Schönův devoční jednolist s odpustkovou funkcí a Modlitbou o ukrutném zámutku Panny Marie (Strahovská knihovna, sign. 738/zl.)

Schön´s devotional indulgence print with the Prayer of tremendous sorrow of Our Lady (Strahov Library 738/zl.). --- Although Ms Hedvika Kuchařova has discovered and described two copies of this print with text and image in 1999, it has not become known in bibliographies and art history books, yet. Under the title Prayer of tremendous sorrow of Our Lady there is a large wood-engraving by Erhard Schön from Nuremberg. It depicts full fi gures of Christ and Virgin Mary called Imago pietatis and Mater Dolorosa. Supplication „Recall, please, the sweetest Mother and Lady of the World ...” is at the bottom, printed in two columns. Based on the type of letters, Hedvika Kuchařova has attributed the poster to the printing house of Hieronymus Holtzel in Nuremberg. Jan Mantuan Fencl collaborated with Holtzel in 1518 as translator and producer. This learned man from Plzeň has probably inspired production of the print from Strahov library. The complete supplication from the print is to be found in his Czech translation of Catholic book of prayers Hortulus anime. Also this translation was again printed by the Holtzel´s workshop in 1520 and there are portraits of saints by Erhard Schon, Hans Springinklee and Wolf Traut there. --- The supplication is alternated with an independent text which has been roughly clipped. We shall only be able to reconstruct it when a similar generic copy is found. This could be a print in German also made in the Holtzel´s workshop probably in 1515. The upper half of this poster is taken by a wood-engraving attributed to Nuremberg artists Wolf Traut. Half figures of Christ and Virgin Mary are the same iconographic types used by Schon. This image is followed by versed dialogue between Christ and his Mother about mutual sorrow composed by humanist Sebastian Brant. Two columns of the dialogue are followed by three lines of prose: „Welcher mit andacht peycht v[nd] si[ehet] rewigem hertzen anschawet die waffen der barmhertzigkeyt Christi. Erlangt von Pabst Leo drey Jar || Vnd von Dreyssig Pabsten yetlichem Hundert tag. Vnd von hundert Achtvndzwaintzig Bischouen yetlichem Viertzig tag. So[lche]= || [zeit]lichen Ablas bestetiget hat Innocentius der Vierd. In dem Concilio zu Leon. Vnd hat darzu geben Zwayhundert tag Ablas. Gedruckt durch Hieronym[us] Holtzel.“ --- There was a similar explanation note printed in smaller German types under the prayer of the rare Strahov print: „Ktoz tuto Modlitbu naboznie rzieka przed obrazem ... [lito]stiwee Ten obdrzug od ...“ (He who says this prayer piously in front of the image ... regretfully, he receives from ...“. Despite the larger part of the text cut off, it is obvious that we have here a Czech version of the indulgence forms of the German Holtzel´s print from about 1515. Comparing Czech and German versions shows that this sort of print helped to remit or shorten canonical penance if certan condition were met. The combination of image and prayer supported Catholic devotion. Translated by Tomaš Kleisner

Česká knižní kultura doby Václava Hájka z Libočan: Na okraj jednoho badatelského vakua

This paper attempts to examine the literary terrain marked out between the end of the 15th century and the year 1553, i.e. the period in which the first true Czech author, Václav Hájek of Libočany, author of the Czech Chronicle (1541), translator and adaptor of several Old Czech works, lived and worked. However, for this it was necessary both to confront some of the basically Marxist views held by mid‑20th researchers and to try to incorporate the well‑known facts into a higher entity called book culture. One of the period‑based dangers of Marxist paleo‑Czech studies was the evaluation of literary works on their own or without any interest in the specific nature of the communication process or the artistic and workmanlike aspects of publication, distribution and reading technique. -- One of the parameters of book culture is the readers’ reception of texts, which enables a readership community to be formed and cultivated. Book printing in Bohemia and Moravia played a much smaller role in this process than we have previously presumed, as the foremost church institutions, Prague University representatives and thus the printers themselves did not understand the social impact of book printing and at most thought of it as another form of business. The literary scene was so lacking in writers, translators and potential readers, who were mostly just from the increasingly emancipated middle classes, that books of such typographic standards were not produced in enough numbers to support the habit of quiet reading and thus enable intensive reading to slowly turn into extensive reading. Domestic book printing was greatly affected by the import of books from Germany and the strong scriptographic output of the intelligentsia there. -- While the literary epoch between Hussitism and the Battle of the White Mountain was called the Renaissance in the past, this was more a political than an objective matter. Contextualization of the literary scene using the entire book culture yardstick shows that a number of well‑known events will need to be set within a new interpretational framework. However, this involves too much of a heterogeneous and imperfect machinery, which cannot simply be called a Renaissance organism, as Renaissance influence on the majority of major national literatures was prepared for and supported by humanism. However, the literary scene in Bohemia and Moravia cannot be called extensive, and that part of it which was associated with printers was even less so. We do not find many surviving clear traces of the scientific and intellectual influence of humanism. It was not until the 1520s that humanism (and so the laicization process itself) achieved such strength among the burgeoning middle classes that it awoke, accelerated and maintained new artistic and crafts activities, reading habits and thus a love of books. -- For a long time most of the elements of book culture remained conservatively medieval (though of course with exceptions) and thanks to the surviving national genes were geared more to the Reformation than to the Renaissance. Hence even at the beginning of the 16th century the entire book culture reflected the intellectual closedness of Jagellon Bohemia and the innermost religious world of the Utraquists and Brethren. The worldly emphasis did not start to override the everyday discussions on the Eucharist until the 1530s and 1540s, i.e. at a time that was stirred both by the culture‑creating plans of Ferdinand I and by the anti‑Habsburg opposition within Estates society. It turns out that passive acceptance of 19th century art studies categories is no longer suitable for book culture, the solid backbone of which is formed by the literary scene. Future discussions ought to show the extent to which it is more appropriate to take on dynastic periodization, the internal cut‑off times of which (1520, 1547) apply to a nowhere dense set of Renaissance and humanist book culture phenomena without problems

Nový pohled na dějiny renesančního knihtisku v Čechách a na Moravě

A new perspective of the history of Renaissance typography in Bohemia and Moravia. -- Present Czech researchers have either not explored the beginnings of Renaissance printed books at all, or they have tried to colour a quite idyllic image of the period before the White Mountain Battle as a whole. Despite these apparent apologies, the Czech typography of the Jagello-period was of an irregular character. The main reasons for this we can attribute back to a weak potential of the craft as well as of the writer and translator communities. There had been no specialized publishing region and the editions were influenced by imports. The influence of Nuremberg during this period is especially noteworthy. The period when the domestic post-incunabula lost late Gothic outlines was longer than in other great typographic powers such as Germany, France or Italy. Most Bohemian typographers and cutters revived the older illuminative repertoire ad hoc during the entire first decade of the 16th century. Mikuláš Konáč (1514) and Pavel Olivetský (1520) were the first who broke free of that late Gothic style. The next generation could already be called the early Renaissance, even though the intensity of their affection was influenced by the economical aspects of particular crafts. We see less consideration in the work of the poorer Mikuláš Klaudyán (from 1518) and Oldřich Velenský (1519) while more precision can be seen through the reach of Pavel Severin (from 1520) and Jiří Štyrsa (1521). The period of early Renaissance typography lasted in Bohemia two decades longer than in Germany, Austria or Poland. The end of this period could be seen in the 40’s when Bartloměj Netolický in Prague and Jan Günther in Prostějov accepted, for the first time, the German blackletter and when the Prague typographer Jan Had started to use an antiqua of Venetian type instead of Schwabacher for a typography of a whole-Latin text. It meant the end of the third phase of typographic transformation, when Bohemian typographies were finally equipped with typeface comparable to other countries. At the same time (1541) we can trace the first proof of cooperation of an artist with a typographer, in such a way as we know it, from the Nuremberg collaboration of Wolgemut – Koberger. This occurred in the cutter’s studio of Severin’s typography in Prague. Despite its late beginning, this studio is very important as it is no longer under the influence of German typography and book preparation wasn’t done accidentally as was the habit up to that time, but according to Renaissance typography – a conjunction of typeface, decoration and illumination. Translated by Markéta Tomanová

Česká knižní kultura doby Václava Hájka z Libočan: Na okraj jednoho badatelského vakua

This paper attempts to examine the literary terrain marked out between the end of the 15th century and the year 1553, i.e. the period in which the first true Czech author, Václav Hájek of Libočany, author of the Czech Chronicle (1541), translator and adaptor of several Old Czech works, lived and worked. However, for this it was necessary both to confront some of the basically Marxist views held by mid‑20th researchers and to try to incorporate the well‑known facts into a higher entity called book culture. One of the period‑based dangers of Marxist paleo‑Czech studies was the evaluation of literary works on their own or without any interest in the specific nature of the communication process or the artistic and workmanlike aspects of publication, distribution and reading technique. -- One of the parameters of book culture is the readers’ reception of texts, which enables a readership community to be formed and cultivated. Book printing in Bohemia and Moravia played a much smaller role in this process than we have previously presumed, as the foremost church institutions, Prague University representatives and thus the printers themselves did not understand the social impact of book printing and at most thought of it as another form of business. The literary scene was so lacking in writers, translators and potential readers, who were mostly just from the increasingly emancipated middle classes, that books of such typographic standards were not produced in enough numbers to support the habit of quiet reading and thus enable intensive reading to slowly turn into extensive reading. Domestic book printing was greatly affected by the import of books from Germany and the strong scriptographic output of the intelligentsia there. -- While the literary epoch between Hussitism and the Battle of the White Mountain was called the Renaissance in the past, this was more a political than an objective matter. Contextualization of the literary scene using the entire book culture yardstick shows that a number of well‑known events will need to be set within a new interpretational framework. However, this involves too much of a heterogeneous and imperfect machinery, which cannot simply be called a Renaissance organism, as Renaissance influence on the majority of major national literatures was prepared for and supported by humanism. However, the literary scene in Bohemia and Moravia cannot be called extensive, and that part of it which was associated with printers was even less so. We do not find many surviving clear traces of the scientific and intellectual influence of humanism. It was not until the 1520s that humanism (and so the laicization process itself) achieved such strength among the burgeoning middle classes that it awoke, accelerated and maintained new artistic and crafts activities, reading habits and thus a love of books. -- For a long time most of the elements of book culture remained conservatively medieval (though of course with exceptions) and thanks to the surviving national genes were geared more to the Reformation than to the Renaissance. Hence even at the beginning of the 16th century the entire book culture reflected the intellectual closedness of Jagellon Bohemia and the innermost religious world of the Utraquists and Brethren. The worldly emphasis did not start to override the everyday discussions on the Eucharist until the 1530s and 1540s, i.e. at a time that was stirred both by the culture‑creating plans of Ferdinand I and by the anti‑Habsburg opposition within Estates society. It turns out that passive acceptance of 19th century art studies categories is no longer suitable for book culture, the solid backbone of which is formed by the literary scene. Future discussions ought to show the extent to which it is more appropriate to take on dynastic periodization, the internal cut‑off times of which (1520, 1547) apply to a nowhere dense set of Renaissance and humanist book culture phenomena without problems

Neslavné začátky slavného tiskaře Jiřího Melantricha [The Miserable Beginnings of the Famous Printer Jiří Melantrich]

Based on an analysis of the typographic material of Rhegius’ Catechism (Prague, after 6 June 1547), this paper breaks the earlier myth of the beginnings of the Czech printer Jiří Melantrich. The key findings are: a) In Melantrich’s youth (until 1547), it is impossible to prove his work in any printing workshop abroad (Basel, Nuremberg), from which he would have certainly brought to his first Prague workshop at least a few pieces of initials or book décor. Neither does Melantrich mention his stay in a famous metropolis or activity in a renowned printing workshop in any dedication or preface; b) Neither is it possible to prove Melantrich’s supposed stay in Prostějov with Jan Günther, whose typographic material is entirely different from the means used in Rhegius’ Catechism; c) On the other hand, an analysis of the printed letters and the title border leads to the conclusion that Melantrich cooperated with the Catholic printer Bartoloměj Netolický – not after Ferdinand’s ban on printing press (in the autumn of 1547), but already in the summer before the publication of Rhegius’ Catechism. This is clearly proved by an analysis of the typographic means of the Catechism, which belonged to Netolický, to whom they later returned; d) The facts discovered cannot but lead to scepticism about Melantrich’s engagement as a printer in the production of the Bible of 1549, whose only author was Netolický, whereas Melantrich demonstrably appears to be only a co-publisher and a possible co-worker in the role of a hired journeyman. -- Translated by Kateřina Millerová. -- ISBN 978-80-86675-27-5

Nový pohled na dějiny renesančního knihtisku v Čechách a na Moravě

A new perspective of the history of Renaissance typography in Bohemia and Moravia. -- Present Czech researchers have either not explored the beginnings of Renaissance printed books at all, or they have tried to colour a quite idyllic image of the period before the White Mountain Battle as a whole. Despite these apparent apologies, the Czech typography of the Jagello-period was of an irregular character. The main reasons for this we can attribute back to a weak potential of the craft as well as of the writer and translator communities. There had been no specialized publishing region and the editions were influenced by imports. The influence of Nuremberg during this period is especially noteworthy. The period when the domestic post-incunabula lost late Gothic outlines was longer than in other great typographic powers such as Germany, France or Italy. Most Bohemian typographers and cutters revived the older illuminative repertoire ad hoc during the entire first decade of the 16th century. Mikuláš Konáč (1514) and Pavel Olivetský (1520) were the first who broke free of that late Gothic style. The next generation could already be called the early Renaissance, even though the intensity of their affection was influenced by the economical aspects of particular crafts. We see less consideration in the work of the poorer Mikuláš Klaudyán (from 1518) and Oldřich Velenský (1519) while more precision can be seen through the reach of Pavel Severin (from 1520) and Jiří Štyrsa (1521). The period of early Renaissance typography lasted in Bohemia two decades longer than in Germany, Austria or Poland. The end of this period could be seen in the 40’s when Bartloměj Netolický in Prague and Jan Günther in Prostějov accepted, for the first time, the German blackletter and when the Prague typographer Jan Had started to use an antiqua of Venetian type instead of Schwabacher for a typography of a whole-Latin text. It meant the end of the third phase of typographic transformation, when Bohemian typographies were finally equipped with typeface comparable to other countries. At the same time (1541) we can trace the first proof of cooperation of an artist with a typographer, in such a way as we know it, from the Nuremberg collaboration of Wolgemut – Koberger. This occurred in the cutter’s studio of Severin’s typography in Prague. Despite its late beginning, this studio is very important as it is no longer under the influence of German typography and book preparation wasn’t done accidentally as was the habit up to that time, but according to Renaissance typography – a conjunction of typeface, decoration and illumination. Translated by Markéta Tomanová

Toward Functional Synthetic Cells: In-Depth Study of Nanoparticle and Enzyme Diffusion through a Cross-Linked Polymersome Membrane

Understanding the diffusion of nanoparticles through permeable membranes in cell mimics paves the way for the construction of more sophisticated synthetic protocells with control over the exchange of nanoparticles or biomacromolecules between different compartments. Nanoparticles postloading by swollen pH switchable polymersomes is investigated and nanoparticles locations at or within polymersome membrane and polymersome lumen are precisely determined. Validation of transmembrane diffusion properties is performed based on nanoparticles of different origin—gold, glycopolymer protein mimics, and the enzymes myoglobin and esterase—with dimensions between 5 and 15 nm. This process is compared with the in situ loading of nanoparticles during polymersome formation and analyzed by advanced multiple-detector asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4). These experiments are supported by complementary i) release studies of protein mimics from polymersomes, ii) stability and cyclic pH switches test for in polymersome encapsulated myoglobin, and iii) cryogenic transmission electron microscopy studies on nanoparticles loaded polymersomes. Different locations (e.g., membrane and/or lumen) are identified for the uptake of each protein. The protein locations are extracted from the increasing scaling parameters and the decreasing apparent density of enzyme-containing polymersomes as determined by AF4. Postloading demonstrates to be a valuable tool for the implementation of cell-like functions in polymersomes

ISPD gene mutations are a common cause of congenital and limb-girdle muscular dystrophies

Dystroglycanopathies are a clinically and genetically diverse group of recessively inherited conditions ranging from the most severe of the congenital muscular dystrophies, Walker-Warburg syndrome, to mild forms of adult-onset limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. Their hallmark is a reduction in the functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan, which can be detected in muscle biopsies. An important part of this glycosylation is a unique O-mannosylation, essential for the interaction of α-dystroglycan with extracellular matrix proteins such as laminin-α2. Mutations in eight genes coding for proteins in the glycosylation pathway are responsible for ∼50% of dystroglycanopathy cases. Despite multiple efforts using traditional positional cloning, the causative genes for unsolved dystroglycanopathy cases have escaped discovery for several years. In a recent collaborative study, we discovered that loss-of-function recessive mutations in a novel gene, called isoprenoid synthase domain containing (ISPD), are a relatively common cause of Walker-Warburg syndrome. In this article, we report the involvement of the ISPD gene in milder dystroglycanopathy phenotypes ranging from congenital muscular dystrophy to limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and identified allelic ISPD variants in nine cases belonging to seven families. In two ambulant cases, there was evidence of structural brain involvement, whereas in seven, the clinical manifestation was restricted to a dystrophic skeletal muscle phenotype. Although the function of ISPD in mammals is not yet known, mutations in this gene clearly lead to a reduction in the functional glycosylation of α-dystroglycan, which not only causes the severe Walker-Warburg syndrome but is also a common cause of the milder forms of dystroglycanopathy

Reformation als Kommunikationsprozess

Beim Hussitismus bzw. Utraquismus in Böhmen und der reformatorische Bewegung ab 1517 in Sachsen handelt es sich um zwei unterschiedliche Reformationen, jedoch mit einer Fülle von sachlichen und personalen Verbindungslinien. Diese rücken im vorliegenden Band erstmalig in einen gemeinsamen Fokus.»Wir sind alle Hussiten«, bekannte Martin Luther 1520 nach der Lektüre von Schriften des tschechischen Reformators Jan Hus, der gut einhundert Jahre zuvor als Ketzer verbrannt worden war. Die beiden Reformatoren verbinden, ebenso wie die von ihnen ausgehenden Erweckungs- und Erneuerungsbewegungen, viele Ähnlichkeiten, Übereinstimmungen und parallele Entwicklungsverläufe. Dennoch werden sie meist getrennt betrachtet. Der Sammelband analysiert Aspekte der Reformation in Böhmen und Sachsen und rückt so die beiden religiösen Brennpunkte in einen gemeinsamen Fokus. Methodisch wählen die Beiträgerinnen und Beiträger dabei einen kommunikationsgeschichtlichen Zugang

Ornamentation of Prague Hebrew Books during the first Half of the 16th Century as a Part of Bohemian Book Design

The original study employs the unique collection of decorative material assembled during the research to show the high level of collaboration of Prague Jewish printers of the first half of the 16th century with their Christian counterparts. Czech historians have tended to overlook domestic non-Czech book printing during the Jagiellonian era, considering it representative of a foreign enclave among the era’s Utraquist, Catholic and Brethren print shops focused on the production of texts in the Czech language. But foreign researchers had noticed that the visual side of Jewish and Christian book production showed certain interrelationships. This observation was based on the identification of woodblocks by Prague printer Pavel Severin of Kapí Hora in several Hebrew publications. The occasional borrowing of printing material was not a fundamental feature of domestic book culture. A more important factor to pay attention to is Prague’s role as a multicultural center that after the mid-1510’s provided the printing trade with more opportunities than before. The shopkeeper Severin’s workshop, which he had previously rented out exclusively to the Utraquist Printer of The Prague Bible, apparently began to have alternating tenants. During the interval that the Printer of the Prague Bible was not working, other publishers could ply their trade: Jewish publishers after 1512, Jan Moravus in 1513 and later (1517 – 1519) the Belarusian doctor, translator and publisher Francysk Heorhij Skoryna. A more important phenomenon than the journey of three of four woodblocks would appear to be the fact that the unprecedented increase in and coexistence of several printing shops resulted in a natural demand for woodcutting workshops. The demand was further increased because publishers no longer ordered only illustration cycles for their publications, but in line with ongoing changes in artistic style began to apply book ornament as well (ornamental band, frame, border). The previous practice adopted by the Printer of the Prague Bible – which from 1488 to 1505 relied on cooperation with Augsburg, Nuremberg and Strasbourg – was no longer possible. We thus observe the development of a previously unknown feature of the era’s book art industry: the distribution of all artists’ work into multi-year stages and among several printing houses simultaneously. Like book illuminators during the Hussite and post-Hussite eras, book artists of the early 16th century worked on commissions regardless of the denominational or ethnic background of their employers. After 1507 seven artists worked in Prague. The typographically conservative printer Mikuláš Konáč instigated the late-Gothic book art of the Master of Burleigh’s Border (1507) and the Master of the Brick Background (1510). The first works by the Master of Skoryna’s Ornament (1514), Master IP (1514), and the Master of Broad Hatching (1525) appear in Jewish commissions. The Master of Fine Hatching was discovered by Francysk Heorhij Skoryna (1517), and the Master of Kohen’s Haggadah was encouraged to work in publishing by Pavel Severin (1525). Master IP and the Master of Fine Hatching worked for Utraquist and Jewish printers and Skoryna. The Master of Fine Hatching and the universal Master of Skoryna’s Ornament even associated themselves with Brethren printers in Litomyšl (Pavel Olivetský) and Mladá Boleslav (Jiřík Štyrsa). The Master of Burleigh’s Border, the Master of Kohen’s Haggadah, and the Master of Broad Hatching worked for Konáč, Severin, and Hebrew printers. The Master of the Brick Background worked with Konáč and Jewish printers as well. The need to work with several book artists at once is documented not only by Skoryna’s Biblia ruska, but also by the Haggadah of 1526, whose publishers hired the Master of Kohen’s Haggadah, the Master of Skoryna’s Ornament, as well as the Master of Burleigh’s Border. The year 1527, when Pavel Severin founded the country’s first artistic workshop dedicated entirely to meeting the needs of his printing house, marks a certain turning point in the history of book design. ISBN 978-80-200-2197-7 (Academia). 978-80-87366-15-8 (Jewish Museum in Prague)