VOIT, Petr. The Struggle for Open Space: Blind Stamping on Czech Book Bindings of the 16th Century According to the NUSK Database and the Strahov Library in Prague. First edition. Prague: Royal Canonry of Premonstratensians at Strahov, 2023. 703 pages. Bibliotheca Strahoviensis. Series monographica, XI. ISBN 978-80-88009-31-3.
During the 16th century, both manuscript and printed books, as highly cultural objects, gradually infiltrated a socially diverse environment. Their influence was connected with the metropolis, wealthy cities, small towns, or remote corners of the Czech kingdom, involving lower and higher aristocracy and clergy, as well as townspeople or individuals from the folk layers, though qualified for reading.
Manuscript books had a private nature, whereas printed editions became widely tradable goods. Both forms of text were protected by book bindings, whose exterior could be enhanced by individually conceived blind stamping, or conversely, generalized by mass production.
*The Struggle for Open Space* continuously directs the reader's attention to the societal mentality and personal taste, because blind stamping is not the same as illustrations, which always depended on the text. Blind stamping had the opportunity to reflect the thinking of the end customer, private preference, and mass taste much more noticeably than unified typography.
The publication stands at the intersection of book culture and art history. It explores decorative concepts of blind stamping on book bindings of Czech origin from the 16th century. It reveals that the approach of the bookbinding workshop and the customer's approach to decoration were influenced by the composition of tools (wheels, rollers, plates), mentality, or social, financial, and educational backgrounds. Since the Czech society, predominantly Utraquist, could not long shake off its dependence on the late medieval way of life, the accompanying phenomenon in decorative concepts was the tension between the fear of emptiness and open space. From this new finding, questions arise about the extent to which Czech blind stamping in the 16th century was German-influenced and whether it is appropriate to apply Renaissance criteria universally in its assessment. The publication includes extensive indexes and about 540 color photographs and drawings.
Available in Czech language.
