Václav Matěj Kramerius

Václav Matěj Kramerius, a native of Klatovy, was a successful Czech publisher, journalist and writer, and one of the most important early figures of the Czech National Revival.

Kramerius went to the Jesuit high school in Klatovy and then studied philosophy and law in Prague (1778–1780). During his studies he earned money by cataloguing the library of a nobleman Jan Norbert z Neuberka. Since 1786 he worked as a journalist in the only Czech language weekly, and in 1789 he started a newspaper of his own called Pražské poštovské noviny, renamed to Krameriusovy c.k. vlastenecké noviny in 1791. In 1795 he bought a printing shop and established a publishing house, which published most of the Czech language books of his time. Kramerius himself wrote about 80 books of varying quality.