Jan Otto (8 November 1841, Přibyslav – 29 May 1916,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

publisher and bookseller. He is best known for ''

Otto's encyclopedia ''Otto's encyclopedia'' ( cs, Ottova encyklopedie or ), published at the turn of the 20th century, is the largest encyclopedia written in Czech. For its scope and the quality of the writing, it is comparable to the greatest world encyclopedias of i ...

'', the largest encyclopedia published in

Life and work

He was the son of a country doctor. In 1862 he began working as a printer. In 1871, he took over the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

from his father-in-law Jaroslav Pospíšil. In 1874 he opened a bookstore on Wenceslaus Square in

, but after 1910, he concentrated on publishing. After his death his son and son-in-law took over the company but after lasting troubles, went bankrupt in 1934. In the 1880s he started to work on publishing a complete encyclopedia in

. Despite many difficulties, he began publication 1888. It was an immediate commercial success, and publishing continued twenty years. In addition to the encyclopedia, he published other successful volumes. ''Ottova světová knihovna'' (''Otto's world library'') and ''Světová četba'' (''World's reading''), containing some 2,000 passages translated into Czech. ''Laciná knihovna národní'' was a series of affordable but quality books from Czech authors. He also published collections of several authors, Brehm's '' Life of Animals'', and literary newspapers such as ''

Lumír ''Lumír'' is a weekly literary magazine that was established in 1851 by Ferdinand Břetislav Mikovec. It was the focal point of the neo-romantic nationalist poet Jaroslav Vrchlický and his Ossianic followers.Arne Novák & William Edward Harki ...

'', ''

Zlatá Praha ''Zlatá Praha'' (''Golden Prague'') was a Czech illustrated literary magazine. Founded by poet Vítězslav Hálek, it was published separately from 1864 to 1865 before it was restarted again in 1884 by publisher Jan Otto, with Ferdinand Schulz, p ...

'' and ''

Světozor __NOTOC__ ''Světozor'' ("Seeing the World") was a Czech-language illustrated magazine published in 19th and 20th century. History and profile ''Světozor'' was created by Pavel Josef Šafařík in 1834. Šafařík was inspired by the British p ...

''. He was active in social and political life of

society. In 1912, he was appointed a member of the Austrian

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

Sources

Short biography (in Czech)

History of Otto's encyclopedia (in Czech)
(PDF)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Otto, Jan 1841 births 1916 deaths People from Přibyslav People from the Kingdom of Bohemia 19th-century Czech businesspeople 19th-century publishers (people) Czech publishers (people) Burials at Vyšehrad Cemetery