Pattern books (or books of patterns (Zeichenbuch/Zeichenbücher)) are the key source of knowledge revealing glassworks’ (firm) production, since they contain patterns for manufacturing particular products. Single drawings of varied assortment marked with number of the product are usually added to the information about the picked decor, order filling, the type of used mould, colouring of molten glass, or more.
The pattern books of a range of glassworks have not been preserved until the day. Many of them have gone up in flames, or been shredded, or just fragments have been conserved. The patterns books of the company J. Schreiber & Neffen (not neglecting the changes in the name the company had undergone over its history, the author preferred the firm J. Schreiber & Neffen to make the text more comprehensible) have escaped such destroying fate, so are preserved, extraordinarily, in fairly huge and overall volume. The unique collection kept in the grounds of the company Rona a.s. in LednickeRovne has been left on the site of the Schreiber’s last works. One question remains unanswered: When and why were the Schreibers’ pattern books concentrated just there? What might have played the role is, for example, the fact that the glassworks in the town of Lednicke Rovne had been the family’s possession for the longest time.
It is one hundred and eight books dating from 1874 to 1945 that was the subject of the study and digitizing. Their dates derive especially from notes on particular sketched designs, morphology or decors on products. The exact date of the pattern books origin appears just in some of them, usually on their endpaper. The pattern books are marked with letters or abbreviations, or possibly with numbers. The oldest preserved pattern book dating from 1869-1878 has no mark, so its origin is unknown. The evidence from the note by the first picture of a lamp chimney (“Muster den ZayUgroz“) shows, among others, links to the glassworks in the town of Uhrovec, Slovakia, which mainly manufactured lamp chimneys and light glass shades at those times.
The period marking suggests dividing into a few groups:
The primary series comprises alphabetically arranged books “A – Z” dating from 1874 – 1907. Schreiber’s first glassworks, the works in Rapotín, had already been in operation for seventeen years before this series of the pattern books was created. A fire that erupted in the glassworks site in 1871 might have also consumed all material documenting the existing production. The coming period, however, would bring manufactory modernization, introduction of Siemens generators, and expansion in manufacture. Both period specification and assortment suggest that the basic group of the pattern books marked “A-Z” corresponds right to this phase of the manufactory development.
The secondary line of the pattern books marked with letters begins with A1 – A5 (1907 – 1911), B1 – B5 (1912 – 1923), C1 – C3 (1923 – 1936), D2 (1916 – 1925) and is continuously followed with H1 (1905, 1926 – 1933), the beginning matches to the second wave of the manufactory reorganization, which began during the 1900s.
Another important group of the pattern books comprises books devoted to the goods for Hungarian, Italian or English markets. Ones marked as BP 1 – BP 5 (BP stands for Budapest) document products coming from 1877 to 1903. One separate pattern book is dedicated to the millennium exhibition held in Budapest, Hungary, in 1896. The drawings are barely legible since catalogue pages put in the book during the 1900s have left their imprints. The books marked as I 1 – I 5 (I stands for Italy), or “England” (1897 – 1898) hold an analogy with the pattern books mentioned above.
The patterns books marked as LR 2 – LR 8 (LR stands for Lednicke Rovne) come from Lednicke Rovne, and represent the production between the years 1897 – 1939. One large collection is represented with the books marked as PH 1 – PH 21 coming from the years 1894 – 1946.
What is also among the preserved books is sample books from Schreiber’s single glassworks, e.g.: “Josef Leo Hütte” (1926) or “Jaronowitz I – II” (1912 – 1922). Tableware or beverage sets are sketched in the books marked as “S A_Serv.” (see the list of the pattern books). Today, some of the pattern books are available without their original marking, therefore just assumed dates appear in the list.
Although the collection of the Schreiber’s pattern books has been preserved until today in relatively large and overall volume, it lacks ones especially from the first decade of the company’s existence, and a few single titles from the mentioned wholes. Whether other pattern books, e.g. from the glassworks in Fürstenberg or Briesen, Prussia, exist comes into the question, since this has not emerged clearly from the research yet.
The list of digitized pattern books:
