C. Csapodi, E. Moravek et al.(szerk.): The Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1826–1961.

II. The Use of the Library

of the following parts: 1) Incunabula; 2) Old books and rarities (Hungarian printed matter or that of Hungarian interest issued prior to 1711, Aldino- and Elzevir-editions); 3) First editions of notable authors, presentation copies, artistic or historical bindings, the private library of Mihály Vörösmarty, etc.; 4) New acquisitions of books published abroad prior to 1800 and in Hungary before 1850. The collection contains 1109 incunabula. All the t itles of the four parts of the collection are listed in a common catalogue arranged in alphabetical and chronological order. Of the items of the Old Book Collection containing matters of Hungarian interest, mention must be made of Chronica Hungarorum (Augsburg 1488) by János Thuróczi that constitues an important source for the Age of the Hunyadis (Fig. 38), and of a work of Pelbárt Temesvári entitled Pomerium de tempore issued in Augsburg in 1502 and disseminated all over Europe. The title page of this work is a remarkable woodcut (Fig. 39). An important item is the first book published entirely in Hungarian: The Epistles of St. Paid, by Benedek Komjáthi (Cracow, 1533) (Fig. 40). One of the most valuable parts of the collection of old books was also obtained by the Library by way of donation. In 1905 György Ráth, director of the Hungarian Museum of Applied Arts, bequeathed his collection of nearly 2500 volumes to the Library, embracing books with amateur bindings, part of which was printed in Hungary before 1711, while the rest were published abroad, about Hungary. Apart from this collection, other pieces of the Old Book Collection were in a very poor condition, with disintegrating volumes, worn and slashed leather bindings, broken wooden boards and repairs and new bindings done without expert knowledge. This made it necessary to set about the work of conserving and restoring the material. The books also had to be protected against insects and mould. After a careful studying of the foreign — mainly Italian — and Hungarian literature of this subject, the work began with highly skilled collaborators six years ago. The bookbinding shop of the Library, set up in 1958, also takes a considerable part in this work. Some 500 volumes have so far been restored and conserved. In the course of this work we did not aim at bibliophile perfection. Our task was to preserve 21