Early printed books from the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the CR

The Regional Museum in Louny digitised four early printed books or their collective volumes in 2019. The binder’s volume of Czech and Slovak educational texts and prayers S 6199 also contains some uniquely preserved printed books; it was formerly the property of the priest, writer and translator Juraj Ribay. The other books comprise a German cookbook from 1566 (S 4625), a German medical book with a herbarium from 1577 (S 4626), and an extensive guide to hunting and forestry from 1783 (S 5014).

The Museum of the Jindřichův Hradec Region provided access to another thirteen documents (nine manuscripts and four printed books) in 2019. The manuscripts coming from the 18th century comprise Czech and German prayer books. The owner of the manuscript RK 085, Josef Irmler, wrote in it short notes on the births, baptisms and deaths of the members of his family in 1728–1755. All the printed books also come from the 18th century. Three contain collections of prayers by Martin of Cochem; the fourth printed book is different, comprising Velmi pěkná historie o hraběti Jindřichovi [The Very Nice History of Count Jindřich] (shelf mark JK 0530), probably a uniquely preserved copy of the Jindřichův Hradec edition from the end of the 18th century.

The National Museum Library digitised five volumes in 2019. Four medieval manuscripts went through the library of the Augustinian canonry in Roudnice nad Labem, but most of them are of foreign origin: they include an older Italian Bible (XVI A 5), a manuscript comprising the first part of the work of Bartholomew of Urbino Milleloquium sancti Ambrosii, which probably comes from Italy as well (XV A 4), and a codex written in France, containing concordances of the Bible by Hugh of Saint-Cher (XVI A 4); the missal XVI A 10 from the third quarter of the 14th century is of Czech origin. The last manuscript is the Czech Didactics by John Amos Comenius, a copy made around 1630 with Comenius’s handwritten changes and notes (II B 8).

The National Technical Library has provided access to twelve early printed books and their binder’s volumes from the 18th century. The printed books are written in German, with smaller parts in some being in French. In terms of content, these are mostly works on architecture. The oldest volume is an introduction to civil engineering by Augustin-Charles d'Aviler, printed in Amsterdam in 1700; some digitised prints contain only sets of copperplate engravings with views of individual buildings or their parts and their ground plans.

The Town Museum and Gallery Polička has provided access to the Sunday and holiday postil by Vojtěch Šebestián Scipio-Berlička, printed in the Jesuit printing workshop in the Old Town of Prague in 1667–1668 (shelf mark K 222). The book is enriched by a number of woodcuts illustrating the Biblical text presented.

From the collections of the Regional Museum in Teplice, a thematically homogeneous collection of five codices, probably coming from the last third of the 17th century, was digitised in 2019. One of the manuscripts is written in Latin and contains ‘statuta philosophorum incognitorum’ and an unfinished copy of leafs written by the alchemist Michael Sendivogius; the others mostly use French and comprise sets of alchemical, medical, chemical, technical, and other guidelines and procedures. All codices are connected with the stay and activities of the alchemist Bartolomeus Mencelius at the castle in Teplice in the last third of the 17th century, after which they became part of the castle library of the Clary-Aldringen family.

The Regional Museum and Gallery in Most has provided access to a manuscript referred to as the Unfortunate Hymnal from Most from its collections. The codex contains hymns for the Mass, but also for the Liturgy of the Hours. It was made for the brotherhood of Corpus Christi and the Virgin Mary at the church of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Most. Based on a contract from 27 July 1537, the town of Most commissioned the making of the codex to the scribe and illuminator Jakub from Pilsen. The manuscript was to be completed by 15 October 1538. In fact, however, it was not handed over to the users until May 1544. It has been damaged by the cutting out of a number of leaves of the manuscript, including all with illuminated decoration.

From the Regional Museum in Mikulov, another five codices and their parts have been digitised. A copy of the theological dictionary Floretus, which, according to Czech marginal glosses, was written in the Czech lands (MIK 6373), is dated to the year 1416. Parts of the theological dictionary MIK 6369 are dated as well, specifically to 1475. Fragments of a missal from the 14th–15th centuries are deposited under the shelf mark MIK 6391. Modern manuscripts are represented by a copy of a part of the Third Order of Saint Francis (MIK 6390) and a collection of legal texts (MIK 6371).

In 2019, the library of the Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians at Strahov provided access to 36 modern manuscripts and one early printed book – the Chronicle of Bohemia by Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (Pope Pius II), which was translated and in 1510 printed by Mikuláš Konáč of Hodíštkov (shelf mark DR IV 10). The digitised manuscripts are deposited under shelf marks DA I–DA III and come from between the 17the and 19th centuries. They are varied in their content as well, including e.g. a set of liturgical manuscripts of Premonstratensian provenance, some acquired as late as in the 19th century in the area of present-day Germany; scientific treatises in the fields of natural sciences and the humanities (e.g. by the geologist Jan Tadeáš Antonín Peithner of Lichtenfels and the art historian Jan Jakub Quirin Jahn); a binder’s volume of letters by Jesuit missionaries and their copies (DA II 15); poems and short stories; a copy of works of music by the Cistercian Johann Georg Vogt (DA II 20); an illuminated Kunst-Buch der Pferde (DA II 22); copies of theological works and lectures coming from the Prague Archiepiscopal Seminary; records of lectures and sermons given by Bernard Bolzano in 1808–1818; copies of various prints and other texts.