From Leipzig to Hostivař: 123 years of journeying 326 pages

Published on 16 January 2017

The collection in the Reserve Fonds of the National Library of the Czech Republic can be viewed from various perspectives. One of them are the books themselves and the fact that behind every single book, there is a long story. However, it is a rather demanding and time consuming work. Allow us to give a classic story here.

The book Geschichte der Freimaurerei von der Zeit ihres Entstehens bis auf die Gegenwart (History of Freemasonry from its Emergence to the Present) was published in Leipzig in 1893. Its author, Gottfried Joseph Gabriel Findel, was a freemason, a masonic author and a bookstore keeper. He was born in 1828 in Kupferberg into a poor family, and studied at the college in Bamberg. Apparently, he started his studies at the university in Munich with seven guldens in his pocket. In addition to being the author of 254 various large and small works, of which some were translated to nine languages, he stood at the birth of the Society of German Freemasons (Der Verein deutscher Freimaurer) founded in 1861. In 17 years, he became the society’s secretary. He died in 1905 in Leipzig.

This particular book passed through several types of libraries - a private one, an association library, an administrative and a public library. Possibly the first owner of this book was the trader with stationary and haberdashery goods from Wałbrzych in Poland, L. Alde. Some sources suggest that he also published postcards. This is the information revealed by his stamp: L. Alde Papier- und Galanteriewaaren-Handlung WALDENBURG i/Schles. As the next owner of the book was the Freemasonry lodge Glück auf zu Brudertreue, we may assume that L. Alde was its member and donated the book. However, it is also possible that the lodge purchased the book from his library during Alde’s lifetime or even after his death. The identification of the lodge itself is not without difficulties either. The stamps say: Bibliothek der Loge “Gl. z. B.“ Waldenburg i/Schl.., while the third stamp gives us more information: Archiv der. St. Joh. – Loge “Gl. z. Br.“ Waldenburg in Schlesien. This lodge, too, became a victim of the Nazi regime. The library was plundered by SD units, transported to Berlin. After the allied bombing of Berlin, these books were transferred to several places in the Sudetenland and the Polish Silesia. In the first post-war months, the books that came from this lodge were found at the castle in Mimoň, which itself had a turbulent history and nowadays, is no longer found on the town's map.

The books that were the part of property looted by the Nazis were sorted out in the autumn 1945 by the staff of the National and University Library. The National Library of the Czech Republic remains so far their owner. The exact date these books were brought to the Clementinum in Prague is unknown and it is not certain whether the archival materials will ever reveal this information. Likewise, we can only guess, which of the National Library's depositories this book passed through. Historically, besides the Clementinum, these could be the depositories in Houska, Pospoloprty, Neratovice and other places. In addition to this book, there are twenty other books in the Reserve Fonds that come from this particular masonic lodge. It took 123 years since its publishing for this book to be discovered again. Nowadays, it is available for study at the study room in Hostivař.

Although this story is certainly very interesting, it is only one of almost two and half thousand.