Acta Musealia

The Museum of South East Moravia in Zlín owns very interesting as well as numerous collections of rare historical books. A large part of the collections was obtained from the effects of the museum societies from Luhačovice, Vizovice and Napajedla. The number of objects, saved thanks to activities of museum societies, substantiates the importance of museum societies in saving records of the past of our region as well as the respect with which the local inhabitants treated these societies, expressed by the character of donations from family heritage. Among the most valued collections of our museum is a set of Bibles. It is not very extensive as far as the number of items is concerned (48 copies of Bibles representing 33 editions; 37 copies of New Testament representing 27 editions). However, looking at the set closer, we will find that it contains nearly complete collection of Czech printed Bibles dated from 16th to 19th centuries, including such treasures of Czech printing art as Severin Bible, Melantrich Bible or Kralická Bible. At the same time we also own a number of interesting Bibles of foreign provenience, such as two Hebrew Bibles, or a Latin Holy Bible from the year 1645 printed in Antwerp, as well as Luther Bible from the year 1663 published in Jena. It is also interesting to look at the collection of the Bibles from the point of view of the ratio of preserved Catholic and non-Catholic copies, where the non-Catholic Bibles prevail, which bears witness to a rich history of religious diversity of our region. In this paper I would like to bring to attention of the reader the rare prints found in the collections of our museum, which, so far, have not been sufficiently surveyed, and, which, unfortunately, because of lack of this attention, are often not in the best possible condition. I sincerely hope that in future, it will be possible to obtain sufficient funding for their restoration, as well as establishment of a new depository, in which they could be kept in respectable condition reflecting upon their importance.

Keywords: Bible, old prints, historical funds, literary funds, museum libraries, museum societies, book restoration