Abstract
Jan Felkl and Son Company making teaching aids worked for almost 100 years in the Czech market. A collective exhibition organized on the ground of the Faculty of Science of Charles University presented the company already in 2017.
The same exhibition with new exhibits took place in 2019 in the castle in Roztoky near Prague. It make available a unique collection of 70 globes, demonstration devices and lithographic plates, both from state and private collections.
The article remembers history of the company associated with Václav Merklaswho left the failing business to his partner, the post office clerk Jan Felkl. He brought the factory to bloom.
It first operated in Prague, then since 1870 in Roztoky near Prague. J.
Felkl gradually made his sons Ferdinand (1870), Antonín (1875) and finally Zikmund (1879) his associates. Annually they were able to produce in manufacturing production with a small number of employees up to 15,000 globes that were exported into the whole world.
They won many awards at international exhibitions, which opened their way to the state school orders. The Austro-Hungarian market fell apart after the World War I and the company began to decline.
Special attention is paid to the exceptional personality of the father founder Jan Felkl who was able to establish a prosperous and world-famous business through his diligence and skills in 33 years.