Collection of prayer books from the Museum of Slavonia – museology or library origin point

Prayer books as religious literature are defined as collections of prayers for various occasions, and the formal criterion specifically – collection or group of prayer texts, is an important factor in the formation of our Collection. Other content can also be attached to the prayer texts, like songs or breviaries. Their intended use is for private religious needs of individuals or for public religious services of individuals or a group of religious people. According to the volume criterion, we have: Large prayer books (more than 600 pages), medium prayer books (400-500 pages), and small prayer books (less than 200 pages). According to the reader, i.e. the user criterion, we have prayer books written for the people, fraternities, clergy, missions, women, pilgrims, the sick, soldiers. Through the different historical periods we have: Community missals, community breviaries, and community rituals (15th century); prayer books with selected texts for private religious practices (16th century), and diocesan (bishopric) prayer books, as a combination of the two earlier types (18th century). In the existing literature in which prayer books are analysed, they are usually viewed as literary material and the approach to their research is from the literary history and literary aesthetics standpoint. The collected Prayer Book collection of the Museum of Slavonia reveals a possible approach from the standpoint of museology. Considering that is it a collection that has been created over a long period, maybe even since the time the Museum was established, through gifts and purchases in Osijek and Slavonia, we can also look at it as a homeland collection, regarding the owner of the material. That is why entries, dedications, owner’s book labels, and notes are especially important to us. Prayer books have been, like family heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation, often carrying on its pages the history and genealogy of the family. Museological considerations and interpretations are surely also related to the description of specific, exceptionally beautiful, bindings that have been recorded in detail in the note section of the catalogue description. The most numerous copies from the collection have been printed in the 19th century, mostly in Pecs, Budapest, Leipzig, Vienna, and Berlin. The oldest copy is the well known Ritual rimski (Roman Ritual) by Bartol Kašić from 1640, and it is also interesting to mention the numerous editions of Vinac bogoljubnih pisama (Wreath of Godly Songs) by Marijan Jaić. The collection also includes the latest editions of prayer books, as well as the Vojnički molitvenik (Soldier’s Prayer Book) printed during the Homeland War. Considering that the prayer books were used every day, most of the covers and pages of the prayer books are damaged and require restoration and appropriate protection