Books and forms from the Kner Printery of Gyoma

Encouraged by the town leaders of Gyoma, a bookbinder began an enterprise as a "dilettantish" printer in the period of economic boom following the Compromise of 1867 between Austria and Hungary. As a result of excellent quality and his good business acumen and efficient management and organizational work, Izidor Kner's one-man printing enterprise established in 1882 developed to a 150-employee plant by the years preceding World War I.

Imre Kner and his father Izidor Kner

The production and distribution of administrative forms had represented its economic basis, to which the sale of office supplies was added later to more fully serve the customers. Through the competitions invited by him for invitation cards to artistic performances and balls in the first years of the 20th century, the founder of the printery presented several hundred works assessed by a jury in the publications entitled "Röpke Lapok" (Brief Papers), which could be used in almost all events of social life (balls, concerts, consecration of flags, etc.).

The name Kner was made really known by books. Izidor Kner had engaged in the publishing of books from the first years, but its quality and quantity changed after his first-born son, Imre Kner, took up work. He became the technical manager of the printery at the age of 17 after brief studies in Leipzig, Germany. In rupture with the practice of his age, he created Baroque typography, to which Lajos Kozma prepared book decorations, initial letters, motifs and emblems. The most beautiful publications in this period are the volumes of Három Cseppke Könyvek (Three Tiny Books), Kner Klasszkusok (Kner Classics) and Monumenta Literatum. The Kner books made in the 1930s using the Bodoni type were characterized by the classicistic style.

In the period between the two World Wars, the publishing of artistic books in Hungary was hallmarked by the name Kner both in Hungary and abroad; the Hungarian and foreign authorities of the vocations of printer and typographer talked about the appearance of the publications with the greatest appreciation.

The members of the Kner family had relations with the key personalities of their age. The works of progressive individuals forming groups like Vasárnapi Kör (Sunday Circle), Nyugat (West) and Szegedi Fiatalok (Youth of Szeged) (Béla Balázs, György Lukács, Anna Lesznai, György Budai, Gyula Ortutaty, Miklós Radnóti and others) were printed in the Gyoma workshop.

While World War I caused mostly financial loss, World War II cost may lives: a number of the Kner family fell victim to the Holocaust.

The printery was nationalized in 1949, then it was merged with the former Tevan Printery of Békéscsaba in 1963. The merged company was given the name of Kner Printery in 1964 and became a large state socialist plant respectful of the traditions of its predecessor printeries and operating at several sites, with its head office in Békéscsaba, for almost 30 years.

Lajos Kozma's furniture

Designed by Lajos Kozma and made in 1928, the furniture suite was part of the furnishings of a girl's room in Zsigmond Szegő's flat in Rómer Flóris utca.