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Journal of the History of Collections 2005 17(1):23-43; doi:10.1093/jhc/fhi001
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Václav Fric (1839–1916) and his influence on collecting natural history

Henri Reiling and Tat'jána Spunarová

Václav Fric of Prague started his natural history business in 1862, greatly influenced by British examples. His and other natural history businesses can be understood as part of the nineteenthcentury museum movement. To advertise his business Fric contributed to exhibitions and published catalogues. He maintained a steady relationship with the National Museum in Prague, where his brother Antonín Fric was a curator. Václav sold marine specimens from the Naples zoological station, and also retailed glass invertebrate models made by the Blaschka family of glassworkers. One of his suppliers was the Czech Enrico Stanko Vráz, who travelled abroad. Fric's merchandise covered the three kingdoms of nature and provided demonstrations of natural diversity by means of representative and coherent selections. His business deserves to be valued as a leading example of its type from the late nineteenth century, alongside natural history museums and teaching collections, since his materials also demonstrated real scientific insights.

Address for Correspondence Drs. Henri Reiling, Wittevrouwensingel 21, 3581 GB Utrecht, The Netherlands
Mgr. Tat'jána Spunarová, Jana Zajíce 2, Praha 7 – Bubenec, 170 00 Czech Republic (correspondence to Drs. Reiling in the first instance, please)


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