Chrudimské kramářské tisky s fingovaným impresem

The Chrudim printing house was one of the most important producers of broadside ballad sheets in the 19th century. However, at the time of the printers Josef Jan Košina and his wife Františka, a significant part of the production did not contain information about printing in Chrudim. To hide the origin of broadside ballad sheets, the Chrudim printing house would at times falsify the place of printing. This study elucidates how to identify false imprints of broadside ballad sheets by comparing woodcuts and typographic decoration. Based on the collection of Moravian Library in Brno, the study shows that false imprints of broadside ballad sheets represent almost a third of the printing production in the Chrudim printing house. This finding poses a problem for research into the printing production of broadside ballad sheets in the first half of the 19th century because the use of the false imprints and missing information can greatly distort the extent of the entire production. This study also provides an analysis of the most commonly used false locations as well as the types of broadside ballad sheets produced by the Chrudim printing house. Last but not least, it seeks to outline the main reasons for the use of false imprints of broadside ballad sheets.