The Libraries and Reader's Reception in the Early Humanism Period in Bohemia

The dissertation looks into the book culture, book production and readership in the kingdom of Bohemia in early humanism. It explores the conditions of rise and reception of book printing in the kingdom of Bohemia. The mind-set of the Utraquist society, resistant to the influence from abroad, international isolation of the Utraquist Bohemia and the previous insignificant manuscript production proved to be the factors which failed to encourage the arrival of book printing in the country. The initial advancement of book printing was hesitant and could not to keep up with the more developed trade abroad. The Czech printing production related to the efforts of reformation to further enhance the moral status of the society soon turned to disseminating literature in the vernacular, yet often they were translated literature. The early Czech printed production however was affected by low quality and quantity of prints and was not of the significance declared by the previous generations of researchers. Personalities of the Catholic society were more inclusive about new ideas from abroad. In the contemporary society the Catholics were therefore the first ones to embrace book printing and also they were quicker in reception of humanism. The early humanist literature in Bohemia is related to the personality of..