57-1-2 - National museum

16th Century Prints in Castle Libraries

Petr Mašek

With a financial help of the Czech Ministry of Culture (project NAKI), and in co-operation with the National Heritage Institute and the Czech National Library the Department of Castle Libraries of the National Museum Library has started a new catalogue of 16th century prints in its holding. Only…

The Castle Library of Vinoř (From the Vinoř of Prague all the way to Niagara)

Luboš Antonín

The Castle Library of Vinoř contains 5 557 volumes, of which there are 4 manuscripts, 15 prints from the 16th century and 3 426 old prints published prior to the year 1800. It was a family library of a branch of the ancient Counts of Czernin. The last owner from that family was Ottocar Czernin,…

The Library of Bílý Potok

Radim Němeček

This paper reports on the interesting library of Bílý Potok and on the life of its owner, actor, writer and dramatic Rudolf Rittner (1869–1943). It investigates the library's contents, rare dedications and notes.

V. B. Nebeský and the Manuscript Collection of the Library of the National Museum

Marta Vaculínová, Václav Petrbok

On the 24th of November 1850, Václav Bolemír Nebeský addressed his application for employment to the Council of the Czech National Museum. At that time, Nebeský already edited the Proceedings of the National Museum. The Council replied favourably to his request (at least partly due to the fact…

Fragment of the mediaeval books bequest to the Cathedrale of St. Vitus in Prague Castle

Michal Dragoun

In the so called Collection of Adolf Patera of the Library of the National Museum of Prague, under the shelf mark 1 H b 19, is a ma- nuscript fragment from about the first third of the 15th century. It contains an incompletely preserved handwritten note bequething books to the Cathedrale of St.…

The Libraries of Early Modern Physicians in the Prague Nostitz Library

Richard Šípek

The article introduces and describes 43 fragments of the early modern private libraries collected mostly by Silesian physicians in the 16th and 17th century. The most important and extensive remnants of the book collections belonged to the imperial physician Johannes Crato of Crafftheim (1519–1585),…

Jiří Melantrich – Spanish Language Printing in the Czech Lands

Jaroslava Kašparová

Probably in the year 1577, the Prague publisher Jiří Melantrich z Aventina printed a collection of latin-spanish mystic papers, Opus- cula quaedam pia Francisci Borgiae, by St. Franciscus de Borja (1510–1572). The book includes the Spanish printed 1577 Privile- ge of Philipp II., King of Spain,…

Animal Symbolism in Brodside Ballads

Iva Bydžovská, Michal Klacek

The paper presents a survey of animal characters and motives in bohemical production of broadside ballads from 17th to the beginning of 20th century in the National Museum Library in Prague collection. It explores roles and stereotypes of various animal species presented in the texts and follows…

The "Jesus Baby of Prague" in printed matter prior to the year 1800

Anežka Baďurová

The article introduces the examples of influence the reveration of the Prague Baby Jesus, the statuette presented as a gift by Polyxena of Lobkowicz (née of Pernstein) to the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites at the Church of Our Lady of Victory, exerted on the print production of both the…

Family correspondence and memories of the historian Beda Dudík

Eva Ryšavá

The author has studied the as yet unknown family correspondence of the Moravian Land Historiographer, Dr. Beda Dudík OSB (1815–1890). That correspondence, mainly with Dudík ́s father and two brothers, is in the private archives of the Dudík family. The letters complete the official picture of…

Michael Josef Fesl, a benefactor of the National museum library

Lubomír Sršeň

ThDr. Michael Josef Fesl (b. September 29 1788 in Prague – d. February 2 1864 in Vienna), the Bernard Bolzano’s most dedicated student, persecuted and interned for the dissemination of Bolzano’s reformatory teachings, bequeathed all his property to the Natio- nal Museum in Prague, including his…

Comenius and Gumppenberg's Atlas Marianus

Vojtěch Balík

In the collection of Bohuslav Dušek is a copy of Atlas Marianus by the Jesuit Wilhelm Gumppenberg (1609–1675) with an alleged signature of Jan Amos Comenius on the front page. The author shows that the book could not possibly belong to Comenius. First, the book's spirit agrees with the baroque…

The lost copy of Catholicon from the year 1460

Kamil Boldan

The Catholicon is one of the most mysterious publications of all times. Recently it attracted a lot of attention. It is believed that its was printed by Johann Gutenberg. Within our Country, there are only three fractions of Gutenberg ́s prints, but as late as the years after WWI, there was a copy…

Two calendars found in the collections of the museum in the western Bohemia in Pilsen

Ila P. Šedo

The collections of the Western Czech Museum in Pilsen still offers new discoveries. Recently, two single-sheet calendars from the second half of the 16th century were discovered. One comes from the City of Nurernberg, the other from Zurich. This paper calls attention to their unique form.

Beginnings of book printing in Slovakia

Eva Frimmová

Based on many years of studying the incunabula in Slovakia, it has been theorized that there was an itinerary book printer in Bratislava in the years 1477–1480. He was credited with several smaller prinings. That hypothesis has been confirmed thanks to the discovery of a document in the Bratislava…

Prague entertainments in the 16th century: Not just skittles but also a live elephant

Děvana Pavlíková

The British Library in London has in its collections a unique item of Czech origin - the first of the three volumes of a manuscript gradual called Písně chval božských (Songs of Divine Grace) (Add. 16175). It was made in Prague in the years 1570–1578 on behalf of the utraquist chancellor of the…

History of the castle library of Český Krumlov in the 18th and 19th centuries

Anna Kubíková , Václav Bok

The paper deals with the history of the castle library of Český Krumlov after the death of the childless Marie Ernestine von Schwarzenberg (1719), when the Eggenberg property in Bohemia was inherited by her nephew, Adam Franz von Schwarzenberg (1680–1732). It investigates the 1813 and 1820…

Publishers' estates in the Library of the National museum and of the Museum of Czech literature

Eva Wolfová

Estates of Czech and Moravian publishers are of fundamental importance for the study of the development of book culture in the Czech Republic during the last two centuries. They contain their private libraries, publisher ́s archives, as well as many other literary, artistic and material documents…

Karel Hynek Mácha and Czech music

Jiří Fiala

Mácha’s literary work is highly musical, and he himself was deemed musical to his contemporaries. This paper studies the reception of Mácha’s opus in Czech music of the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly compositions upon the 100th anniversary of the poet’s death in 1936, but also inscenations…

On the trail of Emmy Destinn’s poems

Jan Králík

The poetry written by Emmy Destinn remains understandably in the shadow of her great career as a singer. She wrote poems be- tween 1893 and 1929, a longer period than those devoted to any of her other activities, such as, e. g., wrtiting novels and drama. The poems reveal an important glimpse into…

Krocín's fountain in 1862–2012, or how easy it is to destroy and how hard to restore

Kateřina Bečková

Krocin's Fountain – destruction 1862 – unsuccessfull rconstructions 1895 and 1915 – torso – Lapidarium of the National Museum. The Fountain of Krocín at the Old Town Square of Prague was an extraordinary valuable sculptural monument from the end of the 16th century. Nevertheless, in 1862, it was…

The medals of the counts of Coudenhove

Tomáš Kleisner

Numismatic collections had been part of castle libraries since the Renaissance. Librarian Dr Helga Turková, to whom this volume is dedicated, catalogued the nationalised library of the Poběžovice (Ronsperg in German) Castle in summers 1987 and 1988. The last private owner was Johann Count…

The jubilee of the church of the most holy heart of the lord in Prague-Vinohrady

Helena Čižinská

On May 8, 2012, the Church of the Most Holy Heart in Prague-Vinohrady, designed by the Slovenian architect Josip Plečnik (1872–1957), since 2010 listed as a national cultural treasure, has celebrated the 80th anniversary of its consecration. Upon that anniversary, the corridores and back rooms have…

In Praise of Dr. Helga Turková

A portion of the Festschrift honoring Dr. Helga Turková, who for many years worked in the Library of the National Museum in Prague, contains her abbreviated biography, list of her publications, review of her professional activities, personal memories of her friends and their well wishings. The…

2012/57/1-2