Ukrainian Society of Book Lovers in Prague

Historical significance: why this is a genuine Czech–Ukrainian bridge

The Ukrainian Society of Book Lovers (UTPK) is among the most convincing documented examples of professional cooperation between Ukrainians and Czechs in interwar Prague. Its work went beyond an ordinary reading circle: librarians' congresses, bibliographic research, Ukrainian book exhibitions, publishing a professional journal, exchanging publications, international contacts and joint work at the Slavonic Library. This is the story of people who connected Czechoslovak libraries with Ukrainian publishing. [B01; B03; B06]

It is particularly important not to equate the society with the journal Knyholiub. The society operated as an organisation from approximately 1927 to 1942, whereas its periodical had the narrower span of 1927–1932. For the database, R0043 publishes R0089 is the correct relationship, but the two objects' years of existence are not identical. [B01; B02; B03]

Institutional profile

Background: the international congress of 1926

UTPK's origins are linked to the Fourth International Congress of Librarians and Friends of the Book, held in Prague from 28 June to 3 July 1926. Ukrainian delegates sought to present their publishing and bibliographic culture, including Ukrainian publications outside Soviet Ukraine. Displays included books, publishers' marks, bookplates and catalogues. After the conference, representatives of the Ukrainian community agreed to establish their own professional society; the formal founding assembly took place in January of the following year. [B01; B06]

A new scholarly article on the congress analyses participants' correspondence, reports in the newspaper Dilo, exhibition catalogues, minutes and Ivan Kalynovych's archive. It is especially valuable for a future digital exhibition because it allows the event of 1926, private agreements, the assembly of 1927 and state approval of the statutes in 1928 to be distinguished. In the system these are separate Event objects, each with its own source and date. [B06]

Establishment at the Klementinum and governance

According to the Ukrainian Library Encyclopedia, the founding assembly took place at the Klementinum on 5 January 1927, chaired by Dmytro Antonovych. During Siropolko's leadership, the board included Yevhen Vyrovyi (deputy chair) and Yurii Tyshchenko-Siryi (secretary). Approval of the statutes on 28 March 1928 is a legally distinct stage. This must not be compressed into “founded in 1926”, although preparatory activities did take place then. [B01]

The society's members included Ukrainian scholars and book lovers such as Vasyl Bidnov, Lev Bykovskyi, Pavlo Bohatskyi, Ivan Horbachevskyi, Oleksandr Kolessa, Dmytro Chyzhevskyi, Sofiia Rusova and others. An important detail for the website is that Czechs J. Hainy and J. Ryba are named among individual members. The latter also became the responsible editor of Knyholiub in 1930. UTPK maintained collective links with the Slavonic Library and Spolek československých knihovníků a jejich přátel. [B01; B02]

Its working methods were fairly modern: public talks, discussions, a thematic library, professional visits to libraries in Prague and Poděbrady, and exchanges with Ukrainian and Czech colleagues. According to the library encyclopedia, the first five years saw 39 meetings with 67 presentations by 19 authors. These figures need comparison with the society's printed annual reports, rather than arbitrary extrapolation to later years. [B01]

Knyholiub — the society's publishing laboratory

The professional journal Knyholiub appeared in Prague in 1927–1932 and discussed Ukrainian bibliography, printing history, book studies and the book trade. The National Library of the Czech Republic catalogue records shelfmark U 008170 and a list of issues by year. Another source gives a print run of approximately 75–100 copies. The catalogue also states that the Czech J. Ryba worked alongside Ukrainian editors from 1930. This is an important concrete example of professional Ukrainian–Czech cooperation, rather than a declaration of cooperation. [B02; B03]

There is a small numerical discrepancy between sources: the library encyclopedia's journal entry gives 16 issues published in 22 booklets/parts; the article about the society speaks of 17 issues. For the website, it is necessary to check what each author counted as an individual “issue”, “booklet” or double issue. For now, it is safe to report the publication years and refer to the catalogue, while retaining the exact count as CONFLICTING_COUNT. [B01; B02; B03]

The society also organised other publications: the 1927 Biuleten' Ukrains'koho tovarystva prykhyl'nykiv knyhy has a separate Slavonic Library catalogue entry with shelfmark U 8198. It is not the same journal under a different title. Annual reports for 1927–1930 should likewise be catalogued as separate editions / archival items. [B01; B08]

Exhibitions: from books to art

UTPK participated in an exhibition of book studies publications in 1928; approximately a thousand publications were displayed at the Second Ukrainian Scholarly Congress in Prague in 1932; a major exhibition of Ukrainian book graphics took place on 12–26 March 1933, reportedly featuring more than a thousand works by over a hundred artists. According to the bibliographic article, the Czech press rated it highly. A separate digital exhibition requires a poster, catalogue, named list of artists and specific Czech reviews. Without these, the figures must be accompanied by a reference to the secondary source. [B01]

Leadership changed in 1934: Volodymyr Sichynskyi was elected chair after Stepan Siropolko. In the later period, some reporting resumed, informal meetings were held and competitions were organised for the best-produced Ukrainian books. Activity declined after the outbreak of the Second World War; studies date its final cessation to 1942. Do not link the society's administrative end to the last issue of Knyholiub in 1932. [B01; B04]

Places, photographs and digital exhibits

The Klementinum is the confirmed location of the founding assembly in 1927, suitable for a cautious historical marker saying “the assembly took place here”, rather than “this was UTPK's permanent headquarters”. Ukrainian exhibitions in 1932–1933 used different spaces; the specific exhibition address for 1933 needs to be established from posters. The Slavonic Library holds periodicals today, but its present interface and reading room do not demonstrate that historical premises remained unchanged. [B01; B03]

An initial online exhibition can use scanned covers of Knyholiub, the first Biuleten, annual reports and a contemporary photographic essay on the Klementinum. Rights to scans require separate checking even when a document is openly available to read in Kramerius. [B03; B08]