By: Branislav Cvetković, museum advisor
In the rich funds of our museum, a special place belongs to the Collection of Old and Rare Books, the content of which reflects both turbulent historical circumstances and the infamous mentality of the Balkan environment. In that large collection there are different groups of objects, old Serbian printed books (editions until 1867), rare Serbian printed books, old and rare foreign printed books, rare Serbian periodicals, Serbian editions published during the war years, as well as editions of Jagodina printing houses and publishers.
One of the particularly valuable items is an extremely rare edition, a booklet of small format 116 x 105 mm, with a gray paperback and contains the Law on the Maintenance of National Welfare (in the project before the National Assembly). The First Edition, printed in the Art Printing House of Adam Gligorijevic and Son, which used to be located on the site of the building of the later Trade House (i.e. the Workers’ University) in Maksim Gorki Street. It is a specimen that arrived in the museum fund as a gift from Dubravka Brili, daughter of Gustav Brili, long-term manager of the Music School in Jagodina, granddaughter of Milan Todorović, director of the Jagodina Gymnasium and descendant of Miloje Teodorović, knez of the Levač county.
The legal proposal itself, as stated in the foreword to the booklet, was prepared on December 14, 1914 by four deputies, Dragutin Pećić, Živojin A. Zlatanović, Sreten S. Milosavljević and Ilija Andjelković, and the edition was printed during 1915 after the first military successes and before the withdrawal of the Serbian army through Albania. The first signatory, Dragutin Pećić (1871–1948), was first a lawyer from Jagodina, and after the end of the First World War, he would be a minister in the governments of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia several times. The idea of Pećić is complemented by another museum object, a snapshot from the celebration of his engagement in 1900, from the Collection of Photographs until 1941.
The bill provided for a reduction in rents, taxes, surcharges, interest and principal debts on the affected citizens and businesses, as well as compensation for damage due to loss and destruction of property. Also, the text regulates the issues of war insurance and appeals, and proposes that the ministers of finance, economy and justice adopt a special rulebook for its implementation. The last Article 49 states that the law will become valid as soon as it is signed by the King. At this moment, it is known that only the National Library of Serbia has another copy of this rare edition.
