Abstract
The monograph presents a family business operating in Roztoky near Prague throughout its almost 100 years long history (1854-1952). This largest Austro-Hungarian manufactory in its heyday produced unbeatably best globes in 8 sizes, 10 designs and 17 language versions.
They also printed the first globes in national languages, not only in Czech, but also in Hungarian, Polish, etc. Felkl's son Ferdinand was the holder of two patents for folding globes.
In addition, the factory offered special devices such as teluria, sololunaria, planetaria and armillary spheres. They exported all around Europe and overseas.
Their terrestrial and celestial globes were awarded prizes at numerous international (Paris, Vienna, Plovdiv, Lvov, Melbourne) as well as national (Prague, Teplice) exhibitions. They were awarded status of mandatory teaching aids by the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Instruction.
Apart from the company and family, the book presents the factory and working conditions, the supervisor and workers, domestic and foreign authors and translators of models of the Earth. Thanks to the cooperation with the Central Bohemian Museum in Roztoky near Prague as well as many other national and international institutions, a rich pictorial supplement for the first time ever shows a number of photographs of globes in various language versions, forms, printing plates, original instructional brochures and period advertisements.
The tables comprise overviews of Felkl's globes in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Germany. A complete bibliography about the company and its production is attached.
The Jan Felkl & Son company certainly deserves our attention as their globes are still internationally known and they represent good Czech craftsmanship combined with high professional standard and quality of teaching aids.