Slovenian facsimile in the19th and in the first half of the 20th century:pre-modern facsimile

Printers on Slovenian territory did not attempt to print facsimiles until the beginning of the 20th century and neither did they publish anything relevant in this expert field. The development of Slovenian facsimile nevertheless started (outside Slovenia) almost a whole century earlier. Its course is outlined against European parallels, providing achievements in the pre-modern era (18129-1959). The analysis focuses on earlier Slovenian facsimiles which have not been well known or had been especially scientifically unexplored. A surprisingly high expert level, both in terms of technology and editing, is revealed by our first facsimiles of the 19th century which were mostly initiated by Jernej Kopitar. In this period medieval materials give way to modern ones (Prešeren’s Poezije), which prevail afterwards. According to the fundamental criteria, upon which the definition of a modern facsimile is based, 12 units have been identified as facsimiles, 4 of them recognised as complete facsimiles meeting all the required criteria of that period.