Václav Matěj Kramerius

Václav Matěj Kramerius (; also written as Kraméryus; 9 February 1753 – 22 March 1808) was a Czech publisher, journalist and writer. He is considered the founder of modern Czech journalism. He was an early figure of the Czech National Revival.

Biography

Early life, education and journalism Václav Matěj Kramerius was born as Matěj Valentin Kramerius on 9 February 1753 in Klatovy, Bohemia. He later adopted the typically Czech name Václav Matěj as a sign of patriotism. He went to the Jesuit high school in Klatovy and then studied philosophy and law at the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague (1773–1778), where he met Josef Dobrovský. After his studies, he earned money by cataloguing the library of Knight Jan František of Neuberk. Thanks to Dobrovský and Neuberk, he got into the society of Czech patriots and it directed him towards revivalist and educational activities.

From 1786, Kramerius worked as a journalist in the only and oldest Czech language weekly newspaper Pražské poštovské noviny, owned by Knight Jan Ferdinand of Schönfeld, and gained considerable popularity and experience. In 1789, he quarreled with Schönfeld and left the newspaper, and in the same year he began publishing his own newspaper Krameriusovy c. k. Pražské poštovské noviny ("Kramerius' imperial–royal Prague postal newspaper"), renamed Krameriusovy c. k. vlastenecké noviny ("Kramerius' imperial–royal patriotic newspaper") in 1791. He published them regularly until his death. These newspapers became popular among the middle and lower social classes. The development of the business was made possible by the dowry that Kramerius received after his marriage to Jenovéfa Hereciová in 1791. The enterprise combined a publishing house, a bookstore and an antiquarian bookshop. Newspapers, calendars, and fiction and educational books were published here. The publishing house published more than 90 titles, all in Czech language.

Writing work Although Kramerius is known primarily as a journalist and publisher, he worked on book translation and language editing, and was also a writer of books published by his publishing house. His books addressed cultural-political, educational, and patriotic-revivalist issues. He tried to write simply and clearly. His books for youth were the most popular. His works include:

The digital library of the National Library of the Czech Republic (application for making digitised documents accessible) is called Kramerius in honour of Václav Matěj Kramerius.

Several cities and towns in the Czech Republic have a street named after Václav Matěj Kramerius, including Prague (Kunratice), Brno, Ostrava, Liberec, Olomouc and his native town of Klatovy.