Bohemian Watermark Database of the musical sources registered
in Union Music Catalogue of the National Library of the Czech Republic
 
Watermark research of the musical sources registered in the Union Music Catalogue of the National Library of the Czech Republic (NL) was started by the RISM Working Group of the NL Music Department in Prague in 2014. Music documents (mostly the 18th and 19th century manuscripts and prints), newly catalogued or reviewed in the RISM database, are examined in terms of the watermarks as an important indication of the provenance and time determination of musical sources. We can find lots of connections among particular documents in one music collection or among different collections in our country. Further we deal with the copyists and other persons connected with the manuscripts. In case of the printed music fragments, watermark research can provide important information about the editor of the music title. Our long-term goal is to build a collection of Czech watermarks for the purpose of their classification and the identification of paper mills, where they were used. The dated sources enable us to put the watermarks in chronological order. The classification is made concurrently with cataloguing or review of the music collections registered in the Union Music Catalogue for the RISM database.
The watermark database is built by continuous gathering of identified and yet unknown watermarks, which are gradually found in music collections registered in the Union Music Catalogue, especially in the collections kept in the National Library of the CR, in the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music and other collaborating libraries and archives (see Provenances).
Thanks to the works by František Zuman, who dealt with the history of Bohemian papermills very thoroughly (see the Bibliography), we can identify and locate the watermarks in musical sources and create the watermark database. At the same time, we compile the Bohemian Papermakers Dictionary that includes information collected from specialist literature (particularly Zuman’s studies).
The names of the watermarks have been created using the RISM rules and terminology. Multi-element watermarks are described from the left to the right and from the top to the bottom. The symbols are described in square brackets unlike the inscriptions and initials, which are entered without them. Columns are used to designate the position of elements drawn one under the other. The forward slash marks designate the location of the watermarks on the sheet (the left/right half sheet). For a first experience browse in tables or use a list of principal figures included in a database.
The watermark drawing is subject to the rules. Except for the watermark itself, the drawing also contains a chain lines (vertical or horizontal) that are numered, a redrawn measure, and it may contain a preview of marks on the sheet. The drawing shows the maximum of details visible to the human eye, but it is always an individual vision of the author of the drawing. The priority of the first phase of the research is the identification and classification of the watermarks rather than their visualization.
Enter the database