BOHEMIAN BEER BUSINESS
[ALMANACK.] ‘CHOTESCHAU, Christian Joachim, von’ [pseud. Johann Franz NOWAK].
Neuer Titular-Calender zu ehren des H. Wenceslai Fürsten / Martyrer / und Patrons des Königreichs Böheimb. Beschrieben durch Christian Joachim von Choteschau / Auff das Jahr 1713. Gemeine Jahr. Mit allergnäd: ihro Kayserl: und Königl: Majest: Privilegio.
Prague, Georg Labaun, [1713].
4to, pp. [2], [54 (with 52 interleaved blanks)], [35], [21]; printed in red and black throughout, title within elaborate woodcut border, typographic frame to each page of calendar, woodcut tailpiece; some marking, light dampstaining to last few leaves, upper outer corner of last four leaves gnawed (touching a single letter on the last leaf), edges frayed and chipped; a good copy nonetheless, bound in contemporary paste-patterned wrappers, date to upper cover in ink; wrappers worn, with chipping and tears to margin, spine mostly perished; contemporary annotations in ink to interleaved blanks.
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Neuer Titular-Calender zu ehren des H. Wenceslai Fürsten / Martyrer / und Patrons des Königreichs Böheimb. Beschrieben durch Christian Joachim von Choteschau / Auff das Jahr 1713. Gemeine Jahr. Mit allergnäd: ihro Kayserl: und Königl: Majest: Privilegio.
An annotated Bohemian almanack for the year 1713, with extensive manuscript notes by a local brewer.
The almanack contains a calendar for the year 1713, with a list of ecclesiastical, legal, and civil institutions and agencies, and a ‘Conjectura astrologia astronomica’. According to the title, the text is by Christian Joachim von Choteschau (Chotěšov), a pseudonym for the Premonstratensian pastor Johann Franz Nowak (1683–1753), who first took over publication of the almanack from Petrus Grünwald – the founder of the series – in 1712 and continued to supervise its publication until his death in 1769 (Biobibliographisches Handbuch der Kalendermacher von 1550 bis 1750).
The present copy features a number of contemporary ink annotations to the interleaved blanks facing the calendar. The owner appears to have been a brewer, or someone heavily involved in the commerce of beer: the majority of his annotations refer to payments made to the ‘Accies-Amt’, the excise office, and the production of both ‘Bitter Bier’ and ‘Weiß Bier’.
