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Medieval Manuscripts from the National Library of the Czech Republic

The systematic digitisation of the manuscripts from the National Library continued with codices from the shelf marks V.E–V.G. The oldest digitised manuscript is a medical collection of Southern-European origin copied in 1288 (V.F.19), which was owned in the 15th century by Šimon of Slaný. The other codices come from the Czech lands in the 14th–15th centuries. A part of them was demonstrably used in school instruction, but for some, it is impossible to decide whether it was at the university or lower schools. This group comprises, for example, commentaries on grammar textbooks (V.F.3, V.F.28), interpretations of Aristotle’s works (V.E.8, V.E.13), records of medical university lectures (V.E.21) and an astronomical volume (V.G.18). The other digitised works include sermons and preaching aids (e.g. V.E.25, V.F.8, V.F.26) as well as theological literature; the set of dictionaries in V.E.18 is interesting for Germanists.

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Medieval Manuscripts from the National Library of the Czech Republic

The digitisation of the manuscripts from the National Library continued mainly with volumes from the shelf mark V. The oldest digitised manuscript, V.D.20, was copied in the 13th century; it contains the lives of saints. The other codices date from the 14th and 15th centuries. A larger group consists of volumes associated with the university of Prague. These include, for example, philosophical lectures given at its Faculty of Arts (V.E.4c); in 1479, the astronomical volume V.E.4b, containing, among others, the work of Christian of Prachatice, was copied at Reček’s College of the university of Prague; some of the codices come from other university colleges – Charles College and the College of the Bohemian Nation. The medical collection V.C.20 contains the initials of its former owner, the master of the university of Prague Jan Ondřejův, called Šindel. Most codices comprise theological works; exegeses of the Bible are represented, for example, by the works of Hugh of Saint-Cher, Nicholas of Lyra, and another lecturer at the university of Prague, Johann of Lübeck (V.D.14); two manuscripts contain the popular grammar book Derivationes by Hugh of Pisa. Texts of ecclesiastical law are numerically less represented: one manuscript includes a part of the Bible; various sermon collections or individual sermons are more abundant. In 1376, the chronicle of Sicard of Cremona was copied into the codex V.D.16; its later user supplemented it with notes concerning the Czech lands as well. The astrological volume XXIII.D.132 comes from the collections of the former Prague Lobkowicz Library; some of its texts were copied and annotated by the scholar and diplomat Nicholas of Cusa.

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Modern Documents from the Slavonic Library

In 2020, the National Library of the Czech Republic – Slavonic Library digitised seven documents: five manuscripts, one early printed book and one binder’s volume comprising manuscript and printed parts. The earliest volume is the so-called Trebnik of Peter Mogila, one of the most important works of Church Slavonic and Old Ukrainian literature, printed in the Kiev-Pechersk printing house in 1646. The other manuscripts were written mainly in the 18th century. Some of them contain ecclesiastical, especially liturgical texts; two manuscripts come from the collection of the Ragusiana of Milan Rešetar. The first of them is a treatise by the Ragusan biographer Sebastiano Dolci, De Origine Urbis Ragusinae; the second is a codex comprising two works by the Croatian diplomat and writer Jaketa Palmotić Dionorić – the epic Dubrovnik ponovljen and the tragedy Didone. The latest manuscript is the signature book of the Ukrainian Republic Capella from their European and American tours in 1919–1923.

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A Collection of Recipes from the Czech Pharmaceutical Museum

The Czech Pharmaceutical Museum in Kuks (a centre of Charles University in Prague – the Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové) has provided access to a volume containing German and Latin medical recipes by Guido Dihr from the second third of the 18th century. Its compiler joined the Order of the Brothers of Mercy in 1739; in the years 1757–1763, he was the prior of the monastery of this order in the Old Town of Prague. He died in 1772.

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Sheet Music from the Collections of the National Library of the Czech Republic

The Music Department of the National Library of the Czech Republic has provided access to 39 shelf marks. These are mostly copies from the 19th century, but several of them come from the end of the 18th century. The whole collection was purchased by Ladislav Vycpálek from the Capuchin monastery at St Joseph’s in the New Town of Prague. It includes compositions by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Georg Friedrich Händel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn and his brother Johann Michael, Christoph Willibald Gluck, František Xaver Brixi and other authors. In addition to individual works, there is also a collection of religious compositions by various composers (59 rm 16 from 1863) and copies of German songs for male choir (59 rm 15).

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Modern Manuscripts from the National Library of Medicine

In 2020, the National Library of Medicine in Prague digitised five manuscripts. The oldest of them is a collection of German and Czech medical and other recipes (T 334); the other manuscripts also mostly deal with drug effects or contain various recipes. The collection of notes written in Chvalnov at the turn of the 19th century comprises i.a. diverse legal documents and other texts. The notes of medical lectures held at the Prague university were taken by Johann Baumeister in 1852–1853 (T 341).

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Modern Manuscripts from the Military History Institute

Západočeské muzeum v Plzni v roce 2020 zpřístupnilo dva staré tisky. Pařížské vydání mší za zemřelé z roku 1682 (sign. 505 A 006) nese na vazbě zlacené heraldické supralibros opata cisterciáckého kláštera v Plasích Evžena Tyttla. Rovněž tisk 505 D 006 z roku 1670 je zajímavý svou dobovou vazbou, pořízenou pro papeže Klementa X.

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Documents of the North Bohemian Museum in Liberec

The North Bohemian Museum in Liberec has provided access to two volumes containing a combination of printed and handwritten texts. The older binder’s volume, Inv. No. ST 1345, contains printed sermons of Bartholomäus Wagner from 1607, which were complemented on pastedowns and the folios attached in the first quarter of the 17th century by concepts of sermons and other notes, mostly in the hand of Valentin Frümald. The volume Inv. No. ST 702 contains the printed history of Frýdlant and Liberec by Johann Carl Rohn from 1763, which was complemented on the 50 introductory pages by chronicle records, accounting entries and a spiritual reflection of Karel Voigt of Chrastava.

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A Printed Book from the Town Museum and Gallery Polička

In 2020, the Town Museum and Gallery Polička provided access to the printed book by Martin of Cochem Velká štěpná zahrada [The Big Tree Garden], printed in Brno by Václav Lenhart in the workshop of the heirs of Jakub Maxmilián Svoboda in 1751–1752 (shelf mark K 450). This particular edition of the reprinted work has not been recorded in catalogues.

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Manuscripts from the Museum of the Jindřichův Hradec Region

The Museum of the Jindřichův Hradec Region digitised 15 modern manuscripts in 2020. The oldest of them is an incomplete prayer book from 1541 (shelf mark RK 055). Most of the others come from the 18th century and contain Czech- and German-language prayers, usually accompanied by simple decoration. The manuscript of an invitatorium with psalms and hymns for the Feast of the Nativity (shelf mark RK 050) is partly notated. A manuscript that differs from the others in content comprises a collection of German culinary and medicinal recipes (shelf mark RK 146), which was complemented by information on book titles and prices at the turn of the 19th century.

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