Manuscriptorium

The latest phase of the process of making available holdings of the National Library of the Czech Republic has focused on manuscripts and printed works frequently including unique 15th century broadsides – in the majority of cases these documents represent liturgical codices, prayer books, books of hours and religious education literature. Here, in addition to the predominant Latin, the language of the manuscripts is relatively frequently Czech or German.

Budapest University Library has made available a further 20 manuscripts from its holdings, which with 185 codices form the most notable collection of its kind on the territory of contemporary Hungary. Amongst the retrievable documents one can also find 13 items from the so-called Biblioteca Corviniana (Cod. Lat. 1 – 13), the noted extensive library of Matthias Corvinus, the extant volumes from which are today dispersed among numerous institutions throughout Europe and the United States. These are texts by classical authors, one of the manuscripts (Cod. Lat.

The newly digitised documents from the National Library are primarily 18th century copies from the holdings of the Music Department. These are principally works by František Xaver Brixi, with a smaller number by Johann Baptist Vanhal (Jan Křtitel Vaňhal). Two Croatian manuscripts from the holdings of the Slavonic Library are now available, incorporating works by Ivan Gundulić and Junij Palmotić.

Four of the scarcest manuscripts from the holdings of the Research Library in Olomouc have been digitised: the two-part Olomouc Bible from the year 1417, mainly in the first edition of the Czech bible translation (M III 1/I, II), the so-called Missal of the Scribe Stephen, dating from around 1400, famous for its illumination (M III 6), and the summer part of the Gradual of the Premonstratensian Monastery in Louka dating from the year 1499, illuminated by Egidius Has, whose work in the South German tradition is enhanced by the inspiration of Italian Renaissance models. The Olomouc Bible and the Louka Gradual both contribute to the cultural heritage of the Czech Republic.