Benkő Andrea: A Guide to Petőfi Literary Museum (Budapest, 2009)

The Library

THE LIBRARY

Our assemblage of periodicals also boasts rare, unique copies. The Library has numerous periodicals that cannot be found in the collections of our associate institutions. An example of this are the complete volumes of the first periodical in Hungarian, the Magyar Museum (1788/89-1792), which has black ink corrections and amendments by the editor, János Batsányi (1763-1845). A number of the original editions of the periodicals also contain the full covers and the rare supplements. Mention should also be made of the collection of Hungarian papers published in emigration. Several periodicals in the assemblage containing almost 1,000 titles can only be found in our Museum.

The book and periodical collection is organically complemented by the leaflet collection, which numbers 30,000 items and contains special rarities. The 1848/49 assemblage holds several copies of the Tizenkét pont (Twelve Points, 15th March 1848, Pest) edited during the revolution of 1848-49; the copies preserve the printing and textual variants. ContempBook from Zsigmond Móricz's library with his initials on the spine

József Attila

Szépség koldusa

Versek \ j

Korok nay-kíadás, MCMXXII

Attila József: Szépség koldusa IBeggar of Beauty] with the poet's dedication on the title page. Szeged, 1922

orary copies of the Nemzeti dal [National Song] also count among the rarities, of which our collection has several. In time, the scope of the leaflet collection was extended to invitation cards of literary relevance, programmes, placards, subscription notices, scores of poems set to music, and other occasional publications. The leaflet circle relating to the activities of Hungarian emigrants is also of notable importance. The special collection, which numbers 5,000 items, is mostly comprised of invitation cards and advertisements.

It followed from our collection interest that we should create a special collection of newspaper cuttings which reflect on Hungarian writers and their works, and which are to be found in almost every bequest we receive.

16