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Hans P. Kraus

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Hans Peter Kraus (October 12, 1907 – November 1, 1988), also known as H. P. Kraus or HPK , was an Austrian -born American book dealer described as "without doubt the most successful and dominant rare book dealer in the world in the second half of the 20th century" and in a league with other rare book dealers such as Bernard Quaritch , Guillaume de Bure and A.S.W. Rosenbach . Kraus specialized in medieval illuminated manuscripts , incunables (books printed before 1501), and rare books of the 16th and 17th centuries, but would purchase and sell almost any book that came his way that was rare, valuable and important. He prided himself in being "the only bookseller in history...to have owned a Gutenberg Bible and the Psalters of 1457 and 1459 simultaneously," stressing that "'own' here is the correct word, as they were bought not for a client's account but for stock."

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87-793: Kraus was born on October 12, 1907, in Vienna , Austria . After working for R. Lechner in Vienna and Ernst Wasmuth in Berlin , he started his own rare book business in 1932, which prospered despite the Depression . In 1938, after the German annexation of Austria , Kraus was arrested for being Jewish and sent to the Dachau concentration camp . After several months, he was transferred to Buchenwald . After eight months in Buchenwald, he

174-458: A humid subtropical ( Köppen : Cfa ) classification. The city has warm, showery summers, with average high temperatures ranging between 25 to 27 °C (77 to 81 °F) and a record maximum exceeding 38 °C (100 °F). Winters are relatively dry and cold with average temperatures at about freezing point. Spring is variable and autumn cool, with a chance of snow in November. Precipitation

261-505: A collection that he later donated to the Library of Congress. Kraus also put together a collection of important manuscripts concerning colonial Spanish America , particularly Mexico, including a letter from Amerigo Vespucci . Kraus donated that collection to the Library of Congress in 1969. In 1978 Kraus published his autobiography A Rare Book Saga . Over the years, Kraus purchased large collections of technical and academic journals, which he

348-593: A copy of the Missale Speciale, or the Constance Missal, a rare undated incunable printed from the same type used in the 1457 Psalter printed by Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer , but seemingly in a more primitive and unfinished state. The Morgan Library and many bibliographers believed the Missale Speciale pre-dated the Gutenberg Bible and was the first European book printed using movable type, basing

435-630: A decline in the Viennese population. After World War II, the Soviets used force to repatriate key workers of Czech, Slovak and Hungarian origins to return to their ethnic homelands to further the Soviet bloc economy. The population of Vienna generally stagnated or declined through the remainder of the 20th century, not demonstrating significant growth again until the census of 2000. In 2020, Vienna's population remained significantly below its reported peak in 1916. Under

522-776: A different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene speakers call the city Dunaj , which in other Central European Slavic languages means the river Danube , on which the city stands. Duchy of Austria 1156–1453 [REDACTED] Archduchy of Austria 1453–1485, 1490–1804 [REDACTED]   Principality of Hungary 1485–1490 [REDACTED]   Austrian Empire 1804–1867 [REDACTED]   Austria-Hungary 1867–1918 [REDACTED]   First Austrian Republic 1919–1934 [REDACTED]   Federal State of Austria 1934–1938 [REDACTED]   Nazi Germany 1938–1945 [REDACTED] Allied-occupied Austria 1945–1955 [REDACTED]   Austria 1955–present In

609-524: A draft of his work was published as "The Problem of the Blockbooks", based on an unfinished typescript from 1965–66. By comparing the watermarks in the paper used in block books with watermarks in dated documents, he concluded that the "heyday" of block books was the 1460s, but that at least one dated from about 1451. He also determined that block books were frequently reprinted, and that the different reprints or "impressions" may be distinguished, and dated, by

696-412: A fact that few bibliographers then understood, that handmade paper in earlier periods was ordinarily manufactured using twin moulds, the screens of which bore a near duplicate wire image producing almost identical, but nevertheless distinguishable, watermarks. Two workers would use a pair of frames acting in tandem, one using a frame to dip into the paper slurry while the second (the "coucher") would shake

783-687: A few more days until the Soviet Navy ’s Danube Flotilla naval force arrived with reinforcements. The remaining defending soldiers surrendered that same day. After the war, Vienna was part of Soviet-occupied Eastern Austria until September 1945. That month, Vienna was divided into sectors by the four powers: the US, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union and supervised by an Allied Commission . The four-power occupation of Vienna differed in one key respect from that of Berlin:

870-414: A fifth shorter version. He reported that surviving copies of the book contained several "runs", i.e., a number of consecutive gatherings of paper, with the same three watermarks (including their twins), a cross on mounts and two different bull's heads under a Tau cross. Stevenson identified several states of these watermarks in the book, reflecting the aging of the watermark as stress was repeatedly applied to

957-575: A major book collector, who ultimately donated his collection of early printed books to the Library of Congress . Over the years, Kraus bought and sold major medieval illuminated manuscripts, incunables and assorted rare books and manuscripts. Among his most important sales were the Anhalt Gospels , the finely illuminated Hours of Catherine of Cleves now reunited with its other half at the Morgan Library ,

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1044-630: A major prestige project. Former suburbs were incorporated, and the city of Vienna grew dramatically. In 1918, after World War I , Vienna became capital of the Republic of German-Austria , and then in 1919 of the First Republic of Austria . From the late-19th century to 1938, the city remained a center of high culture and of modernism . A world capital of music, Vienna played host to composers such as Johannes Brahms , Anton Bruckner , Gustav Mahler , and Richard Strauss . The city's cultural contributions in

1131-618: A novel and published it. Occupied Vienna is also depicted in the 1991 Philip Kerr novel, A German Requiem . The four-power control of Vienna lasted until the Austrian State Treaty was signed in May 1955 and came into force on 27 July 1955. By October, all soldiers had left the country. That year, after years of reconstruction and restoration, the State Opera and the Burgtheater , both on

1218-443: A particular lot of paper seems to have been obtained and set out for a particular job." Where there is a run of paper with a specific watermark, as opposed to an isolated sheet or two, that should indicate that the book was printed shortly after the paper was manufactured and purchased. In contrast, the presence of a single or few sheets with a particular watermark (a "remnant") might reflect an older paper used, and not be indicative of

1305-612: A practice of buying up entire libraries or collections at a discounted price and then selling the items individually or in smaller groups, carefully researched and catalogued, for a great profit. He continued that practice after he moved to the United States, for example, buying in 1949 some 20,000 volumes of the Prince Liechtenstein library for a "rock bottom" price, the entire Frederick Adams collection of early communist, radical and anarchistic literature and ephemera, and in 1977

1392-517: A riot broke out in the city. The protestors, enraged by the decision, set the Palace of Justice ablaze. The police attempted to end the revolt with force and killed at least 84 protestors, with 5 policemen also dying. In 1933, right-wing Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss dissolved the parliament , essentially letting him run the country as a dictatorship , banned the Communist Party and severely limited

1479-643: A third of its population. In 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars , Vienna became the capital of the newly formed Austrian Empire . The city continued to play a major role in European and world politics, including hosting the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15. The city also saw major uprisings against Habsburg rule in 1848 , which were suppressed. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , Vienna remained

1566-646: A widespread prehistorical cult of Vindos , a Celtic deity who survives in Irish mythology as the warrior and seer Fionn mac Cumhaill. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech , Slovak , Polish and Ukrainian names of the city ( Vídeň , Viedeň , Wiedeń and Відень respectively) and in that of the city's district Wieden . The name of the city in Hungarian ( Bécs ), Serbo-Croatian ( Beč , Беч ) and Ottoman Turkish ( بچ , Beç ) has

1653-724: Is borrowed from the homonymous Italian name. The German name Wien comes from the name of the river Wien , mentioned ad UUeniam in 881 ( Wenia- in modern writing). The name of the Roman settlement on the same emplacement is of Celtic extraction Vindobona , probably meaning "white village, white settlement" from Celtic roots, vindo- , meaning "white" (Old Irish find "white", Welsh gwyn / gwenn , Old Breton guinn "white, bright" > Breton gwenn "white"), and -bona "foundation, settlement, village", related to Old Irish bun "base, foundation" and Welsh bon , same meaning. The Celtic word vindos may reflect

1740-452: Is completely surrounded by Lower Austria , and lies around 50 km (31 mi) west of Slovakia and its capital Bratislava , 60 km (37 mi) northwest of Hungary , and 60 km (37 mi) south of Moravia ( Czech Republic ). The once Celtic settlement of Vedunia was converted by the Romans into the castrum Vindobona (province of Pannonia ) in the 1st century, and

1827-461: Is generally moderate throughout the year, averaging around 600 mm (23.6 in) annually, with considerable local variations, the Vienna Woods region in the west being the wettest part (700 to 800 mm (28 to 31 in) annually) and the flat plains in the east being the driest part (500 to 550 mm (20 to 22 in) annually). Snow in winter is common, even if not so frequent compared to

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1914-447: Is manufactured using a metal screen held in a wood frame which is dipped into a paper slurry, after which the frame is shaken in a particular manner to set the fibers of the paper and form a sheet, which is then removed to dry. The screen would usually have attached a design made of copper or brass wire which would leave a slight impression or watermark in the sheet of paper. In his 1952 article "Watermarks are Twins" , Stevenson discussed

2001-493: Is perhaps most well known for its Gemeindebauten , public housing buildings. Between 1925 and 1934, over 60,000 new apartments were built in the Gemeindebauten. Apartments were assigned on the basis of a point system favoring families and less affluent citizens. In July 1927 , after three nationalist far-right paramilitary members were acquitted of the killing of two social democratic Republikanischer Schutzbund members,

2088-601: Is plentiful. Remains of the military camp have been found under the city, as well as fragments of the canal system and figurines. Close ties with other Celtic peoples continued through the ages. The Irish monk Saint Colman (or Koloman, Irish Colmán , derived from colm "dove") is buried in Melk Abbey and Saint Fergil (Virgil the Geometer) served as Bishop of Salzburg for forty years. Irish Benedictines founded twelfth-century monastic settlements; evidence of these ties persists in

2175-413: Is the capital, most populous city , and one of nine federal states of Austria . It is Austria's primate city , with just over two million inhabitants. Its larger metropolitan area has a population of nearly 2.9 million, representing nearly one-third of the country's population. Vienna is the cultural , economic , and political center of the country, the fifth-largest city by population in

2262-580: Is the seat of the Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna , in which is also vested the exempt Ordinariate for Byzantine-Rite Catholics in Austria; its Archbishop is Cardinal Christoph Schönborn . Many Catholic Churches in central Vienna feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung to classical music and organ. Some of Vienna's most significant historical buildings are Catholic churches, including

2349-875: The Austrian Armed Forces shelled the Karl-Marx-Hof , a civilian housing estate, and the Schutzbund surrendered. On 15 March 1938, three days after German troops had first entered Austria, Adolf Hitler arrived in Vienna. 200,000 Austrians greeted him at the Heldenplatz , where he held a speech from a balcony in the Neue Burg, in which he announced that Austria would be absorbed into Nazi Germany . The persecution of Jews started almost immediately, Viennese Jews were harassed and hounded, their homes and businesses plundered. Some were forced to scrub pro-independence slogans off

2436-530: The Beinecke Library at Yale University . Kraus also sold the magnificent manuscript Giant Bible of Mainz to Lessing J. Rosenwald who donated it the Library of Congress. Shortly before World War II, Kraus became the leading dealer of books formerly owned by the Romanov family , when he purchased the collections of Russian book dealers Simeon J. Bolan and Israel Perlstein . Early in his career, Kraus initiated

2523-503: The Dead Sea Scrolls , or where he sold a very rare item too cheaply. Kraus acknowledged that his autobiography might leave the reader with "the impression that [he was] interested only in making money." However, he had a deep love of books and was himself a serious collector. One area of particular interest for Kraus was books relating to Sir Francis Drake . He eventually wrote a biography of Drake, based on materials in his collection,

2610-718: The European Union , and the most-populous of the cities on the Danube river . The city lies on the eastern edge of the Vienna Woods ( Wienerwald ), the northeasternmost foothills of the Alps , that separate Vienna from the more western parts of Austria, at the transition to the Pannonian Basin . It sits on the Danube , and is traversed by the highly regulated Wienfluss ( Vienna River ). Vienna

2697-400: The Missale Speciale , Stevenson addressed the relationship between the presence of specific watermarked paper and the date of printing, and developed the principle of "runs and remnants". Many bibliographers had argued that the fact that a watermark in a book whose date is in question also appears in a book with a specific date gives no indication (other than a terminal date) for the printing of

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2784-735: The Ringstraße , reopened to the public. In the Autumn of 1956, Vienna accepted many Hungarian refugees , who had fled Hungary after an attempted revolution . The city experienced another wave of refugees after the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia in 1968, as well as after the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991. In 1972 the construction of the Donauinsel and the excavation of the New Danube began. In

2871-719: The Soviet air force . Only after the Allies had taken Italy did the next raids commence. From 17 March 1944, 51 air raids were carried out in Vienna. Targets of the bombings were primarily the city's oil refineries . However, around a third of the city center was destroyed, and culturally important buildings such as the State Opera and the Burgtheater were burned, and the Albertina was heavily damaged. These air raids lasted until March 1945, just before

2958-557: The St. Stephen's Cathedral ( Stephansdom ), Karlskirche , Peterskirche and the Votivkirche . On the banks of the Danube is a Buddhist Peace Pagoda , built in 1983 by the monks and nuns of Nipponzan Myohoji . Vienna is located in northeastern Austria, at the easternmost extension of the Alps in the Vienna Basin . The earliest settlement, at the location of today's inner city , was south of

3045-510: The Western and Eastern blocs , which deeply distrusted each other. The city experienced an economic upturn due to the Marshall Plan . The atmosphere of four-power Vienna is the background for Graham Greene 's screenplay for the film The Third Man (1949). The film's theme music was composed and performed by Viennese musician Anton Karas using a zither . Later he adapted the screenplay as

3132-481: The "chainlines" formed by the metal screen, its state of freshness or deterioration, and the precise locations where it was tied or retied to the screen, which show up as dots in the watermark. He would later use these basic observations to date the manufacture of paper used in early printed books. In early 1954, the Pierpont Morgan Library (now the Morgan Library & Museum) announced the acquisition of

3219-474: The 1457 and 1459 Psalters, and some scholars believed that it might be the first printed book, pre-dating the Gutenberg Bible. Kraus sold it as a major bibliographical prize to the Morgan Library . Several years later, Allan Stevenson , by a brilliant and painstaking comparison of the different states of wear in the watermarks in the Constance Missal with those in dated books, conclusively established that it

3306-465: The 1470s. In 1960, as Stevenson learned that two German bibliographers were reaching the same conclusion, he announced his discovery. In 1962, he published two articles on the Missale Speciale and in 1966 he published his full length study on it, The Problem of the Missale Speciale . In his Problem of the Missale Speciale , Stevenson analyzed the four then known copies of the missal, along with

3393-557: The 1494 Vérard Columbus letter gaining him his first piece of publicity as a bookdealer in America: a newspaper column on the Columbus letter arriving on Columbus Day. Within two weeks of arrival, he met Hanni Zucker, also from Vienna, whom he subsequently married. Kraus restarted his rare book business in New York, which soon began to prosper. His first important sale was to Lessing J. Rosenwald ,

3480-528: The 16th century of the Habsburg emperors of the Holy Roman Empire with an interruption between at the turn to the 17th century until 1806, becoming an important center in the empire. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Christian forces twice stopped Ottoman armies outside Vienna, in the 1529 siege of Vienna and the 1683 Battle of Vienna . The Great Plague of Vienna ravaged the city in 1679, killing nearly

3567-504: The 1st century, the Romans set up the military camp of Vindobona in Pannonia on the site of today's Vienna city center near the Danube with an adjoining civilian town to secure the borders of the Roman Empire . Construction of the legionary camp began around 97 AD. At its peak, Vindobona had a population of around 15,000 people. It was a part of a trade and communications network across

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3654-590: The 2021 census, 49.0% of Viennese were Christian. Among them, 31.8% were Catholic , 11.2% were Eastern Orthodox , and 3.7% were Protestant , mostly Lutheran , 34.1% had no religious affiliation, 14.8% were Muslim , and 2% were of other religions, including Jewish. One sources estimates that Vienna's Jewish community is of 8,000 members meanwhile another suggest 15,000. Based on information provided to city officials by various religious organizations about their membership, Vienna's Statistical Yearbook 2019 reports in 2018 an estimated 610,269 Roman Catholics, or 32.3% of

3741-600: The Arthur Houghton copy of the Gutenberg Bible for $ 2.5 million, three copies of Caxton 's first edition of the Canterbury Tales, and the original manuscript of the proclamation of the Louisiana Purchase , signed by Thomas Jefferson , He also purchased the enigmatic Voynich manuscript in 1961 for $ 24,500, and after seven years of unsuccessfully attempting to sell it for as much as $ 160,000 ultimately donated it to

3828-601: The Empire. Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius may have died here in 180 AD during a campaign against the Marcomanni . After a Germanic invasion in the second century the city was rebuilt. It served as a seat of the Roman government until the fifth century, when the population fled due to the Huns invasion of Pannonia. The city was abandoned for several centuries. Evidence of the Romans in the city

3915-408: The Gutenberg Bible ( c.  1455 ), and possibly to have been the first printed European book. Stevenson proved that the book in fact had been printed nearly twenty years later, in 1473. Through similar analysis of watermarks, he also established that most block books , small religious books in which the text and images were printed from a single woodcut block and which many believed dated from

4002-619: The Missale Speciale has been called a "bibliographical masterpiece". Stevenson's writing style has been highly praised for its "sheer pleasure and vitality" and he has been called "a lord of language". Stevenson also is known for his sense of humor. In a highly technical study of early printing, for example, he gives the twin bull's head watermarks names like "Wideface" and "Squareface", using " Dick Tracy lingo", and then playfully traces them through various incunables as they deteriorate and "age": Stevenson's working papers and notes are held at Princeton University 's Firestone Library and at

4089-533: The Nazi regime, 65,000 Jews were deported and murdered in concentration camps by Nazi forces; approximately 130,000 fled. By 2001, 16% of people living in Austria had nationalities other than Austrian, nearly half of whom were from former Yugoslavia ; the next most numerous nationalities in Vienna were Turks (39,000; 2.5%), Poles (13,600; 0.9%) and Germans (12,700; 0.8%). As of 2012 , an official report from Statistics Austria showed that more than 660,000 (38.8%) of

4176-787: The Parliament, the French in Hotel Kummer on Mariahilferstraße, the Americans in the National Bank , and the British in Schönnbrunn Palace . The division of the city was not comparable to that of Berlin . Although the borders between the sectors were marked, travel between them was freely possible. During the ten years of the four-power occupation, Vienna was a hotbed for international espionage between

4263-399: The Soviet troops started the Vienna offensive . The Red Army , who had previously marched through Hungary , first entered Vienna on 6 April. They first attacked the eastern and southern suburbs, before moving on to the western suburbs. By the 8th they had the center of the city surrounded. The following day the Soviets started with the infiltration of the city center. Fighting continued for

4350-422: The Viennese population have full or partial migrant background, mostly from Ex-Yugoslavia, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Romania and Hungary. From 2005 to 2015 the city's population grew by 10.1%. According to UN-Habitat , Vienna could be the fastest growing city out of 17 European metropolitan areas until 2025 with an increase of 4.65% of its population, compared to 2010. Religion in Vienna (2021) According to

4437-498: The Western and Southern regions of Austria. Vienna is composed of 23 districts ( Bezirke ). Administrative district offices in Vienna, called Magistratische Bezirksämter, serve functions similar to those in the other Austrian states (called Bezirkshauptmannschaften), the officers being subject to the mayor of Vienna; with the notable exception of the police, which is under federal supervision. Allan Stevenson Allan Henry Stevenson (June 20, 1903 – March 31, 1970)

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4524-466: The actual printing date of a book. Stevenson confirmed this principle by identifying numerous examples of the same watermarks in the Missale Speciale in other dated or datable incunables, the deteriorating states of which fit the chronology of the known dates of the books. Block books are undated short religious books in which both the text and illustrations were printed from a single woodcut block. In part because of their sometimes crude appearance, it

4611-410: The belief on the work of Otto Hupp around 1895. The Morgan had purchased the book from the famous rare book dealer Hans P. Kraus , paying him $ 58,000 in cash and trading four extremely rare books, including two incunables printed by William Caxton . Hearing of the Morgan's acquisition, Stevenson began an analysis of its watermarks, and initial work quickly led him to conclude that the paper dated from

4698-402: The capital of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). In 1910, Vienna had more than two million inhabitants and was the third largest city in Europe after London and Paris. Around the start of the 20th century, Vienna was the city with the second-largest Czech population in the world (after Prague ). After World War I, many Czechs and Hungarians returned to their ancestral countries, resulting in

4785-404: The capital of what became the Austro-Hungarian Empire . The city functioned as a center of classical music, for which the title of the First Viennese School (Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven) is sometimes applied. During the latter half of the 19th century, Vienna developed what had previously been the bastions and glacis into the Ringstraße , a new boulevard surrounding the historical town and

4872-501: The catalogs contained full color illustrations of bindings and illustrations, and a few were issued hardbound. Kraus had "the largest and most complete reference library of books on the subject of bibliography ever put together by a book dealer anywhere." Kraus quite understandably was very proud of his success as a businessman, amassing a fortune from the rare book and manuscript trade. He described his "philosophy of success in business" as: "Push on, hit hard, follow through." Besides being

4959-408: The central area of the city, known as the first district, constituted an international zone in which the four powers alternated control on a monthly basis. The city was policed by the four powers on a day-to-day basis using the "four soldiers in a jeep" method, which had one soldier from each nation sitting together. The four powers all had separate headquarters, the Soviets in Palais Epstein next to

5046-410: The city were arrested. Adolf Eichmann held office in the expropriated Palais Rothschild and organized the expropriation and persecution of the Jews. Of the almost 200,000 Jews in Vienna, around 120,000 were driven to emigrate and around 65,000 were killed. After the end of the war, the Jewish population of Vienna was only about 5,000. In 1942 the city suffered its first air raid , carried out by

5133-420: The different paper used to print them. During his life, Stevenson achieved little formal academic recognition, taking twenty years to get his doctorate and never obtaining tenure as a professor. His teaching career ended in 1952, and he was thereafter "unaffiliated". He is seen, however, as a major figure in the history of bibliography for his groundbreaking work on watermarks and their uses, and his Problem of

5220-518: The early 15th century, had in fact been printed after 1460. Stevenson was born on June 20, 1903, in Merlin, Ontario , Canada. His family moved to Texas where he attended the Rice Institute in Houston , graduating in 1924, and obtaining an M.A. two years later. After teaching at Rice, he moved to the University of Chicago where he ultimately obtained his doctorate degree in 1949. He taught English at both schools. Stevenson married Rachel Waples. He died in Chicago on March 31, 1970. Handmade paper

5307-456: The early part of the 20th century. Vienna was home to the world's first psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud . The historic center of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque palaces and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße , which is lined with grand buildings, monuments, and parks. In 2024, Vienna retained its position as most livable city per the Economist Intelligence Unit , and has spent every year since 2015 in

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5394-411: The first half of the 20th century included, among many, the Vienna Secession movement in art, the Second Viennese School , the architecture of Adolf Loos , the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein , and the Vienna Circle . The city of Vienna became the center of socialist politics from 1919 to 1934, a period referred to as Red Vienna ( Das rote Wien ). After a new breed of socialist politicians won

5481-408: The form of Vienna's great Schottenstift monastery (Scots Abbey), once home to many Irish monks. In 976, Leopold I of Babenberg became count of the Eastern March , a district centered on the Danube on the eastern frontier of Bavaria . This initial district grew into the duchy of Austria . Each succeeding Babenberg ruler expanded the march east along the Danube, eventually encompassing Vienna and

5568-403: The influence of the Social Democratic Party . This led to a civil war between the right-wing government and socialist forces the following year, which started in Linz and quickly spread to Vienna. Socialist members of the Republikanischer Schutzbund barricaded themselves inside the housing estates and exchanged fire with the police and paramilitary groups. The fighting in Vienna ended after

5655-420: The lands immediately east. In 1155, Henry II, Duke of Austria moved the Babenberg family residence with the founding of the Schottenstift from Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria to Vienna. From that time, Vienna remained the center of the Babenberg dynasty. Hungary occupied the city between 1485 and 1490. Vienna became at the turn to the 16th century the seat of the Aulic Council and subsequently later in

5742-410: The largest German-speaking cities in the world, being the largest in the 18th and 19th century, peaking at two million inhabitants before it was overtaken by Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century. Vienna is host to many major international organizations , including the United Nations, OPEC and the OSCE . In 2001, the city center was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . In July 2017, it

5829-422: The local elections they engaged in a brief but ambitious municipal experiment. Social democrats had won an absolute majority in the May 1919 municipal election and commanded the city council with 100 of the 165 seats. Jakob Reumann was appointed by the city council as city mayor. The theoretical foundations of so-called Austromarxism were established by Otto Bauer , Karl Renner , and Max Adler . Red Vienna

5916-412: The meandering Danube while the city now spans both sides of the river. Elevation ranges from 151 to 542 m (495 to 1,778 ft). The city has a total area of 414.65 square kilometers (160.1 sq mi), making it the largest city in Austria by area. Vienna has a borderline oceanic ( Köppen : Cfb ) and humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfb ), with some parts of the urban core being warm enough for

6003-485: The only dealer to own, as inventory, the Gutenberg Bible and the 1457 and 1459 Psalters at the same time, he "owned most of the major incunabula," and "bought and sold more Caxtons than any other living bookseller." His autobiography is full of stories where he bought some rare manuscript or book at a low price and turned around and sold it for a much greater price. He also lamented a number of instances where he narrowly failed to secure some book or collection including some of

6090-551: The other frame to set the fibers and would then remove the paper to dry. He also observed that, as the screens were used repeatedly to make paper, the wire figures would suffer distortion, pieces of them sometimes breaking loose and having to be retied to the screen. A stock of paper manufactured by hand thus would contain two closely similar watermarks which define the stock for bibliographic purposes, or as Stevenson said, "watermarks like wrens go in pairs." A particular watermark could be uniquely identified by its position with respect to

6177-441: The population, and 200,000 (10.4%) Muslims, 70,298 (3.7%) Orthodox, 57,502 (3.0%) other Christians, and 9,504 (0.5%) other religions. A study conducted by the Vienna Institute of Demography estimated the 2018 proportions to be 34% Catholic, 30% unaffiliated, 15% Muslim, 10% Orthodox, 4% Protestant, and 6% other religions. As of the spring of 2014, Muslims made up 30% of the total proportion of schoolchildren in Vienna. Vienna

6264-405: The relationship between a particular state of the watermark with the date of the book, and through that analysis, to identify the date of the watermark on the basis of its condition. Through this information, Stevenson precisely dated the printing of the Missale Speciale to the fall of 1473. Bibliographers now accept this proof that the missal was printed in 1473 as "conclusive". In his works on

6351-488: The remainder of the great manuscript collection of the 19th-century bibliomaniac Sir Thomas Phillipps , which after the better part of a century of auction sales, still consisted of 2,000 manuscript volumes and 130,000 manuscript letters and documents. In 1952, Kraus purchased a copy of an extremely rare incunabulum, the Constance Missal , then known in only two copies. Bearing no date, it was printed with type nearly identical to, but seemingly more primitive than, that used in

6438-566: The same decade, Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky inaugurated the Vienna International Centre , a new area of the city created to host international institutions. Vienna has regained much of its former international stature by hosting international organisations, such as the United Nations. Because of the industrialization and migration from other parts of the Empire, the population of Vienna increased sharply during its time as

6525-404: The screen in making the paper. He identified the same watermarks in other books which included their dates of printing or were otherwise firmly datable. In fact, some of those books contained both the identical cross on mounts and identical bull's head watermarks. Moreover, he traced the deteriorating states of the bull's head watermarks through a number of dated or datable books, thereby determining

6612-768: The streets. This culminated in the Kristallnacht , a nationwide pogrom against the Jews carried out by the Schutzstaffel and the Sturmabteilung , with support of the Hitler Youth and German civilians. All synagogues and prayer houses in the city were destroyed, bar the Stadttempel , due to its proximity to residential buildings. Vienna lost its status as a capital to Berlin , as Austria had ceased to exist. The few resistors in

6699-549: The top 2 places, bar 2021 due to the COVID-19 lockdowns . The place is mentioned as Οϋι[νδ]όβονα (Oui[nd]obona) in the 2nd century AD (Ptolemy, Geography , II, 14, 3); Vindobona in the 3rd century ( Itinerarium Antonini Augusti 233, 8); Vindobona in the 4th century ( Tabula Peutingeriana , V, 1); Vindomana ab. 400 ( Notitia Dignitatum , 145, 16); Vindomina, Vendomina in the 6th century ( Jordanes , De origine actibusque Getarum , 50, 264). The English name Vienna

6786-401: The undated book because the printer of the dated book could have used old paper which he or someone else had held for many years. Stevenson observed that, while an individual might hold on to a supply of writing paper for a number of years, a printer, for whom the cost of paper for books was his largest capital investment, would ordinarily use paper soon after it was purchased. In fact, "As a rule

6873-526: Was able to resell to libraries at great profit. In 1947 he opened a second business in New York, Kraus Periodicals Inc., to specialize in the sale of runs of scholarly journals, and soon made an en bloc purchase of over 300,000 issues. In 1956, after he had received multiple orders for the same journals, Kraus opened a third business, the Kraus Reprint Corporation, that reprinted scientific and scholarly journals and reference books. The latter business

6960-467: Was an American bibliographer specializing in the study of handmade paper and watermarks who "single-handedly created a new field: the bibliographical analysis of paper." Through his pioneering studies of watermarks, Stevenson solved "the most fascinating, and perhaps the most notorious, bibliographical problem of our time," the dating of the Missale Speciale or Constance Missal , an undated incunable (book printed before 1501) believed by many to pre-date

7047-612: Was elevated to a municipium with Roman city rights in 212. This was followed by a time in the sphere of influence of the Lombards and later the Pannonian Avars , when Slavs formed the majority of the region's population. From the 8th century on, the region was settled by the Baiuvarii . In 1155, Vienna became the seat of the Babenbergs , who ruled Austria from 976 to 1246. In 1221, Vienna

7134-596: Was granted city rights. During the 16th century, the Habsburgs , who had succeeded the Babenbergs, established Vienna as the seat of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire , a position it held until the empire's dissolution in 1806, with only a brief interruption. With the formation of the Austrian Empire in 1804, Vienna became the capital of it and all its successor states. Throughout the modern era Vienna has been among

7221-483: Was moved to the list of World Heritage in Danger . Vienna has been called the "City of Music" due to its musical legacy, as many famous classical musicians such as Beethoven , Brahms , Bruckner , Haydn , Mahler , Mozart , Schoenberg , Schubert , Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II lived and worked there. It played a pivotal role as a leading European music center, from the age of Viennese Classicism through

7308-445: Was printed in 1473, nearly 20 years after the Gutenberg Bible. Despite the definitive proof to the contrary, Kraus still professed that, "Speaking for myself, I believe that the Constance Missal is earlier than the Gutenberg Bible." Kraus regularly issued printed catalogs of books for sale, which contained extensive detailed descriptions of the books and manuscripts. Totaling at least 223, they are prized today as reference works. Some of

7395-474: Was released, returned to Vienna and ordered to leave Austria within two months. Kraus abandoned his business and stock of 100,000 books, although he had previously shipped some books and valuables to Switzerland , and traveled to Stockholm , Sweden . He arranged to have his mother join him there; she arrived just two days before World War II began. In September he obtained a visa and sailed for New York City , arriving on October 12, 1939, where he arrived with

7482-568: Was sold to Lord Thomson in 1965. Kraus died on November 1, 1988, in Ridgefield, Connecticut , after which the business was carried on by his widow Hanni and their daughter and son-in-law, Mary Ann and Roland Folter. The business subsequently closed, and its remaining inventory and reference works were sold by Sotheby's . Vienna Vienna ( / v i ˈ ɛ n ə / vee- EN -ə ; German: Wien [viːn] ; Austro-Bavarian : Wean [veɐ̯n] )

7569-552: Was widely believed that block books dated to the first half of the 15th century and were precursors to printing by movable metal type, invented by Gutenberg in the early 1450s. Written notations of purchase and rubrication dates, however, led some scholars to believe that the books had been printed later. In the mid-1960s, Stevenson began an extensive study of block books. Stevenson, however, suffered illness in his later years and never completed that project. In 1967, he published an introduction to his study, and years after his death,

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