This is a page from Jan Neruda's 'Letni Vzpominky': 'Malostransky Feuilleton', with illustrations by A. Kaspar. Apparently, there were only 8,000 copies produced by Ceska Graficka Unie a.s. Prague. It was first published in 1923, my version above is the 1947 edition. I take an interest in Jan Neruda because, like me, he studied philosophy at uni and because he is culturally important in the Czech Republic as well as around the world.
I thought I'd begin this blog by explaining something about the background to my choice of this feuilleton book illustration. This feuilleton is of interest not only in terms of art illustration in books, but also in terms of the publishing world. In addition, it is also of scholarly, cultural and historical interest.
I've recently painted an 'after' of this illustration for #sothebyssundaysketch which coincided with #motherlanguageday. I have changed a few things in my watercolour and ink painting, such as background and the head of the girl. You can see this on my Instagram post:
I chose this Czech feuilleton book because my mother languages are English and Czech, which is a minority language since only around 14 million people speak Czech worldwide. A tiny amount when you compare it with English, which comes to roughly 341 million who speak it fluently as a first language out of the 1.5 billion who are able to speak English. This means that 1/5th of the world's population of around 7.5 billion people speak English!
So, it's not just the feuilleton book that needs preserving but also the Czech language, in both its spoken and written form. Written Czech is highly complex and has a distinctive character. You can speak Czech fluently but that doesn't necessarily mean you can then read and write it in its codified, written standard form. Spoken Czech is of a different form, known as unstandard, Common Czech. Even school textbooks, of which I have a few, are published in the codified, written standard form, which makes it even more important for Czech children to attend school. At the moment they can't attend school and haven't been able to for longer than other European children, which poses a greater linguistic and educational problem for Czech children. Reading a simple book for young children in e.g. German is much harder than the equivalent children's book in English. However, reading fluently in Czech is even harder because it is grammatically more complex and is based on a considerably older version of the language due to linguistic disruptions in Czech history when German overtook Czech at various times, not just during WW2. Hence, it's culturally important to produce publications in the Czech language and to make these books also available outside of the Czech Republic to keep the language alive worldwide.
The above photo is of a page in an out of copyright, antique feuilleton, printed in the format of a small book without page numbers. The number 3 you see here just underneath the illustration is not a page reference because this picture (with Czech verse underneath) is well into the feuilleton. For each page that has print, the text is written in verse and is 4 lines long (if it has an illustration like the one above) or 8 lines long (if it only has decorative border such as the example in my photo below) with the rhyming lines being 2 & 4. The font is in beautiful, old-fashioned italic calligraphy which gives the appearance of traditional, Czech handwriting. A few pages only have illustrations, while many others are only text but with panoramic, decoratively illustrated borders. These are either in the form of border designs at the top and bottom of the text (leaves, flowers, fruit, hearts, animals, geometric) or a small painting. The illustrations are in ink and watercolour. Here's a page from my copy which shows you an example of a decorative border around some verse:
This week, I have begun looking into the publishing backstory behind the original and 1947 editions (which is the one I have) and subsequent editions of this feuilleton. I discovered that it has been reproduced in America recently, due to its cultural, scholarly and historical significance. One such later edition is available to buy and has the following fascinating description of the history of it:
"This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact..."
" ...most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world..."
"no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work."
"As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant."
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Malostransky-feuilleton-Jan-1834-1891-Neruda/dp/137403889X
Luckily, my copy does not have any of the defects mentioned above e.g. blurring, marks or unclear pictures or text. It is listed in a Czech database of books, with a photo of the same cover of the feuilleton as mine:
https://www.databazeknih.cz/knihy/letni-vzpominky-192992
I've always loved antique books and old publications in any language, especially those with a very decorative illustrative design and calligraphic font inside; a hand sewn binding; or a beautiful leather cover. I've spent many hours appreciating and looking through old books in antique bookshops! It's a favourite pastime of mine. I'm more obsessed with the publication style of such books than with their content. I always check the date of a publication because it tells me a great deal about publishing practices in that era. And I do love a hand sewn book, as is my copy of this feuilleton! I wish I could have more of these types of feuilletons and books. I make up for this by choosing website templates that feature antique books, such as my academia website and this blog!
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