[CZECHOSLOVAK PRISONS] Les prisons dans la République de Tchécoslovaque

Le Ministere de la Justice, Imprimerie de l’Etat, Prague, 1930.

Original wrappers. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 16 cm). In French. 84, [1] p., b/w plates. Occasional foxing on margins, a small period label on the spine, and ongoing water stain on the pages. Otherwise, a good copy.

First and only edition of this first publication on Czech prisons, published in the Interwar period by the Ministry of Justice during the presidency of the founding father of the country Masaryk (1850-1937). It documents the history, statistics, inventory, capacity, classification, and architectural features of the prisons in Czechoslovakia.

The new Czechoslovak government reorganized and adapted existing institutions, including prisons inherited from the Austro-Hungarian Empire by the leadership of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of the new government. This illustrated book was published as propaganda for the new prison system in early Czechoslovakia before the German occupation of the country.

The book includes an illustrated introduction and the prisons (Leopoldov, Kartpuzy, Ilava, Mirov, Repy, Mikulov, Institut Komensky of Kosice) with their list of employees in the period, a brief history, first executions, educational activities in them, etc., provincial compulsory labour and correctional establishments, detailed tables of the district and regional court prisons in figures.

As of January 2024, OCLC shows ten copies worldwide, none of which in the US libraries (National Library of the Czech Republic, Radboud University Library, University of Groningen Library, Utrecht University Library, Bibliotheek Universiteit van Amsterdam, Leiden University Libraries, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, UNOG Library, Royal Danish Library, Danish Union Catalogue and Danish National Bibliography).