Benkő Andrea: A Guide to Petőfi Literary Museum (Budapest, 2009)
The Library
THE LIBRARY The Library of the Museum is a research library that functions primarily as a centre for original editions, illustrated books, books dedicated or annotated by the authors, and writers' full personal libraries. It is commonly known that the Hungarian scientific collections (e.g. the National Museum) and the Petőfi House, a memorial house dedicated to the poet and considered to be the predecessor of our Museum, were established through public offers and major book collections. The incoming bequests - regardless of their former owners - arrive at a common (the only) library repository in the institutions, into a newly created system of collections. The Library of our Museum differs essentially in the way it manages public collections, in that during the processing of books a proprie tary catalogue is compiled of the pieces in the writers' libraries that once belonged together. Taking the half- century existence of the Museum into account, the Library has an unparalleled collection of approximately two hundred personal libraries (libraries within the library). The books are not just physically existent stock, but a source of knowledge for the entire life work, the study of which belongs to the basic steps of research prior to any critical text edition. The possession of a book is a source of information on its own, yet the more signs of use a book bears and the more markedly it shows its owner's characteristics, especially handwriting, the more valuable it becomes. A book might conceal all kinds of texts or information, and even * IMADSAGOS KÖNYV. MELLTET 7 T^T PÁZMÁNY PETER, NAGT. ... jpw kil, Hírmánn Janes *lul, 1701. *• * .tf A’ Boldog Emlékezetű CARDINAL ESZ SEK. Péter Pázmány: Imádságos könyv [Prayer Book], Nagyszombat, 1701 14
