Manó Kogutowicz [antikvár]

I cannot tell you much about my late grandfather, Manó Kogutowicz.He departed the physical world before I entered it, forced to leave incomplete thework he had planned to continue for another half lifetime. During his short lifetimehe , not only enriched Hungary with innumerable maps, but also made globes andedited magazines. Before my birth my parents had expected a boy, and I was giventhe name Manuela in place of the Manó who was expected. In my childhood I wasalways told what an endlessly sympathetic, kind and calm person my grandfatherhad been. But in his life he had to overcome many difficulties to reach success, asis frequently the case for those who live curtailed lives (1851-1908).He was born in Seelowitz, Moravia. As a soldier in Vienna, under the nameEmanuel Kogutowicz, he was instructed as a cartographer at the Imperial andRoyal Engineering Institute. This was a select institution with a rigorous aptitudeexam required for entrance. Also a talented artist, he originally planned to becomea painter. But after completing his military service he became instead a teacher, andworked at the famous Láhne Institute in Sopron.Instruction was in German at this secondary school. The marvellousdrawings that he used in his geography lessons there attracted attention. TheMayor of Sopron commissioned a very detailed map of the town from him. Afterseeing my grandfather's brilliant map, the Minister of Education asked him to makeHungarian language school maps, as in the 1880s German language maps wereused in Hungarian schools. The ministry was willing to support the new enterprisewith loans and advance orders. And so in 1890 a map-making company wasestablished, temporarily as a branch of the Vienna Hölzel firm, called theHungarian Geographical Institute. With the help of the finest Hungariangeographers and historians maps were published one after the other: wall maps ofthe counties, of general and Hungarian history; wall and hand maps of individualcountries and continents; geographical and historical atlases; and globes.In 1901 he transformed the company, into an independent corporation sincehe had repaid the ministry's loan. The majority of the maps he drew himself. Hereceived the Millenium Medal at the Millenial Exhibitions in Hungary in 1896 anda gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 for his excellent works.He kept his promise and provided Hungary's schools with high qualityHungarian language maps. He also strived to fulfill the demands and expectationsof his audience of map-lovers. His 1902 world atlas was a great success, and wentthrough several more editions. His name became so inseparable from hisprofession, that in Hungary map and Kogutowicz meant the same thing.My grandfather's life is a success story of the Austro-Hunganan Monarchy.Emanuel Kogutowicz, a German speaking Polish-Moravian, became a Hungarianand founded Hungarian language cartography. Three sons were born out of hishappy marriage with German-Italian Rosa Kapeller: Károly (1886-1948), who