Acta Papensia 2003 - A Pápai Református Gyűjtemények Közleményei 3. évfolyam (Pápa, 2003)
3-4. szám - Műhely - Schilde René: Hivatás- és identitástudat a Jancovius-családban: Egy német szakember a magyar könyvkereskedelemben
Műhely SUMMARY RENÉ SCHILDE The Sense of Vocation and Identity within the Jancouius Family A German bookseller in the Hungarian book trade The members of the Jancovius family come from the Germanized Slavic tribe of the Sorbs, who lived in the province of Lausitz in Germany. One of their ancestors, Franz Moritz, had lived in Leipzig and worked for the Brockhaus firm as a master printer. His son, Adalbert Jancovius (1842-1920), the main focus of this study, had studied at Leipzig, and then worked in the Brockhaus bookstore for five years. In 1862, he came to Pest at the invitation of György Kilián, became an assistant of his bookshop and remained in this position for more than fifty years. His duties included the supervision of the firm's commissions abroad. He played an active part in the Hungarian bookshop-assistants' trade union, and was even chairman of the organization for a short time in 1880. The Magyarization campaigns of the end of the century, however, were probably offensive to him, for he soon decided to quit the leadership of the organization. Adalbert's family was at the first stage of linguistic assimilation. His wife, Anna Rekava had Slovak for her mother tongue, but German was the dominant language within the family. Adalbert thought and corresponded in German, with close contacts in his homeland. His sons, on the other hand, had affiliation: they spoke both German and Hungarian, and while the home atmosphere was German, they considered themselves to be Hungarians. Socially speaking they belonged to the petty bourgeois layer of society, but their mentality and the cultural standards elevated them above this level. The family atmosphere was religious, peaceful and calm. The parents married for love and this is truly mirrored in all their correspondence. The education of their children was affectionate, harmonious and demanding, and enjoyed absolute priority in the family budget. Adalbert Jancovius always remained a German bookseller working within the framework of the Hungarian book trade. It was his professional contacts that linked the book trade of Budapest with that of Leipzig. His love of books was a legacy he left to his family; his descendants are antiquarians to this day. This way, we can safely call the Jancoviuses a real bookseller dynasty. Acta Papensia III (2003) 3^1. 215
