Luka Jocić

Luka Jocić (Serbian Cyrillic: Лука Јоцић; 1839–1926) was a Serbian philantropist, publisher and bookseller who lived and worked in the second half of the 19th- and the beginning of the 20th-century.

Biography

Luka Jocić was born in 1839 in Sentomaš. He finished elementary school in Sentomaš and Gymnasium in Novi Sad. After the fourth grade, he decides to leave high school and enroll in a two-year cadet school. After graduating from cadet school, he became an Imperial Austrian soldier. He took part in the war against France and Italy. He served in the Vienna garrison for five years. In 1864 he took part in the war against Denmark and in 1866 against Turkey and Prussia. He himself was wounded in the Battle of Königgrätz. After these wars, he served as a soldier in the garrisons in Austria and acquired the rank of lieutenant. During his stay in Timisoara, the elders appointed him a Serbian language teacher. He was transferred from Timisoara to Novi Sad and then to Pula, where he felt his progress stymied. After seventeen years of military service, he decided to retire from active duty and asked to be in reserve. In 1870, he withdrew from the reserve due to a possible war against Imperial Russia. At the age of 31, he was demobilized.

His next assignment was the job of supervisor of the goods of the rich Novi Sad resident Marija Trandafil. It was also the first time he had done this kind of work. Marija Trandafil was known as a merciful woman who gladly helped the poor, while Jocić, in parallel with her actions, encouraged her patronage. Luka Jocić was known as a philanthropist and gained a great reputation and respect. He also established good relations with teachers, priests, officials, and the Magistrate of the region. He was the vice president in the so-called "Serbian reading room". He was also the president of the "Hospital Cooperative of Trade Youth". He was an active member of the "Serbian Cooperative for Mutual Assistance and Savings". Also, Matica Srpska counted him among its prominent members. Jocić's great merit is that Marija Trandafil invested in this institution, and today's building of Matica Srpska was erected from its endowment fund.

Jocić was not satisfied with the job as property supervisor and his friend, Ilija Ognjanović Abukazem, encouraged him to try his hand at publishing. He persuaded him to accept the publication of the magazine "Javor", which was engaged in teaching, publishing, and literature. In 1877, Luka Jocić published the first volume. In order to better place the magazine on a profitable footing, Jocić also published advertisements. In 1880, he joined forces with Đorđe Ivković and opened a bookstore in Novi Sad. The first book they published was the book "Bosilje" by Stevan V. Popović. The book featured poems by Jovan Jovanović Zmaj. On behalf of Marija Trandafil, Jocić gave textbooks to students free of charge, which he considered to be the foundation of education. At the very beginning of his publishing career, Jocić published manuals for the Hungarian language and textbooks intended for teachers. He further published textbooks for primary schools, grammar schools, and other secondary schools. He published geographies, zoologies, travelogues, catechisms, biologies, grammars for all grades. He also published various manuals in various fields, including pedagogy, medicine, and economics. He published a translated book by Petroslava Tomanović entitled Ovako čes tvoju čerku vaspitati (from the original by Elvira Zinjani) on the upbringing of female children; and "Lessons about the human body, life, and health" by Dr. Milan Jovanović Batut, published by Jocić & Co.He also published books for children, such as "Children's Lyre", "Kovčežić", "Mali svet" and "Neven cveće".

In 1880, the bookstore "collected" all the previously published works of the famous writer Jovan Subotić. There were also nine editions of Branko Radičević's poems, with 36 illustrations in connection with the gilding published by Jocić's bookstore. Jocić received a silver medal with a diploma at the industrial exhibition in Trieste in 1882.A special edition was the well-known French work of Émile Picot's Les Serbes de Hongrie ("Serbs of Hungary")translated by Dr. Stevan Pavlović,who was awarded 300 forints by Matica Srpska. Jocić also published translations of popular entertainment novels from the German language. To cover all his costs he was forced to sell school supplies, accessories, festive icons, art paintings, photographs, and even paper bags in his bookstore. Commercial editions were calendars, therefore, Jocić demanded that the calendars "Kolo", "Vienac"and especially "Abukazemov" be as interesting as possible. The calendars were edited by his friend Ilija Ognjanović Abukazem.

Based on the request, Luka Jocić and his friend Đorđe Ivković received approval from the Hungarian Minitry of Interior in 1881 to publish and distribute literary and school books, as well as paintings and school supplies. The permit was conditional, as it was emphasized that "booksellers must be politically eligible". And by another act from the same Ministry, Luka Jocić received approval that through Đorđe Ivković he can collect and sell on the territory of Croatia, Slavonia, andDalmatia, but on the condition that he adheres to tax regulations. Đorđe Ivković traveled through the territory of today's Vojvodina, Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro, and the Bay of Kotor, wherever there were Serbian people, offering books, paintings, school supplies. Ivković also collected subscribers for the magazine "Javor". After Đorde Ivković parted company from Luka Jocić, Luka in 1888 went on to found his own bookstore and printing house -- "Nakladna knjižarica". Unlike other publishers, Jocić did not want to create his own printing house.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Jocić got tired and found it increasingly difficult to cope with the book business. When he marked the 25th anniversaryof his publishing work in 1903, on the occasion of the fiftieth school book, he published a special memorial edition dedicated to Nikola I. In that book, he somehow said goodbye to the audience. He did not sell the special edition but donated it to public libraries, cooperatives, writers, and his friends. The book shows the covers of fifty school books that were published by Jocić, and his "Review of the History of Bookstores in Enlightened Peoples and in Us" was published.

Miloš Ivković inherited the bookstore and trade in paper and music products in 1902, which he ran under the company "Luka Jocić naslednik". Later, Ivković sold the bookstore.

In his retirement, Jocić also took care of the property of Marija Trandafil, and after her death in 1883, he was the executor of the will and testament, and according to it, most of the proceeds went to Matica Srpska. When the time came for Matica Srpska to comply with the requirements of the Marija Trandafil's Will and to give Jocić 10,000 crowns, there was a disappointment. Marija Tandrafil's Board of Directors instructed Jocić to seek that through litigation. He did and won the lawsuit in the first court, and after three years, the Board had to pay him the entire amount with interest, including his lawyer's costs.

He lived to a ripe old age. He died on 20 August 1926, at the age of almost 90. "Zastava" published in the obituary section: "He was a man of good education and very soulful ... He was always healthy, and the old man's weakness still overcame him and he died, as it were, asleep."

The most significant published works

• The first volume of the magazine "Javor" in 1877.
• Stevan V. Popović: "Bosilje"
• Milan Jovanović-Trampoline: "Lessons about the human body, life and health"
• Books for children: "Children's Lyre", "Kovčežić", "Mali svet" and "Neven cveće".
• Émile Picot's Les Serbes de Hongrie/"Serbs of Hungary" translated by Dr. Stevan Pavlović
• Calendars "Kolo", "Venac" and "Abukazem's funny calendar"
• Šta knjižar treba da zna/"What a bookseller needs to know".

Sources

• "Portraits of officers and philanthropists of Matica Srpska". Matica Srpska. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
• Petar Jonović (2001):" What a bookseller needs to know". Veternik: LDIJ. ISBN 978-86-7026-149-5.

Literature

• Velimir Starčević: "Staro srpsko knjižarstvo" - Belgrade: Official Gazette, 2011.
• Michael Biggins, Janet Crayne: "Publishing in Yugoslavia's Successor State" - United States of America: The Haworth Information Press, 2000
• Petar Jonović: "What should a bookseller know" - Veternik: LDIJ, 2001.

References

This article "Luka Jocić" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Luka Jocić. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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