Fragments of the Czech Book Collections in European Libraries: Zittau, Dresden, Wroclaw, Vienna, Regensburg, Paris
Abstract
This book summarises the results of a provenance study from over the course of the last five years in several libraries abroad, the aim of which was to identify fragments of book collections of Bohemical provenance that ended up abroad. The research focuses on libraries in Zittau, Dresden, Wroclaw, Regensburg, Vienna and Paris.
Christian Weise Bibliothek in Zittau and Sächsische Landes- und Universitätsbibliothek in Dresden are linked by fragments of the libraries of Czech exiles from after the Battle of White Mountain. In this case, the research was focused on reconstructing the library of the first preacher of the Zittau Protestant congregation of Czech exiles, Pavel Crupius (1594-1668), who left a library of 510 books to the town of Zittau.
In Wroclaw, the research focused on a collection of manuscripts and early prints at the local university library, which contains a number of books by prominent Czech figures of early modern age. The library of Wroclaw's Ossolineum holds a number of prints that are Bohemical in terms of both language and provenance of which 142 volumes came from the National Museum Library in 1833.
At the court library of the princes of Thurn and Taxis in Regensburg, fragments of the Chroustovice chateau library, once owned by family Kinsky, were located and identified. A total of 45 new books from the former library of Count František Eusebius Pötting (1626-1678) were identified in Vienna's Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
Pötting was an envoy of Emperor Leopold in Madrid in the years 1663-1674. The book collection of the Institute of Slavic Studies in Paris which was supported by the book gifts from individual as well as state donations in the first half of the 20th century includes the former library of the professor of Slavic languages Louis Léger.
Special attention is given to the Institute's long-time director André Mazon (1881-1967).