from bankruptcy in 1912 by the eminent Polish historian and geographer Jan Pawlikowski helped by his own father and a group of concerned publishers, who set it up as a joint venture.

It went on to publish the Księga ubogich (Book of the Impoverished) by Jan Kasprowicz and the Polish Portraits of the 16th to the 19th centuries (Portrety polskie) by Maryia Radziwiłł, edited by Jerzy Mycielski.