The New York Public Library has acquired the 1789 edition of Ewangelia též Episstoli, a Czech Gospel book. The description below was contributed by Hunter Corb of Michael Laird Rare Books, the seller of this unique publication.

Ewangelia též Episstoli na Neděle a Swátky přes celý Rok, gakož y Passyge Pána Krysta, dlé Wypsánj čtyr swatých Ewangelistů, eč. Wsse podlé řjmského Missálu Klimenta 8, a Vrbana 8; gakož y starodáwnjho Obyčege hlawnjho Kostela S. Wjta Muč w Arcybiskupstwj pražském naprawené a wydané.

Litomyšl: Václav Vojtěch Tureček, 1789.

16mo in 8's. 110 x 80 mm. A-Z, Aa-Ff8 (lacking title-page A1, S3-8, Dd-Ff8) = 209 ff. Text in Bohemian / Czech. It contains 65(!) in-text woodcuts measuring an average of approx. 43 x 67 mm. Bound in contemporary Bohemian dark calf. Armorial bookplate of I.G. Schorsch on front pastedown.

A rare Czech liturgical book printed in an obscure Bohemian town. This volume, while worn and partially incomplete, is unsophisticated and offers the firsthand study of provincial Bohemian book arts which remain little known outside the Czech Republic: there are 65 woodcuts herein, none of which are repeated (!); furthermore, the binding structure is completely visible. The woodcuts are unsigned (though the online Encyklopedie knihy suggests that the printer, Vaclav, may have been personally responsible) and certainly warrant further study.

The printer of our text, Václav Vojtěch Tureček (d. 1822), founded an important printing house in the middle of nowhere: Litomyšl, located about 100 miles to the east of Prague. Trained as a printer from 1771–2 in Kutná Hora, Vaclav moved to Litomyšl in 1775 and built his own printing house, which he operated for most of the rest of his life; he was succeeded by his son Jan Josef Tureček (d. 1836) who also produced traditional but still popular prayer books, religious writings, and folk literature.

Early books printed in Litomyšl are almost impossible to obtain on the market, and it's even more rare to find such a book properly described. We have compared our 1789 edition with a much later 1812 digital surrogate at the National Library of Austria: it would appear that the woodcuts were still in use after 23 years (!). Of our edition, the Databáze Národní Knihovny locates just one copy in the Czech Republic, at the National Library (Prague), to which KVK adds no others.

The text itself is a Czech liturgical calendar for personal use, according to the Roman Missals of Pope Clement VIII and Pope Urban VIII, beginning with Advent and including various feast days and other holy days.

Provenance: from the distinguished library of Irvin and Anita Schorsch (most bear the armorial bookplate of the Bibliotheque Schorsch) which was dispersed in 2016. The collectors were both sophisticated and eclectic (their so-called "farmhouse" in Meadowbrook, PA was described as a "mini Winterthur"). Charles Hummel, curator emeritus of the Winterthur, remarked that the Schorsch library contained "the best privately owned collection of emblem books in the United States," of which our teaching collection formed just one part.

Cataloguer's note: in our copy the woodcuts appear on A3a, A4b, A6a, B1a, C1a, C2b, C4a, C5b, C7b, D1b, D3b, D5a, D6b, D8b, E2a, E5b, E8a, F3b, F5a, F7a, G1b, G3b, G5b, H1a, H8b, J8a, L1a, L3a, M1b, M3a, M4b, M7b, N1b, N3a, N5a, N6b, N8a, O4b, O6a, O8a, P2a, P3a, P4b, P6b, P8a, Q1b, Q3a, Q5a, Q6b, Q8b, R2a, R3b, R5a, R7a, R8b, S2a, T1b, T3b, T5a, T6b, T8b, V2a, V4a, V5b, and V7a.