The Library of the Adalbert Stifter Association

The library of the Adalbert Stifter Society is part of the scientific library in the Sudeten German House and thus part of the largest special collection on the history of the Czech lands, Czechoslovakia as well as the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Germany.

The library of the Adalbert Stifter Society is administered by the Collegium Carolinum and is located in the basement of the Sudeten German House. In addition, more than 6,000 volumes are in the open access collection on the 3rd floor of the house: fiction by German and Czech-speaking authors from the Czech lands, literary research literature, exhibition catalogs, art volumes, and literature on art and cultural history.

Main focus of the collection

The holdings include the major collective works from the 19th century: scientific descriptions of artistic and cultural monuments, arranged by political districts (Czech or German), supplementing the legendary collective work "The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in Words and Pictures", which is also available; the equally lavish volumes "Čechy" with Karel Liebscher's illustrations, arranged by region; the topographical works of Jaroslav Schaller (Bohemia) and Gregor Wolny (Moravia), as well as early descriptions of Prague. The encyclopedic conversation encyclopedia "Ottův slovník naučný" from 1896 with the supplementary volumes since 1930 and the "History of Bohemia" by Franz (František) Palacký in German are also part of the collection.

One focus of the collection is on editions of Adalbert Stifter's works: in addition to the (not yet completed) "Historical-Critical Edition of the Works and Letters", you will also find the Prague-Reichenberg Stifter Edition in reprint as well as research literature on our namesake.

Kateřina Lepič, Free access - no reuse

Inventory history

The basic stock of the library has been compiled since 1947 through the cultural work of the Adalbert Stifter Association and contains, in addition to the works of Adalbert Stifter, primarily art historical works and exhibition catalogs on artists from the Sudeten territories. From the 1980s onwards, the focus of the collection shifted to literature and literary studies and was continuously expanded through donations, the exchange of books and finally through its own acquisitions budget. For a few years now, this has been used primarily to fill gaps in the collection, mainly through the acquisition of editions of works by relevant authors and standard texts for literary studies.

Contained materials

Bibliographic unit

ca. 11.500

The library on the site of the Adalbert Stifter Association The Academic Library at the Sudetendeutsche Haus