“A city without books is a city without a future.”
These famous words were spoken by Mišo Živaljič in his column on Dalmacija Danas last month about the fate of bookstores in Split. Could it be true that Split, a city of culture, will soon be without a single one?
Unfortunately, it is, and Split will soon close three of its largest bookstores, including the cult bookstore “Morpurgo” on Pjaca.
Today we tell you the story of Morpurgo, known as one of the oldest bookstores in the world to have remained in the same location from its first day of existence – opening its doors in July 1860 at the famous People’s Square, Pjaca in Split. Once at People’s Square, always at People’s Square, Jutarnji List writes on June 10, 2017.
The founder and first bookstore owner was Vid Morpurgo (1838-1911), born in Split to a well-known Jewish family. A publisher and publicist, bookstore owner and bibliographer, reporter and enlightener, industrialist and banker, politician and cultural worker, this Renaissance man is one of the greatest benefactors of Split in its history. He never married or had children, using his immense energy to raise and educate the city of Split.
At the beginning of the 18th century, Morpurgo’s family moved to Split from Maribor. Vid’s father, David-Elijah Morpurgo (1809-1882) was initially engaged in the sale of books, especially school textbooks printed in Venice. He would later be involved in the production of silk and the sale of textiles. An amateur painter, translator (from Hebrew to Italian) and literary worker, these elements determined the fate of his son – and young Vid learned to read at four years old.
Vid Morpurgo attended primary school and Imperial Royal High School in Split and later graduated from the Archbishop’s Seminary. Already at the age of 14, Vid was employed by Petra (Pietra) Sava who, with his father David, owned a bookstore – a subsidiary of Milan’s “Borroni e Scotti” company which was located on the first floor of the Tomašić House at the People’s Square. This would be the future Morpurgo bookstore.
Still a minor, Vid traveled with his father to Italy in 1855 to arrange deals with bookstores and publishers in Trieste and Venice. Two years later, they traveled to Milan to make a deal with the company “Battezati.” Vid then traveled to Turin and Florence where he joined the publishers ”Pomba” and “Unione Tipografica,” under the “Le Monier” label. It was the start of constructing imposing supply networks around the European continent which would, over the next decade, allow the people of Split to read new titles simultaneously with European citizens
In 1859, Vid Morpurgo edited the first issue of “Dalmatian Anniversary” (“Annuario Dalmatico”) – the first literary journal in Split – wanting to publish contributions by Dalmatian writers who would wake up the dormancy of Dalmatia in their texts. Two editions went out although a third was prepared.
Finally, in 1860 at 22 years old, Vid Morpurgo opened the Morpurgo bookstore at Pjaca and would run it for the next fifty years.
Located in the very center of Split, at the most important city square, the bookstore immediately became the gathering place of Split intelligence, and especially folklore. The distinguished art historian of Split, Duško Kečkemet, wrote in the study “Vid Morpurgo and the National Revival in Split” from 1963:
“At that time, while there was still no national library, his bookstore, which always felt a cultural, European spirit, was predestined to be the hub and meeting point of Split for patriots. And later, when the reading room was open, it was easier and more convenient to meet Morpurgo in the atmosphere of his shelves crowded with Latin, Italian, German, French, and Slavic books than in the reading room itself. More than that, Morpurgo has always been there to give practical and sober advice, to encourage someone’s enthusiasm, ambition, or to restrain someone’s blazing patriotic zeal.”
The bookstore held meetings where ideas were exchanged and activities planned, creating the core of the movement in Central Dalmatia. Patriots from Trogir, Kaštela, Sinj, Omis, Makarska and the islands would come to Morpurgo. Vid Morpurgo was even involved in the launching of the independent Croatian newspaper “Il Nazionale” (People’s Paper) in 1862.
“In it (the bookstore), at any time of the day, and mostly in the mornings, gathered the most educated people of Split. At these meetings, anything and everything would be discussed. There would be professors from the local grammar and secondary schools, then doctors and lawyers who were interested in reading before going into their own businesses. Uncle Vito, an intelligent and educated man, led the great conversations of political issues that were of particular importance to him because Split was an important political and cultural center. Many priests, campaigners in the movement, and many of Uncle Vito’s best friends visited the store,” Vid’s nephew Luciano Morpurgo remembered.
While Vid became a representative for the People’s Party in Dalmatia in 1870, he remained a patron of the Split and Dalmatia literary scene, encouraging authors to write while redacting their manuscripts and distributing them with minimum cost, or even free. In addition, he developed a supply network that – according to Dr. Nada Topić – during his lifetime included 138 suppliers (printing houses, publishers, booksellers) from 40 cities. Of this, 70% were foreign suppliers, predominantly from Italian cities. Vid also purchased books from Paris, Brussels, Leipzig, Prague, Vienna, Graz, and Innsbruck.
The heirs of the bookstore already had 406 suppliers from 77 cities by 1918, including new publishers from Berlin, Munich, Heidelberg, Bonn, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Cologne, Dresden, Krakow, Budapest, and Strasbourg. After 1918, there were suppliers from London, Edinburg, Glasgow, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Haag, Hamburg, Lyons, Grenoble, Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, and the first US supplier (from Ann Arbor) was also involved.
Vid Morpurgo died on January 31, 1911, and is buried at the Jewish cemetery in Split. On the tombstone, Vid’s engraving reads:
”Sublime mind, noble spirit, a whole life of thoughtful work devoted to the liberation of the psyche from the soul and material slavery. In the awakening of the nation between the first initiators of the first bookstore, the first banks, the first industries, leaves a dying, unfulfilled void.”
After Vid’s death, the bookstore was led by his nephew Eugen Morpurgo (1877-1943), son of his brother Joseph. In 1936, it was taken over by Eugene’s son Aldo Morpurgo (1913-1990), who led the store until 1941 when the Italian fascists arrested him and took him to the Aeolian islands. After a year of political internment, Aldo was moved to the village of Roccaspinalveti in southern Italy and later moved to Palestine. Aldo’s father, Eugen Morpurgo, was the bookkeeper until 1943 when German occupiers took him to the Banjica concentration camp near Belgrade where he was killed. Hilarije Perić, the bookkeeper, was then their employee until the confiscation of the property in 1947.
Today, the Morpurgo family remains without a bookstore, which after nationalization, under the name “Luka Botić”, continues to operate at the same location at the People’s Square. After the Homeland War, the bookstore was privatized again, and the last owner was Algoritam.
After 157 years of existence, how could the closure of such an establishment seem reasonable? The bookstore has been included on the list of protected cultural assets of the Republic of Croatia, and hell, it even has a book written about it.
Author Dr. Nada Topić wrote the 300-page book titled “Morpurgo in Split (1860-1947) and the Development of Reading Culture”. The author was a Doctor of Information and Communication Sciences and the book was his dissertation which, in 2015, was defended by the University of Zadar. Released only a few days ago in the edition of Naklada Ljevak, the book was supposed to receive an honorary space in one of the two windows of the Morpurgo bookstore. It was displayed, for about three days, and on the fourth, the bookstore phone rang – “Return all the books, it’s over.”
Thus ended the famous epopee of the Morpurgo bookstore who fell victim to the business breakdown of its owner, Algoritam. Will it survive, no one really knows.
