Manuscripts from the National Library of the Czech Republic

The documents of the National Library of the CR that have recently been digitised comprise mainly medieval manuscripts with theological and homiletic content, usually coming from the Czech lands from the 14th century or the beginning of the 15th century. Medical (VII.H.16) and liturgical (processional VI.G.3b from the beginning of the 14th century from the monastery of St George’s monastery at Prague Castle) manuscripts are represented as well. Three manuscripts from the collections of the former Thun-Hohenstein library in Děčín contain modern copies of diverse historical sources; likewise two manuscripts from the collections of the Slavonic Library have been digitised.

The digitisation of the National Archive collections continued by providing access to nine early printed books from the Waldstein Castle Library in the Doksy Chateau. They are all related to the events of the Thirty Year’s War, but they were printed in a broader time range (1629–1650) and in diverse lands (Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, England and Spain).

From the collections of the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové, a homogeneous group of five sheet-music codices that were created in the 16th century and at the beginning of the 17th century and belonged to the literati brotherhood at the choir of the church of the Holy Spirit in Hradec Králové (Hr 30–34) has been digitised. They contain records of individual voices of Latin polyphonic motets and songs or sacramental hymns.

A major part of the recently digitised manuscripts of the National Library of the Czech Republic are codices of the former Prague Lobkowicz Library. A homogeneous collection is formed by eleven volumes of historical works and excerpts (XXIII.C.5/1–11) from the property of Thomas Anton Putzlacher; many of which contain works by the historian Jan Florián Hammerschmidt. Further manuscripts of the Lobkowicz collection come from the library of the Premonstratensian monastery in Weissenau and were written in the 12th–15th centuries. Six other manuscripts, written in German, contain also the three-volume chronicle of the Benedictine Emmaus Monastery, capturing the period of 1877–1930 (XVI.A.81–XVI.A.83). Another six manuscripts come from the 15th century and, with the exception of the Latin Historia destructionis Troiae by Guido de Columnis (VIII.B.17), these are exegeses of the Bible, mainly of the Book of Psalms.

The digitisation of the collections of the Music Department of the National Library of the CR continued with four printed books; some of the codices were complemented by handwritten additions. Two of the books made accessible are binder’s volumes of voice books of vocal polyphony coming from the 16th century and printed in Germany and Switzerland; the Czech hymnal from 1727 was printed in the Old Town of Prague; and the last printed book was made in London in 1781.

Two alba amicorum in the collections of the North Bohemian Museum in Liberec were digitised: the album of Philippe Casimir Le Pieque (Inv. No. ST 307) comprises inscriptions from 1756–1762, made in various parts of Germany; 14 of them are accompanied by illustrations. The inscriptions in the album of Johann August Werlisch (Inv. No. ST 302) come from Nuremberg and Leipzig from 1774–1776 and two of them are decorated.

The Museum of West Bohemia in Pilsen digitised illuminated manuscript fragments and early printed books in 2014. Most fragments come from a sheet-music liturgical codex and comprise small cut-out initials; other fragments come from the period between the 15th century and 1745. The early printed books were made in Germany (Wittenberg, Leipzig) and Switzerland (Basel) in 1504–1517.

The Music Department of the National Library of the Czech Republic has recently made 40 manuscripts accessible. They are (exceptionally autographic) scores mostly from the second half of the 18th century and from the first half of the 19th century. The authors of the individual works include i.a. Josef Mysliveček, František Xaver Brixi, Jakub Jan Ryba, Vincenc Mašek, Leopold Koželuh, Jiří Ignác Linka and Jan Křtitel Vaňhal.

Four manuscripts of the Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians at Strahov have been digitised. The earliest of them is a collection of the works of St John Cassian, written in the monastery of Hradisko near Olomouc in the 1130s–40s (DA III 25). The collection DA IV 42 comes from the library of the monastery in Weissenau. The Bible DA IV 22 was made in the Czech lands. Salzburg seems to be the place of origin of the catalogue of the local bishops and archbishops (DA II 28) created after 1615, which is complemented by their coats of arms.