In Slovenia, the tradition of bookplates, symbols of ownership that are usually printed and carry the owners name and an artistic motif, is quite old. One of the oldest preserved bookplates on Slovenian ground is a bookplate from 1540 that belonged to a Carniolan noble family Apfaltrern. It is carried by the Seminary Library of Ljubljana. Bookplates were growing ever more popular from the beginning of the 20th century. The most prominent bookplate makers of this era were painters S. Šantel, I. Vavpotič, M. Gaspari, G. Birolla, H. Smrekar, B. Jakac, and M. Maleš. In the following decades, many more Slovenian artists began dealing with this form. Their enthusiasm culminated in the foundation of the Exlibris Sloveniae Society in 1967.

Yet, bookplates were not of interest only to their owners or the artists making them, but also to collectors. Dagmar Nováček, the first and later on the honorary president of the Exlibris Sloveniae Society, and her sister Beti are considered to be the greatest collectors of bookplates in ex-Yugoslavia. In this digital collection we present a part of their collection that was donated to the National and University Library.

In the digital collection before you we present a series of photographs by Fran Krašovec (1892-1969), called The Four Seasons. Krašovec is considered to be one of the most creative Slovenian amateur photographers. He began dealing with photography before World War I. One could say that his work represents a link between photographers of this early period with generations of photographers that came after World War I end even World War II. He was given multiple awards and published his work in newspapers and magazines, such as Mladika, Jutro and Življenje in svet.

The photographs that comprise The Four Seasons were taken after World War II and represent one of the peaks in Krašovec’s career. In his series, divided into four segments of approximately 250 black and white photographs, Krašovec depicted the architectural and urbanistic heritage of the city of Ljubljana, the landscapes of its surrounding areas, and the lives of people living in this and other Slovenian regions. Thus, The Four Seasons series has both artistic and documentary value.

Anton Vilar dedicated himself mostly to portrait photography that included both individual and group portraits. In his work, he liked to use backdrops. As electricity arrived in Logatec as late as the 1920s, many of his photographs were taken in broad daylight that he adjusted with the use of curtains. He was also keen on retouching his photographs. Besides taking portraits, Anton Vilar loved photographing landscapes and documenting cultural events and architectural heritage of Logatec and other places in the Primorska region.\nIn this collection, we present 629 of Vilar’s photographs that are preserved by the National and University Library in Ljubljana.

Peter Naglič (1883-1959) was a successful entrepreneur who kept up many hobbies: he enjoyed mountaineering, was active in local sports and cultural societies, went on pilgrimages, dealt with petrography, and was highly interested in technical novelties. But his greatest passion was photography that took up most of his free time. He began dealing with photography in 1899 and, during his life as an amateur photographer, managed to produce more than 10000 glass and celluloid negatives.

Peter Naglič also kept up a detailed list of his photographs which includes the data on the time and place where they were taken and a short description of what is depicted. His negatives can be divided into groups of portrait, landscape, architectural, and documentary photography. In this collection, we present 428 glass negatives that depict the lives of soldiers and war prisoners during World War I in Vrhnika and at Ljubljana castle, cultural and entrepreneurial events in the Kamnik region, architectural heritage and landscapes of the same region, and the everyday life in villages around the city of Kamnik.

Igor Krivokapič belongs to the middle generation of Slovenian composers. During the last thirty years, he has composed numerous compositions for various musical groups and attracted renowned Slovenian musicians to perform them. His large orchestral ensembles include four symphonies, three concerts, and music for brass orchestra. He pays special attention to the selection and testing of less recognizable and even overlooked musical instruments, thus fulfilling his mission, which is reflected in his many chamber compositions. He revived the helicon trumpet once used by cavalry, and he encouraged the creation of a family of these instruments, which he also successfully teaches as a professor at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana. As a contemporary composer, he believes in the ancient roots of musical language - through generations, on the level of the unconscious, they continue into the future in his work as well. The future is guaranteed due to his careful and responsible attitude towards musical record, and willingness to exhibit his compositions without any restriction.

Tomaž Hren (1560-1630), the Bishop of Ljubljana, was the leading person in Carniola during the Anti Reformation period. His duty was to carry out ecclesiastical reform in the spirit of the Tridentine Council. He ordered the destruction of Protestant books, with the Pope's permission he preserved only the Dalmatin Bible; he was aware of the power of the vernacular language in the strengthening of religion. He worked to set up a printing house in Ljubljana. The texts in the Slovenian language that he approved were solely of a Catholic religious nature, and he edited and reviewed them himself. He financially supported many\nartists, especially musicians dealing with liturgical music. Hren’s choir books represent a selection of a diverse liturgical works that were popular in the Inner Austria - masses, magnifiers, litanies, psalms, hymns, Marian antiphons and short chants. Compositions in the Hren’s choir books were mostly created by Italians from Venice and other northern Italian regions. There are five\ndifferent writings in the books: three intertwine, indicating the existence of a workshop in Graz where the main writer Georg Kuglmann came from, while according the other two scripts it can be assumed that the compendium was not entirely transcribed in one place.

Fran Vesel was a collector of cultural and historical material, and one of the best Slovenian amateur photographers. For many years, he was also a committee member of the National Gallery and was very active in the Ljubljana Probuda art school.

He was renowned for his irresistible passion for collecting: in his house in Ljubljana he had a rich library, many valuable books and first editions of the Slovenian modernist authors as well as numerous reproductions, paintings and sculptures, book drafts and designs, and in particular, originals of the Slovenian artists. He collected biographical material, the material of art exhibitions and art associations, on architecture, monuments, sculptures, manuscripts of the Slovenian writers, and the like. Vesel’s legacy is kept at the National and University Library’s Manuscripts Collection. He personally knew many Slovenian modernists. Vesel took photos of Ivan Cankar several times and his photos are the best taken of the writer. He collected thousands of photographic plates with snapshots of Slovenian important people. His collections were the largest private archive of Slovenian cultural history.

In 2009, the Map and Pictoral Collection at the National and University Library of Slovenia bought 288 portrait photos of the most important Slovenian poets of the 20th century photographed by Marjan Kukec. Photos were taken between 1974 and 1981, when the Slovenska matica published France Pibernik’s books Med tradicijo in modernizmom (Between Tradition and Modernism (1978), and Med modernizmom in avantgardo – pričevanja o sodobni poeziji (Between Modernism and Avantgarde - Testimonies on Contemporary Poetry (1981).

Marjan Kukec (1933-2019) was a painter, graphic artist, art teacher, photographer. He was a student of Evgen Sajovic, Božidar Jakac, and Marij Pregelj. He mastered several art techniques. His works are distinguished by a clear concept and carefully planned interpretation.

In 2008, the Photographic Association of Slovenia awarded Kukec with the Janez Puhar Prize for his life’s work. He is a master of portrait photography. His photos reveal his clear conceptual approach to photography, and the ability to observe in-depth a portrayed person.