Czech Out These Trade Bindings

Jókai, Mór. Komedianti života. Prague: Jan Otto, 1901

«The Battle of White Mountain, in 1620, was a watershed moment in Czech history. For the next three hundred years, Czech lands would be ruled by the Habsburgs of Austria, leaving Czech language, literature, and culture to fall into disfavor. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, however, as waves of nationalism spread across Europe, Czech academics, writers, and artists moved away from using German and revived Czech language, folklore, and history to refashion a cultural identity that was independent of Austria. As more schools and universities offered instruction in Czech instead of German, the Czech-speaking middle class increased in size and created a demand for a wide variety of Czech-language books.»

Kalendář paní a dívek českých. Prague: Jan Otto, 1904

Watson Library recently acquired a group of Czech decorated bindings that reflect the spirit of this transformational period. Of the publishers included in this collection, Jan Otto (1841–1916) was by far the most prominent. He started his career as an accountant for a firm in Prague, and, in 1871, took over his father-in-law's printing company, which he vastly modernized and expanded until it became the largest Czech publishing house of its time. Jan Otto's most famous contribution to this renaissance of Czech culture was his massive encyclopedia Ottův slovník naučný (Otto's Encyclopedia), published between 1888 and 1909. During this time he also published works of Czech literature, as well as foreign literature translated into Czech, which featured beautifully decorated bindings that form the bulk of Watson's collection.

Left: Rhoidēs, Emmanouēl D. Papežka Johanna. Prague: Hejda & Tuček, approximately 1910. Right: Żeromski, Stefan. Povídky. Prague: Jan Otto, 1907

These books demonstrate both the rising importance of the Czech language and the high caliber of Czech artists and designers working at this time. They have colorful designs stamped on cloth, often accented with gold or silver stamping. Some have abstract geometric or floral designs, while others have elaborate pictorial drawings. The subject matter of pictorial covers demonstrates the fin de siècle fascination with the grotesque and the femme fatale persona typical of Symbolism.

Left: Altenberg, Peter. Jak já to vidím. Prague: Jan Otto, 1910. Right: Hejda, František Karel. Z davu : povídky a črty. Prague: J.R. Vilímek, 1900

The cover designs date from a period when foreign influences like Viennese Secession style (above left) and French Art Nouveau (above right) were influencing Czech artists and designers, while at the same time synthesizing these influences into a style that was uniquely Czech. Unfortunately many of these designs were anonymous, though there is an occasional attribution, often to an artist about whom little is known. The cover of Z Davu, for instance, has been attributed to the designer Jan Vladislav Spot.

Čech, Svatopluk. Písně otroka. Prague: F. Topič, 1895

Other arresting designs seem to be forerunners of Czech avant-garde art of the 1920s and 1930s. This embossed cover of Písně Otroka, a book of poetry by Svatopluk Čech and published by F. Topič, is highly abstracted and typographically radical for a design made in 1895.

Watson continues to acquire and catalog Czech books for our collection, which also includes later linocut book covers designed by the avant-garde book designer Josef Čapek. To see more Czech decorated bindings, check out our Facebook album highlighting many of these beautiful examples.