IN THE SPIRIT OF TRADITION, RELIGION AND MORAL EDUCATION: BOOK PRODUCTION IN DALMATIA OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Medijska pismenost djece osnovnoškolske dobi https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:220751 Čepčar, Antonela Čitateljske navike i interesi postmilenijske generacije https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:977726 Momčilović, Sandra Kultura bestselera u suvremenoj Hrvatskoj https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:047775 Terzić, Kristina Vizualni identitet mrežnih stranica nakladnika: komparativna analiza https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:142:977058 Rostaš, Katharina

The aim of this article is to investigate the character of book production in Dalmatia from 1815 when Dalmatia became an integral part of the Austrian Empire until the middle of the 19 th century, the period dominated by the repressive politics of Chancellor Metternich (1809-1848) and his severe system of censorship. At the time, the publishing business still overlapped with the printing activity and it was limited to only five publishing houses situated in Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik. The article shows the results of the extensive research made according to two criteria: the intensity and (dis)continuity of book production as well as its subject and genre variety and/or uniformity. The analysis is based on a database resulting from archival research as well as from consulting many bibliographical sources and library catalogues. It shows that compared with the Western European countries of the age, whose annual production was expressed in thousands, book publishing in Dalmatia was quite restricted not only in numbers but also in the variety of subjects and genres. Metternich's rigorous censorship, which constrained and regulated not only book production but also the entire system of dissemination and consumption of the printed word, as well as a religious revival that the Catholic Church in Dalmatia experienced at the time, were undoubtedly the most important causes for such a traditional and conservative character. The religious authorities claimed that moral education and spiritual knowledge was still the main purpose assigned to the printed word, considering it to be their sacred duty to safeguard the purity of faith and take care of the moral of their faithful, while the state authorities wished to direct beliefs and attitudes of their citizens, keeping them within an acceptable moral and political framework that led towards loyalty and obedience. KEYWORDS

INTRODUCTION
Book publishing in the Kingdom of Dalmatia, the most southeast ern Austrian crownland, 1 started at the end of the 18 th century when in 1783 the Venetian Carlo Antonio Occhi established the first printing house in Dubrovnik. 2 According to the most common opinion, one of the most important reasons for such late beginning of the printing activity lies in the fact that the Venetians who governed most of Dalmatia until 1797 wished to preserve their monopoly in print ing and publishing business. 3 For that reason, works written by Dalmatian authors were throughout centuries printed and published mostly in Venice, but also in many other European printing and publishing centres (Ancona, Milan, Vienna, Budim, Pest, etc.). 4 It was the practice not abandoned even when the printing and publishing activity started developing in the region in the course of the first half of the 19 th century. At that time book publishing was limited to only five printing and publishing houses situated in Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik, which was a small num ber compared with some European countries of the age. Amsterdam, for instance, could boast 270 printers and booksellers in the last quarter of the 17 th century 1 Dalmatia became an integral part of the Austrian Empire de facto already in 1813/14, and de iure by a decision of the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Today an integral part of the Republic of Croatia, Dalmatia was at the time administratively separated from Croatia and Slavonia. It remained an Austrian crownland until the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918. 2 The first printing houses in the region were established already by the end of the 15 th century. These were the printing house in Kosinj (not all researchers share the same opinion about its existence) and the printing house in Senj, the latter one established in 1494. However, these printing houses were established outside the territory considered the Kingdom of Dalmatia in the first half of the 19 th century. For that reason, in this article, the first printing house in Dalmatia has been considered the one established in 1783 in Dubrovnik. Although at the time of its establishment the city of Dubrovnik was a centre of an independent republic known as the Republic  while in the first half of the 19 th century the number was even greater. 5 Further more, by 1790 St. Petersburg had 30 publishing houses. 6 In addition, more than 1,000 printers and booksellers made a living in France in 1781. 7 The longestrunning operating printing house in the period was the one run by the family Martecchini in Dubrovnik, first by Antonio Martecchini (1802-1835) and then by his son Pietro Francesco Martecchini (1835-1878). 8 The print ing house of the Battara family in Zadar operated for almost an entire century as well, first run by its founder Antonio Luigi Battara (1803-1817), then by his widow Marina Battara (1817-1831), then by their sons Pietro Antonio Battara and Francesco Napoleon Battara (1831-1873) and finally shortly by their inheri tors (1873-1874). In addition, from 1823 there was in Zadar the printing house Demarchi, afterwards DemarchiRougier (1838-1873), whose owner Giovanni De marchi moved from Split where he had first run his business (1812-1823). 9 Beside his printing house, there existed in Split the printing house of the family Pipe rata, first run by Giovanni Antonio Piperata and his son (most likely from 1824 when there was recorded the first printed book until the beginning of the 1840s), then by Bernardo Piperata (1840s-1850), his widow Maria Petrini Piperata and their son (1850-1856), and finally by Andrija Piperata (1850s-1861). In addition, from the beginning of the 1840s there existed in Split the printing house Oliveti, which operated independently until the end of the 1840s. 10 At the beginning of the 1850s, Oliveti started a joint business with Giovannizi. Their joint effort in print ing and publishing continued until the beginning of the 1860s. From that time onwards, Giovannizi printed independently. 11 A short overview of the development of printing activity in Dalmatia of the first half of the 19 th century suggests several important things. First, at the time printing activity and publishing business were still overlapped. Second, as almost the rule, printing and publishing was the family business. Third, all of those en gaged in book production were Italians who, having conducted business on the opposite coast of the Adriatic Sea, decided to venture into business in Dalmatia, too. Obviously, an underdeveloped literary market in Dalmatia offered promising opportunities. Furthermore, some of them, such as the Battara and Rougier fami lies in Zadar, Martecchini in Dubrovnik or Piperata in Split, gained considerable success in bookselling, too, which means that all of them were involved both in the business of production and dissemination of books. Such business, however, had to face the repressive politics of Chancellor Metternich (1809-1848) and his severe system of censorship, which affected, though not always with complete ef fectiveness, 12 the entire system of production, dissemination and consumption of the printed word all over the Austrian Empire, including Dalmatia. 13  The aim of this article is to investigate the character of book production in Dal matia from 1815 when Dalmatia became a part of the Austrian Empire till the middle of the 19 th century (the period dominated by censorship) by examining, analysing statistically and discussing the issues of book production intensity and (dis)continuity as well as its subject and genre variety and/or uniformity. The anal ysis is based on a database resulting from archival research as well as from consult ing many bibliographical sources and library catalogues. 14

BOOK PRODUCTION IN NUMBERS
Compared with some European countries, book publishing in Dalma tia was quite restricted in numbers. It was oscillating ranging from about 10 or even less to around 30 or 35 titles per year, reaching only twice more than 35 titles. The early 1820s witnessed particularly low production. While in 1819, 18 titles were published, in 1820, only 6 titles were recorded, which was most likely a re sult of the censorship imposed by the authorities, frightened by the danger of the revolutionary Carbonari movement 15 on the Apennine peninsula that affected Dalmatia as well. 16 From the middle of the 1820s, book publishing grew signifi cantly witnessing even 36 titles in 1826 and 39 titles in 1838 (Chart 1). However, in comparison with most of the Western European countries of the age, book pro duction in Dalmatia was still quite poor. For instance, towards the end of the 18 th century somewhere between two and five million of books a year were printed in Germany alone. 17 The number of books published each year in England during the period 1800 to 1870 was expressed in thousands and it even reveals an impres sive upward curve to the mid1850s, ranging from around 2,000 titles in 1800 to more than 8,000 titles in the 1850s. 18 France could boast about 900 titles in 1785 while in 1798 the recorded production was as many as 1,500 titles. 19 Dalmatia did not reach that number even throughout the long period of 35 years from 1815 to 1850, producing less than 1,000 titles during the entire period. Therefore, while in most of Western Europe book production began to grow significantly towards the end of the 18 th century, maintaining such tendency in the 19 th century as well, book production in Dalmatia was still quite limited.
Although perhaps culturally most developed, with the literary tradition dated back to the age of the Renaissance, Dubrovnik, with its share of 22 percent (198 titles) in the total book production and on average only 5 to 10 titles produced per year, was not the leading printing and publishing centre. It is even more astonish ing, having in mind that it was here that the first printing house in the region was established. 20 Nonetheless, in spite of the fact that in the course of the 18 th century Dubrovnik began losing the status of the principal literary and cultural centre on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, in the 1820s its cultural importance revived to a certain extent. One sign of this was that its printing house of the fam ily Martecchini, the only printing house in Dubrovnik, started to publish the most valuable works of the 17 th and 18 th centuries Croatian, mainly Dubrovnik, literary heritage, beginning in 1826 with Ivan Gundulić (1589-1638), widely recognized Croatian Baroque poet and dramatist, "whose epic poem Osman <…> first pub lished in 1826 <…> was the outstanding achievement of the Renaissance and Ba roque flowering of art and literature that gave Dubrovnik the name of the "South Slav Athens". 21 Martecchini had been considering the idea of publishing Osman for more than twenty years and then, in 1826, he had finally decided to do so, encour aged also by the trustworthy intellectuals of the age. 22 In addition to Osman, in 1826, 17 titles more were recorded. It was predominantly the panegyric poetry.
In 1828, 12 titles were recorded, and in 1838, 13 titles, which were in addition to 1826 the peak years of book production in Dubrovnik. These were also primar ily the panegyric verses to which we can only add several works by Ivan Gundulić and a few booklets of spiritual provenance. In general, however, except these three years (1826, 1828 and 1838), the publishing output in Dubrovnik was very modest in numbers, witnessing only a few books per year. Therefore, the leading printing and publishing centre was Zadar, the adminis trative and political centre of the region, with its share in the total book production of almost 60 percent (544 titles). From 1823, when Giovanni Demarchi, unsatis fied with his business in Split, moved to Zadar, the two printing houses (Battara and Demarchi) were being competitors fighting for the place on the publishing market. 23 However, in general, book production of the Battara printing house was larger than that one of the Demarchi printing house. During most of the peri od, the production levels in Zadar ranged from about 10 to 20 titles per year. The largest number of titles (26) was published in 1838, as well as in 1839, 1840 and 1846 when the production levels reached 23 titles. These years witnessed that not only panegyric poetry was still popular in publishing, but also dramas intended for performing in the theatre, a few pastoral letters and a few books that glorified national history and culture, the last being slightly increasing in the 1840s. These were the beginnings of the national revival that Dalmatia and the neighbouring Croatia and Slavonia were experiencing at the time. 24 Finally, although Split possessed three printing houses, of which two worked simultaneously (Piperata and Oliveti), its book production was far more limited than that of Zadar or of Dubrovnik, comprising only around 15 percent (137 titles) of the total book production in Dalmatia. Books printed in the printing house of the Piperata family, established in the early 1820s, comprised more than a half of the total book production in Split. The Oliveti printing house's production output was much smaller, which was a result of the fact that it started the business only in the early 1840s, at the end of the period covered by this research. Overall, the annual production level in Split was extremely low, ranging from only 1 to 5 titles per year, reaching only in 1822 10 titles, of which a half of that number was the panegyric poetry. Thus, book production in all three printing and publishing centres was simi larly restricted in numbers oscillating throughout the entire period. However, the publishing output in Zadar, as the administrative and political centre of the region and the centre of the Zadar archbishopric, outnumbered the other two publishing centres (Chart 2).

IN A TRADITIONAL FRAME: BOOK PRODUCTION, SUBJECTS AND GENRES
Book production was, however, restricted not only in numbers but also in the variety of subjects and genres, remaining in a traditional frame. The analysis according to subjects 25 shows that the humanities, comprising literature 23 Having moved from Split in 1823, Giovanni Demarchi was trying to gain from the government the permission to take over the publishing duties given to Antonio Luigi's widow, Marina Battara, convinced that she was not capable of running the printing business as good as his husband. Eventually, he was successful in his continual requests and in 1825 his printing house became "governmental", in spite of Marina Battara's attempts to prolong her contract with the government. That year Giovanni Demarchi ran the business with quite a success. Simultaneously, no single title was published in the Battara printing house. It is possible that the Battara printing house was even closed for a short period of time. It seems, however, that in the early 1830s the Battara printing house began recovering and soon gained its previous status. As Galić claimed, the government was not inclined to monopolization of the printing and publishing business and thus decided to make contracts with both printing houses. GALIĆ 25 For the purpose of analysis books were in the database put in several subject categories, mostly scientific disciplines: natural sciences, medical sciences, technical sciences, biotechnical sciences, social sciences, humanities, society and culture (comprising, for instance, library and reading room rules or confirmation of noble status), military (national guard or police rules and regulations), entertainment (gambling rules and regulations), other (not belonging to any of these categories) and unknown (difficult to identify). Geography, as the discipline which is forming a bridge between the natural and social sciences, was put in the natural sciences. Division used in the database is, of course, rough because sometimes it was difficult to determine in what category we should put some books. For instance, a book La Dalmazia descritta...: con 48 tavole miniate rappresentanti i principali costumi na zionali by Francesco Carrara was put in ethnology (humanities) although it could be put to geography (natural sciences) as well. Therefore, the decision about where to put each such book was determined (490), religion, theology and philosophy (112), history (21), philology and lan guage (15), rhetoric (8) archaeology (5), and ethnology (5), made up more than 70 percent of the overall production, while all other disciplines, appeared in insignifi cant percentages. For instance, technical sciences with only 1 title in architecture made up only 0.1 percent of the total book production, natural sciences, compris ing geography (4), physics (3), biology and botany (2), geology (1), and mathemat ics (1), made up 1.2 percent and biotechnical sciences, comprising agriculture and cattle breeding (14), made up 1.6 percent of the overall production. Only medical sciences, consisting of medicine and health (34) and pharmacy (4), with 4.2 per cent, acquired a more significant place in the book production. These were mostly different medical texts and health advice intended for the large segments of the population, giving them information that might be of use in their everyday life and care for their health. Social sciences, comprising economics (45), education (36), law (27) and politics (7), accounted for 12.7 percent of the total book produc tion, of which education (mainly primers, school textbooks and conduct books) was represented in a significant number. Almost equally represented works deal ing with economic issues were usually taxes and customs inspections, regulations and statues for the savings banks and pawnshops, regulations dealing with the market issues, etc. Only 7 publications belonging to the field of politics testify to the strength of the censorship mechanism, which disabled the free expression of thoughts (Table 1).
More detailed examination of the humanities, however, shows that literature, at almost 55 percent, made up more than a half of the overall book production   (Table 2). It was mostly the poetry (43 percent of the total book production), par ticularly the panegyric poetry and the "court" panegyric poetry celebrating the Austrian Emperor and all other members of the royal family on the occasion of their birthdays or other important family events. Such verses, often without any artistic value and often written at the request of the authorities (thus not nec essarily expressing the authors' personal beliefs and convictions), made up even 38 percent of the total book production. However, the panegyric poetry shows its decline from the middle of the 1840s. 26 Drama, usually intended for performing in the theatre, was represented with around 7 percent, suggesting a vivid theatre life. However, dramas were also often dedicated to the Austrian Emperor. 27 Biographi cal studies, although only at 2 percent of the overall book production, deserve to be mentioned as well. Focusing on the lives of important persons, mostly from Croa tian history and mostly literary men, biographies testify to who at the time was considered important enough by both authors and publishers to deserve published biography. 28 As the novels concern, only two were recorded 29 (Table 3). In addition to literature, only works on religion, theology and philosophy con stituted a significant part (around 12 percent) of the book production (Table 4). These were mostly catechisms and prayer books, as well as religious sermons and pastoral letters whose number even slightly increased in the 1840s. Religious re vival that was in all over Europe of the time at its sunset towards the middle of the 19 th century, 30 among Catholics in Dalmatia continued, 31 primarily manifesting it self in an extensive pastoral activity. 32 However, it also manifested itself in publish ing works of religious and spiritual provenance, which served to revive religious life: prayer books, 33 pastoral letters, 34 and even some biographies. 35 The authorities, both religious and secular, did not miss any possible opportunity to remind the population that the Gospels and other religious and moral works in every possible sense threw shade light on each secular product of man's mind. 36  Finally, except literature (around 55 percent) as well as religion, theology and philosophy (around 12 percent), all other humanistic subjects (history, archaeol ogy, ethnology, philology and language, rhetoric) were represented with less than 5 percent in the overall book production.
Such book production, confined to panegyric poetry, books of religious prov enance, dramas, and some important works of the Croatian literary heritage, was typical for all three publishing centres. A closer look at the book production in Zadar showed that the panegyric poetry, particularly the "court" panegyric poetry, was predominant, making up almost 40 percent of the total production in the city. 37 It was followed by the works of religious and spiritual provenance (mainly pastoral letters, religious sermons, prayer books and catechisms) with around 10 percent, accounting for a half of the total production of religious works in Dalmatia. It is not surprising since from 1828 Zadar became the ecclesiastical centre of the region and was raised to the level of the archbishopric. It certainly induced production of works of spiritual, devotional and religious nature. It was a common practice for archbishops, for instance, to address by published pastoral letters to the faithful on the occasion of their promotion to archbishops or in some other occasions they were considered significant enough to be dealt with, usually for the purpose of keeping and/or reviving the faith of the faithful or for giving them religious and moral instructions. 38 Furthermore, various secular instructions made up around 9 percent, dramas (mostly dedicated to the Austrian Emperor) around 8 percent, 39 and secular works around 6 percent. 40 Secular works, increasing in the 1840s and glorifying national history, language and culture in general, were published in spite of Metternich's censorship because Metternich was neither against the develop ment of Croatian patriotism nor against Croatian literature but he only feared the development of leftist patriotism, being aware that the issue of language and lit erature was closely connected with the liberal ideas of the age, as well as with too close a relationship between Croatian liberals and Italian ones, who were consid ered particularly dangerous. 41 Finally, in general, book production in both printing and publishing houses (Battara and Demarchi) was very similar with only minor differences. These differences, however, without consulting additional sources (for instance, documents on business operations of both printing houses, if exist) and more indepth research cannot be completely explained.
Furthermore, book production in Dubrovnik was quite similar, although pos sessing some peculiar and interesting characteristics. Panegyric poetry with its share of even 54 percent made up the largest portion of the production, too. 42 However, unlike the practice in Zadar, where panegyric poetry was focused on the Emperor and members of the royal family, in Dubrovnik it was dedicated to (1788-1872), one of the most fruitful Croatian Latin authors of the 19 th century, well-known as a translator of Osman by Ivan Gundulić from Croatian into Latin hexameters, and Nikola Jakšić (1762-1841), also known as a translator of Osman from Croatian into Italian. 38  members of the Dubrovnik highest noble social circles on the occasions of their birthdays, marriages, deaths or other important events related to their families. It was most likely a result of the strong memory of its population of the indepen dent Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) which had ceased to exist in the nearest past (1808). Around 15 percent of the total book production in Dubrovnik was based on the works of religious and spiritual provenance, then dramas with around 7 per cent and secular works (mostly linguistic) with around 5 percent. 43 As mentioned above, in 1826 Osman by Ivan Gundulić came to light. Osman was also published in Italian, in 1827 and 1838. Martecchini hoped that the Italian version will be widely accepted by the Italians for the beauty of the language and the content it self. 44 However, the Italian version was probably also read by those Croats who possessed a better command of the Italian language and were not able to read the Croatian original, which was at the time very often the case. In the following years, some other Gundulić's works came to light, all of them in Dubrovnik, and some of them even several times, 45 as well as the works of other equally significant Croatian authors. 46 In spite of that, generally speaking, the publishing output in Dubrovnik was very modest in subjects and genres.
Very similar to the book production in Dubrovnik and Zadar was the book production in Split where the "court" panegyric poetry prevailed as well (around 50 percent). Since the panegyric poetry began its decline in the 1840s, when the Oliveti printing house was established, it was more typical for the Piperata print ing house. Next came the works of religious provenance, at around 17 percent, and secular works at around 9 percent. 47 Although a number of secular works, particularly those that glorified national history and culture, grew towards the middle of the 19 th century in all three printing and publishing centres, their number was still very limited. By contrast, Europe at the time witnessed the growth of secular works and rapid decline of works on theol ogy and religion already from the beginning of the second half of the 18 th century. Simultaneously, the percentage of modern secular subjects such as geography, natu ral history, politics, and above all belles-lettres increased. A similar pattern occurred almost everywhere in Western Europe. The Leipzig book fair catalogue in Germany, for instance, indicates that in 1740, 19 percent of titles were of the religious char acter, in 1770 it was 11 percent, and 6 percent in 1800. On the other hand, in 1740 belles-lettres had constituted only 6 percent of books at the fairs, while in 1770 it increased to 16.5 percent, and by 1800 to 21.45 percent. This increase was most ob vious in the case of the novel, whose market share increased from 2.6 percent of the book supply in 1740 to 11.7 percent in 1800. Novels, dramas and poetry together increased from 6 to 16 percent and then reached 21 percent in 1800. 48 Furthermore, while the books of liturgy and piety and all other similar categories made up a half of the total production of Paris printers at the end of the 17 th century, in the 1780s they comprised only a tenth of the total production. The proportion of law, his tory and belles-lettres remained fairly stable while the share of the arts and sciences doubled between 1720 and 1780. 49 Finally, although the appeal of religious material remained steady between 1746 and 1780, entertaining literature increased in popu larity in England as well. 50 Religious publications were thus seriously outnumbered by other secular topics in most of Western Europe. The trend emerging at the turn of the 18 th century continued in the early years of the 19 th century, too. However, such a trend, with only a few exceptions, bypassed Dalmatia. Its book production remained in a traditional framework. Panegyric poetry in particular, as well as re ligious and moral topics, continued to prevail suggesting that moral education and spiritual knowledge were still the main purposes assigned to books. 51 Such purpose was in particular supported by the ecclesiastics who were traditionally taking care of the moral and faith of their flock and who were thus often expressing their fears that heretical, anticlerical, lascivious (immoral) or merely secular books would lead to a general process of secularisation and deChristianisation of society. 52 The state (secular) authorities were, however, equally concerned about the issue. They believed that the secularisation and the crisis in ethics led the faithful from the de mands of the deeper religious life, teaching them to be disobedient not only to God but also to the secular rulers. 53 45 These were, for instance, a poem Suze sina razmetnoga (1828, 1838)

Instead of conclusion
As seen, book production in Dalmatia in the first half of the 19 th cen tury still remained both in numbers and content behind much of Western Europe. With the predominant panegyric poetry, particularly the "court" panegyric poetry, dedicated to the Emperor and other members of the royal family, and a consider able amount of prayer books and catechisms, pastoral letters and religious ser mons, book production in Dalmatia still remained in a traditional frame. Publish ing the most admirable works of Croatian literary heritage and some historical and linguistic works of national importance, owners of the printing offices and publishing houses, all Italians, undeniably proved that they were adjusting their publishing strategy to a new age of the revived national sentiment beginning in the 1840s. Except that, however, there was no other significant publishing initia tive. Metternich's rigorous censorship which constrained and regulated not only book production but also the entire system of dissemination and consumption of the printed word was undoubtedly one of the most important reasons for such poor publishing output. The other reason was certainly a fact that the religious revival, which was in Europe at its sunset towards the middle of the 19 th century, continued among Catholics in Dalmatia in the course of the 19 th century, primarily manifesting itself not only in vivid pastoral activity but also in publishing the vari ous works of religious and spiritual provenance. As mentioned, the religious au thorities claimed that moral education and spiritual knowledge should be the main purpose assigned to the printed word, considering it to be their sacred duty to safe guard the purity of faith and to take care of the moral of their faithful. The state authorities wished by means of the printed word to direct beliefs and attitudes of their citizens, keeping them within preferred moral and political framework that led towards loyalty and obedience. Finally, although statistical data do allow us to draw some conclusions about the character of book publishing in Dalmatia of the time, consulting some other sources, such as archival documents about the pub lishing business of each printing and publishing house (if exist), would certainly give a more complete account of the 19 th century book production in Dalmatia and reasons that led to such a traditional and conservative character.