From Fair Flyers to Agriculture Manuals

The first printing press of Moson county was founded by Sándor Czéh the elder in 1836. Under his management, the press functioned until 1880, when his son Lajos Czéh took over the business and continued it until 1909. Finally the press was sold and merged into the Moson County Press. The present study leads the reader through the story of the family business along the following line: Sándor Czéh the elder starts with printing fair flyers, prayer booklets and official county documents, then continues with fairy tales, poems and moralities that can be sold on the marketplace. Calendars bring him the first financial success. In 1848, he nearly loses all his money with the publication of Der Emanzipierte Satanas, then the economic boom of the 1860 benefits his press, and the “peaceful times” of the fin de siecle help him further grow.

In the second half of the 19^th century, marketplace booklets started to fade away from the palette of the Czéh printing presses, giving way to manuals of agriculture, regional papers, and works written by the county intelligentsia. Thus the firm adapted itself to the demands of the region, but was still able to excel from the limited world of countryside book printing, due partly to the owners’ cultural ambition, partly to the creative power of the professors at the high grade agricultural school in Magyaróvár.

The present work is a remarkable contribution to the cultural history, press history and book culture of Moson county. It not only presents the detailed history of the Czéh Printing Presses, but also displays their 1218 item bibliography from 1836 to 1909.