Zprávy památkové péče 2015, 75(2):168-175

Provenance research of the castle library at Hrádek u Nechanic

Klára Andresová

The present study focuses on the library of the state castle of Hrádek u Nechanic, which belonged to the counts of Harrach from its founding in the mid-19th century to 1945. It then passed into state ownership then to the administration of the department of castle libraries of the National Museum in Prague in 1954.
Most of the Hrádek books come from the 19th century. Even though in older literature, this book fund was indicated as significantly bohemical and some sources even reported that Czech literature prevailed linguistically, in fact it contains mostly German language literature, making up about a third of the fund. There are almost a thousand less Czech volumes in the library than German, but this amount within this library is still above average in comparison to other castle libraries.
Thematically, the library is dominated by works of fiction, especially prose fiction from European and North American writers of the 19th century. The second largest thematic group at the Hrádek library is made up of religious literature.
The main part of the study examines the provenance research of the Hrádek library, including the description of various types of bookplates and signatures of the owners of individual books, special emphasis being placed on the personage of Jan Nepomuk of Harrach (1828-1909), who signed the largest amount of Hrádek volumes. The handwritten dedications found in the fund are also characterized.

Keywords: castle library, Hrádek u Nechanic, provenance research, Harrachs, 19th century

Published: June 1, 2015  Show citation