Rare Books and Special Collections
NTK’s Rare Books and Special Collections consist mainly of documents that have already been present in the former Library of the Universities of Technology, the forerunner of NTK, published no later than 1920. However, they may be supplemented with younger books in exceptional cases.
The oldest books of our historical collection witnessed the begginings of the polytechnic education in Bohemia in the 18th century and many of them are traceable to individual professors. There is a number of books which were a property of Franz Anton Leonhard Herget (professor of engineering in Prague in 1767–1800) and a smaller number of those that belonged to Johann Ferdinand Schor (professor in 1726–1767) or Christian Josef Willenberg (professor 1717–1726). As well, there are books signed and donated by professors in the 19th century.
The 19th and early 20th century collection is characterized by its wide thematic span reaching form architecture and mechanical engineering to veterinary medicine and travel literature. Long rows of scientific journals and monographs are often interrupted by more popular works, collections of legal norms, textbooks, and logarithm tables. Large maps and plans are also an interesting part of our collection. The majority of the books is in German, the then dominating language in Central Europe, but there are many books in French and English too, a number of publications is in Italian and especially some of the oldest books were written in Latin.
Our oldest book is Albrecht Dürer's Vnderweysung der messung, mit dem zirckel vñ richt scheyt, published in Nürnberg in 1525.
For researchers studying the Rare Books and Special Collections, a special room, the Rare Books & Special Collections Reading Room on the 3rd floor, is reserved. Free access to a large number of digitalized historical documents is provided by the European digital library Manuscriptorium or by NTK's Digital Library. In addition, digital copies of whole books may be ordered via the eBooks On Demand service.
