Books
The sub-collection Books is a newly established sub-collection which, however, is composed of two groups of collection items collected by Vocel Archaeological Society since its foundation; namely Manuscripts and Old Prints. Both groups originated as collections of individual donations complemented by acquisitions of comprehensive sets – libraries of distinguished personalities from Kutná Hora or the society members, e.g. Jan Erazim Wocel, Emanuel Jägr, Jaroslav Červený or Emanuel Růžička. As late as 1950s the museum acquired a very extensive collection of manuscripts, old prints and modern books from the abolished Ursuline convent.
The group Manuscripts is majorly comprised of prayer books that once belonged to the wards of the Ursuline convent, contemplative books and books of sermons, i.e. religious manuscripts. Furthermore, there are cookbooks, home medical guides (herbal books), copies of theatrical plays or songbooks. From among the single entities we can name copies of historical and legal prints, books of household expenses or old school exercise-books.
Regarding the manuscripts registered as autographs by local writers, it remains a question if they are not mere duplicates. By contrast, the manuscript of the epos „Přemyslids“ and the diary of J. E. Wocel are undoubtedly authentic.
A totally remarkable manuscript is the so-called Gradual of the Czech Museum of Silver (accession no. 88/85) from the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Currently, this part of the sub-collection includes nearly 500 collection items.
A considerable part of the manuscripts has been published in the Repertorium of manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries from the Czech museums’ collections, part 2.
The group Old Prints comprises prints published from the invention of printing press to the year 1800. Regarding their provenience, they are not solely Czech prints, but also foreign, i.e. all-European. Only the prints of Kutná Hora’s provenience do not fit this time span. The prints may be thematically divided into Bibles and biblical prints (the collection includes almost all Czech editions of the Bible), religious prints, historical prints, legal prints, medical prints or calendars.
The most remarkable print, or more precisely prints are two copies of the Kutná Hora Bible published by Martin of Tišnov in 1489. However, these are not the only earliest prints (incunabula) kept in the museum. From among the Czech earliest prints, the collection includes the Prague missal from 1498 and from among the foreign prints the Roman missal published by Mikuláš Ketzler in Basel in 1485.
For the present, this part of the sub-collection comprises fewer than 140 collection items. Hundreds of other prints are still registered in the library of the Czech Museum of Silver and will subsequently be registered in the collection of the CMS.
In 2009, one copy of the Kutná Hora Bible was digitalized and subsequently added to the Web-portal Manuscriptorium.
Administrator: Bc. Josef Kremla
Czech Museum of Silver,
allowance organisation
Barborská 28
284 01 Kutná Hora
+420 327 512 159
reservations@cms-kh.cz
(information about tours)