The Books of Hanuš Jelínek and Božena Jelínková in the National Museum Library in Prague

Abstract

The article points out the uniqueness of the personal book collection of the Czech poet, translator and theatre critic Hanuš Jelínek, one of the most prominent figures in Czech–French cultural relations. Based on the owner’s last will, it has been deposited in the National Library in Prague since 1951, when the book estate was handed over to the National Museum after the death of his wife, Božena Jelínková-Jirásková, an academic painter, and it also contains books that belonged to her. The book collection, which still awaits further research and is hardly known to the wider professional public, is a very valuable source on the life and work of Mr and Mrs Jelínek as well as an important source of information on the history of Czech-French cultural transfers and the cultural history of Europe in the first half of the 20th century.