The Handwritten Hymn Book As a Particular Hymnographic Medium of the 17th and 18th Centuries : Some Preliminary Remarks
Abstract
From its very beginning, Czech literary history has devoted extensive attention to hymns of the Middle Period, approaching them as a significant part of early modern literature written in Czech. Up until now, however, it has dealt primarily with the hymnography passed along through printed hymn books, or more precisely, it interpreted the history of the production of Czech hymn books of the early modern period as a process of transition from older, the original handwritten form to the printed form.
The preservation of religious songs through handwritten records in the Czech lands, however, endured long after the establishment of book printing in parallel with printed records and in complementarity with them. The article attempts to draw attention to the distinctive meaning of the hymn book manuscripts in the culture of Czech language culture of the 17th and 18thcenturies and to stimulate their systematic study.