Berza László: Budapest története képekben 1493-1980 - Képkatalógus 1. kötet (1-31978. tétel, 1982)

BEVEZETŐ

24 themes were classified on the basis of the principle that the picture material of the great geographical or administrative units should be followed by that of the smaller units. A considerable part of the material was grouped by districts ensuring - beside this chacacteristical index - the possibility of a further topographical orientation. Within the individual chapters it seemed advised to apply the arrangement intime sequence, or in the alphabetical order, corresponding to the nature of the theme. An important part of the picture catalogue represents buildings. The picture material of the buildings is divided into two independent groups: residential and public buildings. * A slip was prepared for every picture, which could be assigned only to a single theme. The other important data seen in the picture: building, part, or scene can be revealed fully by the index. The data of a theme may be retrieved sometimes in several chapters, e.g. the picture of the river Danube may be found in the chapters "Navigation", "Quay", "Landscapes", "Bridges", or "Margaret Island". The data of the individual pictures appear partly in the description of the title and partly in the annotation. The recording of the title gives the title of the picture, the place of its publishing, the storing number of the book containing the picture, if it appears in the Budapest Collection. The annotation gives first a symbol determining the mode of execution of the picture: M. for engraving, Fe. for painting, R. for drawing, F. for photos. A more detailed classification of thegenres would have been superfluous. We have marked by M. - engraving the steel-, wood-, linoleum- and copper outs, the litographs and other prints. After the symbol M. - engraving the abbreviation "repr." indicates that it is not printed from the original stereotype plate, if such is the case. The same abbreviation is used for indicating reprints of a picture, or a drawing. The other data contained in the annotation are the size, the colouration, the author, the bearing, the date of the preparation, the grade of rarity and all the important thematical parts, informations, which can be seen in the presentation. In most cases we did not content ourselves with stating the data of the pictures, but tried to reveal also other informations related to them, as much as it was possible. So the annotation refers also to the provenance of the original picture, if it could be established. The engravings of the 16.-17. centuries and also the pictures created later were reproduced multiply, in great numbers. The picture catalogue gives also the provenances of the printed reproductions, which could be established, as for the researcher it is often sufficient, if he can see the reproductions, or even a note about the accessible finding place of the same. A very economical solution was applied by combining in a single item all the identical pictures, or reproductions, found in different sources; at the same time none of the essentia! data was lost. The reproductions were listed in the time sequence of their appearance. * The first volume of the 4~vo!ume work, as planned, contains general views and details of the town, natural pictures of Budapest, panoramas of Buda, Pest, Óbuda, the districts and smaller geographical units, gardens, parks, cemeteries, roads, streets, squares, monuments, memorial boards and residential buildings. The latter may be found by districts, according to their present numbering, within the alphabetical order of the streets. But it happened also that certain buildings could be assigned only by their old numbering. The second volume contains the economical, political, cultural, social, medical, etc. objects and public buildings. The institutions, factories, offices, schools, etc. appear generally by their present, or their last name respectively. There are exceptions from this rule as well, e.g. tha material of the Castle Palace forms an independent chapter and does not appear under the titles and the institutions functioning in it today. The destination of the individual buildings, objects changed frequently with the time. Their pictures were asigned thematically e.g. to the residential, or the public buildings, according to their present function. Their fate, their eventual destruction, demolition is noted in the annotation. Naturally the pictures of building objects, quarters, streets, etc., which do not exist any more and in certain cases to designs of planned, but not realized object were also included in our material. The third volume contains the picture material of historical events, street life and street figures. The events are shown according to the most important historical ages of the town, grouped in a thematical order within the ages. The fourth volume contains the uniform index. The collection and the redaction of the material lasted for several decades. Many librarians and other experts participated in this long lasting work. We express our thanks to all those, who contributed to the preparation of the picture collection.