The Prague Papyri are originally the private collection by Carl Wessely, purchased in Paris in 1904. At Wessely's death in 1931 the collection was taken over by Theodor Hopfner, professor at the German University in Prague, who sold it in 1934 to the National and University Library of Prague, today the National Library, where the papyri are now stored in the warehouse of the Manuscripts section. The collection is closed, with no programmed acquisitions.
A history of the collection with references can be found in the first volume (p. 3-7) of the systematic edition of Prague Greek papyri, published in 1988 by Rosario Pintaudi with the collaboration of R. Dostalova and L. Vidman (P.Prag.I = Pap.Flor. XVI). For a first overview on the matter, it is essential to refer to: R. Dostalova, L. Vidman, Der Heutige Stand der Sammlung Papyri Wessely Pragenses, in: Firenze 20 (1983), p. 101-109.
The papyri are classified according to the language: the Greek and Latin ones are stored at the National Library, those in eastern languages (from Demotic to Arabic) are retained at the Oriental Institute. More than 7000 Greek papyri are classified into four groups stored in boxes or "Mappen", inside of which the fragments are located in paper folders. Out of these, about 400 Greek, 96 Arabic, and a few dozen of Coptic papyri have been already published.
The proportion of Greek literary texts is minimal. Most of the collection is represented by documentary papyri from the Roman, Byzantine and Arabic ages. The core of the collection is represented by the Heroninos Archive, mostly containing accounts and secondarily correspondence.
A general introduction to the collection is given in Papyri Graecae Wessely Pragensis I, Firenze 1988 (Pap. Flor. 16) and in the brochure of R.Pintaudi, I papiri greci Wessely della Biblioteca Nazionale della Repubblica Ceca-Praga (2001).
