n order to understand the idea which brought us to the investment of thousands of hours of work that resulted in a completely unique book with no parallel in Slovakia, first read about this project. about this project.
The book
ODVAHA – Storočný zápas o slobodu
COURAGE – 100 Years of Striving for Freedom
was published in two special editions:
I. DE LUXE EDITION:
- Limited numbered edition, only 100 pcs,
- every book (every copy) is unique, hand- processed,
- the title is embedded in a leather cover,
- the edge of every page is gold-plated,
- flyleaf (the intro pages) is cut by laser,
- this edition is unpurchaseable, i.e. it’s intended only for narrow group of selected people.
II. COMMEMORATIVE EDITION:
- The commemorative edition was published also in a limited edition, in a volume of 200 pcs.
The book was published in two editions: The first – Commemorative edition (from which 200 copies contain a special commemorative text) and there is a Special Limited Edition De Luxe version of 100 copies. The de Luxe version is leather-bound, with gold-plated page edges, and each piece is numbered 1 – 100. Since this book is not a commercial publication by nature, this Special Limited Edition De Luxe is unpurchaseable. For an inspiration of how life could be lived, and how to administrate public matters, we also donate it also to some representatives of executive or administrating power and to others at the other hand as an acknowledgement for their well-done work. The precondition for obtaining a limited special edition for people not belonging to the above- mentioned categories is a support of some publicly beneficial activities, whereas we reserve the right to decide on such a donation. The owner of the special limited-edition De Luxe is the civic association, Pre lepšie Slovensko (For Better Slovakia) and anyone who would be interested in receiving this publication can get in touch with this association, agree on a one-time financial contribution and subsequently get their limited-edition copy as an expression of acknowledgment.
WHY THIS BOOK IS SO EXTRAORDINARY:
1. NON-FICTION
The book belongs into the non-fiction genre. There are no opinions presented in it – it consists only of an objective description of events. The author endeavoured to keep the given facts in unaltered form byfrom the ravages of time and from the changeover to newer regimes.
The primary motive for documenting the story of Pavol Novák was a house, which is still located in the city and it reminds us with its majesty that its creator could have been someone important. We found out that Mr. Novák’s former family estate indeed has some unique features; therefore we are dealing with the tangible heritage of this Košice humanitarian in detail as well.
2. GREAT PERSONAGES
The original owner – Dr. Novák – was a significant personage in the history of Czechoslovakia and the reader will perceive from book how he – and his residence – relate to the biggest names of Slovak history – P. O. Hviezdoslav, Ľudovít Štúr, Jozef Miloslav Hurban and Michal Miloslav Hodža, the most renowned Slovak hero Juraj Jánošík, the richest Slovak of his time – Jozef Fábry (a successful lawyer and advisor of Tomáš Baťa), and the first Czechoslovak president T. G. Masaryk.
The book is brimming with big names and all of them in one way or the other have something to do either with the residence of Dr. Novák, directly with him or the results of his work. The consequences of the former Kosice mayor's experience are still felt by the city's inhabitants to this day. In the present day, Mr. Novák’s house is connected with personages like the renowned hockey player Vincent Lukáč or the actors Pavol Mikulík and Jozef Vajda.
Even the former president of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Rudolf Schuster, when he was mayor of Košice, dealt with one of the results of Novák’s activity. President Schuster provided some interesting anecdotes for the for the book – and linked the book with other significant people and presidents of other countries. The book begins with a prologue ofby the president himself.
The fact that the residence is today being used by followers of teachings of American humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard gives it another interesting dimension as it symbolically returned to spreading humanitarianism, as Dr. Novák did.
3. THE BOOK CONTAINS:
A comprehensive overview of the history of Košice, a heretofore unpublished biography of the first mayor of Košice, and approximately 200 historical photos, most of them from private collections.
4. UNIQUE GLOSSARY:
The glossary of the book is in itself a valuable and unique work and it is an integral part of the book. It not only consists of words usually not understood, but it also containsdefines various personages of the history of CzechoSlovakia, as well as terms and organizations operating in the communism regime. The author of the book made sure the definitions are precise and easy-to-understand at the same time. His intention was to enable it to be understood by readers who are not familiar with history, are not specialists in architecture, and on top of that are not Slovaks, but are yet of an age in which they experienced the era of communism and remember the stories of their grandparents about the Second World War period. Consequently, this book becomes both timeless and easily understandable also for future generations.
For people who are not very familiar with the history of Košice, Slovakia and Czechoslovakia, the glossary itself could serve as a pretty good textbook of history.
Due to the scope and quality of this almost “mini- dictionary,” this book could serve as a serious textbook of the history of Slovakia. It’s worthing it’s range – a respectable 86 pages, while one half is in Slovak and one half in English.
5. BILINGUAL BOOK:
The book was written bilingually, in Slovak and English.
The book is written bilingually. It was written in Slovak, and subsequently we put a strong emphasis on its English version to have a quality of the original and so it would not sound only like a translation. We have also included in the glossary various historical terms or names, which are relatively well-known for Slovaks, but foreign readers might not be familiar with them. Nevertheless, lacking understanding of them could make the reading of this book unpleasant for non- Slovak readers or even discourage them from reading it.
6. UNIQUE PIECE OF WOR:
The book is a unique piece of work, crafted into the highest professional level, and during its life it will most certainly receive interesting awards. The fact it is a very limited edition owned by essentially a very narrow group of people (very special people) would in time reflect in continuously increased value.
