Weiss – Merhaut – Vo？icki or perspectives of publishing trade in Koprivnica in the first decades of the 20th century

Sa？etak Publishing trade in Koprivnica was marked by the Czech immigrant Vinko Vo？icki, who took over the trade from Jaroslav Merhaut. Although previously published papers state that the two of them came to Koprivnica together, this paper indicates that Merhaut came first, from Bjelovar, and Vo？icki later, from the Czech Republic. The paper deals with the influence and links between Lavoslav Weiss, publisher from Bjelovar, Merhaut and Vo？icki. It displays Merhaut’s activity in Croatia and his arrival to Koprivnica, as well as the cooperation of Pavao Rako？ with the three owners of printing houses mentioned above. The correspondence between Vo？icki and Krle？a has been known for years, as well as the one between Vo？icki and Cesarec, but there was not much of the known documentation which could shed light on Vo？icki’s arrival and activity. This is the reason why the newly found documentation represents the foundation of this paper. It is primarily the correspondence of Weiss and Merhaut with the interpreter and author Rako？, found in the state archives in Osijek, as well as documentation about Merhaut from the Croatian state archives in Zagreb. This provided additional explanation regarding Merhaut’s arrival to Koprivnica, difficulties they encountered during their business activity, such as high prices of paper and frequent lack of it, along with the emergence of a new name that (at least) indirectly affected publishing trade in Koprivnica, the one of Lavoslav Weiss