Department of English and American Studies English Language And

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Kristina Alešová Two Cultures? The Interest of the House of Schwarzenberg in the English Literature and Culture Bachelor‟s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. 2013 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author‟s signature I would like to thank professor Franková for her kind guidance, supervision and corrections. I would also like to apologize to Mrs. Mertová and other members of the staff of the Český Krumlov Castle for making them climb hundreds of stairs and carry tons of frozen books there and back again. I would also like to thank my family and friends: Karel Stein for all the chocolate and much more, Ondřej Harnušek, Viktor Dvořák, Lenka Pokorná, Vítězslav Mareš, David Hálek and Markéta Šonková for their help, advice and moral support, and of course, my Mum. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 2. Historical Background.......................................................................................................... 9 2.1. General Overview ...................................................................................................... 9 2.1.1. A Brief History of Český Krumlov Castle ........................................................ 9 2.1.2. History and Development of the Castle Library in Český Krumlov .............. 11 2.1.3. The Development of the English Collection ................................................... 13 2.2. Johann Adolf II of Schwarzenberg and His Travels to England ......................... 17 3. The English Collection Divided by Subject ...................................................................... 23 3.1. Agriculture, Industry and Economy ....................................................................... 24 3.2. Architecture and Design ........................................................................................... 25 3.3. Geography ................................................................................................................. 27 3.4. Language and Language Learning ......................................................................... 29 3.5. History and Theology ............................................................................................... 30 3.6. Literature ................................................................................................................... 32 3.6.1. Children‟s Literature ....................................................................................... 32 3.6.2. Poetry and Drama ........................................................................................... 34 3.6.3. Prose ................................................................................................................ 35 3.7. Periodicals ..................................................................................................................... 37 4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 39 Works cited ............................................................................................................................... 41 4 1. Introduction For most of its history, the interest of the aristocratic families in Bohemia was German-oriented. As a part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire and finally the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Bohemia became home to many former German or Austrian aristocratic families. One such family, the House of Schwarzenberg, came to Bohemia in the 17th century and built up a vast dominion expanding over most of which is the modern region of South Bohemia. The German origin of this family, together with the fact they belonged to a German-speaking monarchy was reflected in the choice of the books for the family library. Amongst the books in German, however, there appear books in other languages as well; including English. The aim of this work is to locate the English books in one of the surviving libraries of the Schwarzenberg family – the castle library in Český Krumlov – first in the library catalogue and then physically; to sort them into categories by their subject, to comment on their origin, owners and special features, if there are any, and to provide a list of the books in English which can serve as a starting point for further research. The focus of this work is very limited, because the library in Český Krumlov is not the only library of the Schwarzenberg family. Given the number of books in the English language present in the library, the interest in the English language and culture emerged in the late 18th century and developed especially during the 19th century, when the castle in Český Krumlov ceased to be the main residence of the Schwarzenberg family. In the new main residence, Hluboká nad Vltavou Castle, another library developed, where there are now approximately 12,000 books („Knihovna”). Adding the books from Hluboká Castle could significantly alter the results of the statistics proposed in this thesis. Another limitation of the thesis lies in studying the books without wider research in archives considering, for example, the precise information on how, where 5 and when these books were obtained; which would often help to clarify, who their original owner was. Studying both the libraries and all the sources available at the same time would, however, go beyond the planned scope of this work. The ownership of the books is, therefore, only an estimation based on the year of publication and various marks in the books such as inscriptions, signatures, ex-libris1, supralibros2, and glosses and notes written by the readers. The thesis itself is divided into two main parts (besides the introduction and the conclusion); the first part provides a historical background which is necessary for the orientation of the rest of the text. The focus is laid on the history of the 19th century, because, as mentioned above, most of the books in the English collection of the castle library in Český Krumlov were printed in that period. Namely, the work is focused on Johann Adolf II of Schwarzenberg (1799-1888), who is known for the complete reconstruction of the Hluboká Castle to its present neo-Gothic form, and for introducing modern technologies to South Bohemia. His travels abroad (including his travels to Britain) inspired him to improve and modernize both agriculture and industry on his estate and were a valuable source of knowledge of forestry, water management, breeding and horticulture. In connection with the reconstruction of Hluboká Castle, the interest of the family in the English architecture increased, which is reflected by the number of architectonic designs now present in the library. The second part of the work discusses the books in the English language present in the library of Český Krumlov Castle. It is divided in six subchapters dealing with the books grouped by the specific subject, and a special subchapter dedicated to the 1 Exlibris is a printed label attached to the inside of the front cover of the book, which bears the coat of arms or the name of its owner (“Bookplates”). 2 Supralibros is an owner‟s mark in a form of the coat of arms or the monogram of the owner of the book, which is embossed (and sometimes gilt) on the cover of the book (“Bookplates”). 6 periodicals. In each of these chapters, the number of books is discussed; together with their owners and condition which can often serve as evidence that the books were or were not read. The books which do not quite fit into any of the categories are classified into the closest one. Even though the emphasis is placed on Great Britain, the books from the United States of America are also included in this work. Their origin, however, will not be given much attention to, for they are not as numerous as the books from Britain. On the other hand, books which were printed in Britain, but were written in other languages than English, the books which were translated from English and books that focus on the English speaking countries (there are several hundred books fitting into these categories) are not included in this work because of its limited scope. The list of books in the English language is provided in form of an appendix in alphabetical order. 7 8 2. Historical Background This chapter is divided into two parts; the first subchapter provides an outline of the history of Český Krumlov Castle and an overview of some of the members of the Schwarzenberg family (chosen with respect to their role in the growth of the English collection or the library in general, or for their connection with English-speaking countries), followed by the history of the library itself, and further focused on the books in the English language. The focus of the second part narrows down to a single generation of the Schwarzenberg family; Johann Adolf II of Schwarzenberg and his wife Eleonore, for they enriched the castle library in Český Krumlov with the largest number of English books and they drew inspiration from Great Britain in many different fields. 2.1. General Overview 2.1.1. A Brief History of Český Krumlov Castle Český Krumlov Castle was founded in the first half of the 13th century by one of the branches of the Witigonen family.3

Load more