Apor Éva, Ecsedy Ildikó (szerk.): Hungarian publications on Asia and Africa : 1950-1962 : A selected bibliography = Magyar szerzők Ázsiáról és Afrikáról : 1950-1962 : Válogatott bibliográfia

Előszó (Ligeti Lajos akadémikus, a Magyar UNESCO Bizottság Kelet—Nyugat Albizottságának elnöke)

ing to the various countries. We have not succeeded,, however, in putting this principle into effect in several cases. In this way, general works on the Near- and Middle-East could not be entered under the countries due to the specific nature of the material. Our African studies are still in an initial stage, thus, for the time being, no further specifying of the corresponding material is needed because of its small quantity. There were also some other problems to be solved, e.g. reports on the advancement in Tibetan studies are listed among the works under China, in accordance with the principles of arrangement and Mongolian studies are divided into three parts, according to the country where the respective Mongolian population lives (Mongolian People's Republic, Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China). Since this bibliography presents the contributions of Hungarian authors, those of foreign authors published in Hungarian were not taken into account. The bibliography was compiled by the Oriental Department of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The Oriental Department was set up in 1950, and now its holdings comprise some 30,000 works, periodical publications of over 500 titles, and a collection of oriental codices and manuscripts of 2,500 items. With these holdings the Department is an important base for oriental studies in Hungary. The collection covers the whole of Asia and Africa, and its sphere is steadily expanding according to the trends of the research, while the book collection itself is increasing steadily year by year. This is the only way of enabling the Department to comply with the ever increasing requirements both as regards the quantity and the quality of Hungarian oriental studies. Louis Bese Head of the Oriental Department of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. 12