Rétfali Gábor (szerk.): A Szombathelyi Egyházmegyei Könyvtár ősnyomtatványainak és antikváinak katalógusa (Szombathely, 2006)
Az idézett művek jegyzéke
Obviously, the contents and the adequate marking of the volumes are determined by the intentions of the founder and the function of the library. These two aspects can be detected in the foundations of old book collections or libraries. The core of the Library was founded by Szily, János, later enhancements just added to it. On founding the Library Bishop Szily gave clear instructions as to how to use it. Inspired by his instructions demanding exploration, those in the seminary responsible for the Library devised a rather sophisticated system of catalogues. These catalogues were organized in line with the requirements of the owner and with the general practice of the era. These needs and requirements were also determined by the functions of the Library and the religious character of the Library stock. In represents invaluable help for the seminary, for priest teachers and novices alike. This special aim accounts for the fact that first the classified, subject catalogue was compiled in line with the subjects of the seminary. Alphabetical and topographical catalogues were set up to tackle the problems caused by the ever-increasing number of books. These tools were devised one after the other to complement each other to form a fully-fledged catalogue system. From the structure and contents of the cards it is clear to see that although the catalogues were trying to help the user identify and find the items, they were designed rather to describe the particular volume. These catalogues met the needs of the users in the first two decades after the foundation of the Library. For today’s users they might seem somewhat complicated and awkward to use but they definitely organized a valuable collection of books into a true library. It is not only the entire stock of the Szombathely Diocese Library that represents immense and outstanding cultural value but special attention should be paid to its collection of the incunabula and antiquities. It is highly significant and remarkable that the Library possesses 30 incunabula which can be found in this Library only and exclusively. Among these items one finds books invaluable not only because of their rarity but because of their contents. The Library founded by Szily, János has always been an integral and key element in the town’s cultural life. Its existence was a unique opportunity to leam not only for teacher and their students, for the intelligentsia of the town, but paved the way for book publishing, printing and binding to set foot in Szombathely. 24
