Libri Prohibiti
Encyclopedia
Libri Prohibiti is a nonprofit, private, independent, archival research library located in Prague
, Czech Republic
that collects samizdat
and exile literature. The organization is maintained and run by Jiří Gruntorád and includes more than 29,200 monographs and periodicals, about 2,900 reference resources, and over 5,000 audiovisual materials.
Hours: Monday - Thursday, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. (except holidays and school vacations)
The Libri Prohibiti is free to all visitors. The library houses a reading room that can accommodate eighteen people and averages approximately ten visitors per day. Reference services are provided in person, via email, and over the telephone. The collections are non-circulating due to the uniqueness and frailty of the items.
The staff consists of the director - Jiří Gruntorád, a part-time Video and Audio Archivist, a part-time Magazine Archivist, and several unpaid volunteers and library and information science
students from the nearby Charles University and the Josef Škvorecký
private college.
As of the 2009 Annual Report, the Libri Prohibiti’s main goals are to “accumulate the most complete and highest quality collection of…materials which were created by the Czech and Slovak exile” and “completely catalog these collections by computer and to make the results accessible for the purpose of further research, both in [its] computer network and in the form of book and periodical publications”.
A majority of the library’s 2009 income is acquired through government grants and individual sponsors. To aid in funding, the Libri Prohibiti constantly seeks grants from the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Since government funding is limited, the library depends on the generosity of individual donors for much of its income.
was under Communist rule in the mid- to late-twentieth century, over 400 writers and journalists were prohibited from publishing and distributing any of their works. Some writers, such as Václav Havel
, were persecuted and sentenced to prison if they did not comply with these regulations. During this time many different types of performers, entertainers, and various other creators were persecuted for and banned from performing or creating their specific art forms. It was almost impossible for these persecuted individuals to find any kind of employment after this.
In defiance of these regulations, some banned authors began writing samizdat
articles and distributing them secretly in Czechoslovakia and abroad. In order to produce multiple copies of their works, they used carbon paper
to produce up to fifteen copies at once. Other methods of copying included cyclostyle
, spirit duplicator
, photocopying, and xerography
. The materials were secretly distributed among dissidents and sometimes smuggled abroad. All of these actions were very dangerous and those caught faced imprisonment or exile. During this time, Jiří Gruntorád, the current caretaker of the Libri Prohibiti, was imprisoned for four years for distributing samizdat literature.
In addition to dissident articles, many popular books were banned and subsequently distributed as samizdats. Some of the most famous works include George Orwell
’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
, both of which are held at the Libri Prohibiti.
and the President of the Czech Republic
. The original location was on Podskalska Street, and later moved to its current location at Senovazne namesti 2. The collection began with around 2,000 monographs and magazines that were acquired by Jiri Gruntorad during the years of “normalization
” in the Czech Republic. Since then, the collection has continued to grow and expand with the help and support of government grants and generous donors.
The Society of Libri Prohibiti was formed on April 24, 1991 to help the library establish itself as a legal entity. The society was officially established after registering with the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. The primary goal of the society is to help the Libri Prohibiti continue operating and acquiring new materials for its collections.
Many of the founding members of this society were significant and established authors, former government and academic leaders and employees, and teachers and other prominent members of the community. Among some of the most prominent founders of the society were Václav Havel
, Ivan Klima
, and Jan Vladislav.
Today there are over 180 members of the Society of Libri Prohibiti. The society invites any interested people to join if they would like to contribute or help the Libri Prohibiti in any way.
literature and includes monographs, periodicals, archival works, reference resources, and audiovisual materials. As of the 2009, the collection comprises over 29,200 library units and over 2,560 periodicals.
The library is divided into eleven categories based on type, origin, and content of the item.
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
that collects samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
and exile literature. The organization is maintained and run by Jiří Gruntorád and includes more than 29,200 monographs and periodicals, about 2,900 reference resources, and over 5,000 audiovisual materials.
Overview
Location: Libri Prohibiti is located on the third floor or Senovazne namesti 2, Prague 1, Czech RepublicHours: Monday - Thursday, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. (except holidays and school vacations)
The Libri Prohibiti is free to all visitors. The library houses a reading room that can accommodate eighteen people and averages approximately ten visitors per day. Reference services are provided in person, via email, and over the telephone. The collections are non-circulating due to the uniqueness and frailty of the items.
The staff consists of the director - Jiří Gruntorád, a part-time Video and Audio Archivist, a part-time Magazine Archivist, and several unpaid volunteers and library and information science
Library and information science
Library and information science is a merging of the two fields library science and information science...
students from the nearby Charles University and the Josef Škvorecký
Josef Škvorecký
Josef Škvorecký, CM is a leading contemporary Czech writer and publisher who has spent much of his life in Canada. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country...
private college.
As of the 2009 Annual Report, the Libri Prohibiti’s main goals are to “accumulate the most complete and highest quality collection of…materials which were created by the Czech and Slovak exile” and “completely catalog these collections by computer and to make the results accessible for the purpose of further research, both in [its] computer network and in the form of book and periodical publications”.
A majority of the library’s 2009 income is acquired through government grants and individual sponsors. To aid in funding, the Libri Prohibiti constantly seeks grants from the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Since government funding is limited, the library depends on the generosity of individual donors for much of its income.
History of Samizdat in Czechoslovakia
When CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
was under Communist rule in the mid- to late-twentieth century, over 400 writers and journalists were prohibited from publishing and distributing any of their works. Some writers, such as Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, were persecuted and sentenced to prison if they did not comply with these regulations. During this time many different types of performers, entertainers, and various other creators were persecuted for and banned from performing or creating their specific art forms. It was almost impossible for these persecuted individuals to find any kind of employment after this.
In defiance of these regulations, some banned authors began writing samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
articles and distributing them secretly in Czechoslovakia and abroad. In order to produce multiple copies of their works, they used carbon paper
Carbon paper
Carbon paper is paper coated on one side with a layer of a loosely bound dry ink or pigmented coating, usually bound with wax. It is used for making one or more copies simultaneous with the creation of an original document...
to produce up to fifteen copies at once. Other methods of copying included cyclostyle
Cyclostyle
A cyclostyle is a term used in architecture. A structure composed of a circular range of columns without a core is cyclostylar; with a core the range would be peristyle. This is the species of edifice called "monopteral" by Vitruvius....
, spirit duplicator
Spirit duplicator
A spirit duplicator was a low-volume printing method used mainly by schools and churches. It was also used by members of science fiction fandom and early comic book fandom to produce fanzines...
, photocopying, and xerography
Xerography
Xerography is a dry photocopying technique invented by Chester Carlson in 1938, for which he was awarded on October 6, 1942. Carlson originally called his invention electrophotography...
. The materials were secretly distributed among dissidents and sometimes smuggled abroad. All of these actions were very dangerous and those caught faced imprisonment or exile. During this time, Jiří Gruntorád, the current caretaker of the Libri Prohibiti, was imprisoned for four years for distributing samizdat literature.
In addition to dissident articles, many popular books were banned and subsequently distributed as samizdats. Some of the most famous works include George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, both of which are held at the Libri Prohibiti.
History of the Libri Prohibiti
On October 22, 1990, the Libri Prohibiti opened with help from different organizations including the Czechoslovak Charter 77Charter 77
Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
and the President of the Czech Republic
President of the Czech Republic
The President of the Czech Republic is the head of state of the Czech Republic. Unlike his counterparts in Austria and Hungary, who are generally considered figureheads, the Czech President has a considerable role in political affairs...
. The original location was on Podskalska Street, and later moved to its current location at Senovazne namesti 2. The collection began with around 2,000 monographs and magazines that were acquired by Jiri Gruntorad during the years of “normalization
Normalization (Czechoslovakia)
In the history of Czechoslovakia, normalization is a name commonly given to the period 1969 to about 1987. It was characterized by initial restoration of the conditions prevailing before the reform period led by Alexander Dubček , first of all, the firm rule of the Communist Party of...
” in the Czech Republic. Since then, the collection has continued to grow and expand with the help and support of government grants and generous donors.
The Society of Libri Prohibiti was formed on April 24, 1991 to help the library establish itself as a legal entity. The society was officially established after registering with the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. The primary goal of the society is to help the Libri Prohibiti continue operating and acquiring new materials for its collections.
Many of the founding members of this society were significant and established authors, former government and academic leaders and employees, and teachers and other prominent members of the community. Among some of the most prominent founders of the society were Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
, Ivan Klima
Ivan Klíma
Ivan Klíma is a Czech novelist and playwright.- Biography :Klíma's early childhood in Prague was happy and uneventful, but this all changed with the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, after the Munich Agreement...
, and Jan Vladislav.
Today there are over 180 members of the Society of Libri Prohibiti. The society invites any interested people to join if they would like to contribute or help the Libri Prohibiti in any way.
Collections
The Libri Prohibiti’s collection contains Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian exile and samizdatSamizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
literature and includes monographs, periodicals, archival works, reference resources, and audiovisual materials. As of the 2009, the collection comprises over 29,200 library units and over 2,560 periodicals.
The library is divided into eleven categories based on type, origin, and content of the item.
- Czech Samizdat Monographs and Periodicals
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- Includes 14,300 units created from the 1950s through the 1980s during the time of Communist rule. Over 390 of these items are periodicals.
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- Some of the titles within this section are:
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- Edice Expedice
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- Petlice
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- Popelnice
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- Information about Charter 77 (periodical)
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- Revolver RevueRevolver RevueRevolver Revue is a Czech magazine, published in Prague, Czech Republic, from 1985 to 1989 as an underground periodical and issued legally after the Velvet Revolution. A complete archive of "Revolver Revue" exists at Libri Prohibiti, a library of prohibited and banned books and samizdat in Prague....
(periodical)
- Revolver Revue
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- Vokno (periodical)
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- Czech Exile Monographs and Periodicals
- Includes 7,400 exiled items representing more than 435 publishers and individuals. The library holds many of the publishers' complete productions or editions.
- Monographs and Periodicals of the First and Second World War Resistances
- From World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, there are a total of 90 items of legionnaire’s literature. From the Czech war exile (1930 to 1945) there is a total of 840 monographs. This collection also includes over 100 different magazines from World War I and World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
- Foreign Samizdat Monographs and Periodicals
- Includes more than 380 samizdats and 43 periodicals from Slovakia and over 1,100 samizdats and 290 periodicals of Poland. Russian samizdat and periodicals are marginally represented.
- Foreign Exile Monographs and Periodicals
- Includes more than 720 Slovak and 420 Russian and Ukrainian exile monogrpahs, as well as 50 Slovak and 30 Russian and Ukrainian periodicals. Polish exile literature is marginally represented.
- Foreign-Language Monographs and Periodicals
- Includes over 2,800 monographs and 480 periodicals related to the former Czechoslovakia.
- Documentation and Archives
- Includes a partially processed collection of 1,500 unpublished manuscripts, flyers, posters, photographs, and newspaper clippings that vary in topic and medium. Most of the collection contains written documents that originated from the activity of different organizations and agencies, such as Charter 77Charter 77Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
, the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS), and the East European Information Agency.
- Reference Library - General Subject and Secondary Literature
- Includes over 2,900 books, magazines, and other writings about samizdat and exile literature.
- Audiovisual Section
- Includes recordings of non-conformist music on 2,530 cassettes, 1,200 CD-ROMs, and 200 gramophone records; 750 audio recordings of underground lectures and seminars; 1,260 video documentaries and films, 670 video cassettes, and 350 DVDs.
Publications
- 1. Exilova periodika: Katalog periodik ceskeho a slovenskeho exilu a krajanských tisku vydavanych po roce 1945 (Exile Periodicals: Catalog of Czech and Slovak Exile Periodicals and Czech Printed Material Issued Abroad after 1945)
- 2. Informace o Charte 77: Clánkova bibliografie 1978-1990 (Information about Charter 77: An Article Bibliography, 1978-1990)
- 3. Katalog knih ceskeho exilu 1948-1994 (Catalog of Books of the Czech Exile, 1948-1994)
- 4. Sdelení Vyboru na obranu nespravedlive stíhanych a Zpravy Vychodoevropske informacni agentury (Communications of the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted and Reports of the East European Information Agency)
Further reading
- Gruntorad, Jiri. “To the question "What have you got in here' I sometimes answer half-jokingly, ‘The memory of the nation.’"
- Huffman, Susan R. Czech Samizdat and the Libri Prohibiti: A Master’s Paper for the M.S. in L.S. degree. December 2000.
- Libri Prohibiti: Library of Samizdat and Exile Literature index
- Libri Prohibiti - Library of Samizdat and Exile Literature - Prague, Czech Republic
- Libri Prohibiti: Zprava za rok 2005/ Annual report 2005. [Prague: Libri Prohibiti], 2005.
- Machovec, Martin. “A Brief Report on Present Knowledge of Czech Samizdat Phenomena, 1984-1989”.
- Pavlik, Devana. “Exile periodicals: a catalog of Czech and Slovak exile and émigré periodicals after 1945.”
- Samizdat Directory
- Stastnova, Kazi. “Libri Prohibiti, Czech samizdat on the shelf”.