The Work of Johannes Marcus Marci of Cronland in the Book Collection of the First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University
Abstract
This paper provides an overview of findings from recent analyses of a part of the rare book collection possessed by the First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University that encompasses Johannes Marcus Marci of Cronland's work. The collection of Marci's texts as a whole had not been studied thus far.
The rigorous research conducted revealed that ten publications bound in six volumes represent a full cross-section of Marci's work. Moreover, this collection is remarkable because of its exceptional artistic value and fine typography.
Marci's texts were published by prestigious Prague printers - either individual ones or by institutional print shops (the Jesuit print shop or the Archbishop's print shop). These printers were able to meet the need for complicated typesetting and to produce the demanded number of copper engravings to accompany the text with fine illustrations so the result would be worthy of the author's status.
The present study also gives a full bibliographical description of the "sammelband" bound together as a single volume with the other four titles (shelfmark K2508a). This collection of Marci's major works (originally only four) had a fifth added after 1654.
The handwritten notes in the margin showed renewed interest in this scholar that appeared in the Czech lands in the 18th and 19th centuries. The First Medical Faculty's collection of Marci's works is not complete and does not include all his medical treatises, but it does reflect the breadth of his oeuvre.
The provenance research proved that three volumes were part of a carefully curated book collection built up by Friedel Pick, a professor at Charles University. These print artefacts significantly enrich the faculty's collection of early printed books and deserve further inquiry.