Rózsa György (szerk.): The Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1826–1976.

I. Historical outline

Its president, later corresponding member of the Academy, Du Ponceau wrote on 5th January 1833 that he would be pleased to send on exchange the year-books of the Society issued from 1770. The first Annual of the Academy published in 1833 was sent to the following societies: Institut de France, Royal Society of London and Edinburgh, American Philosophical Society, Bayerische Akademie, Göttingische Akademie, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Academy of St. Petersburg, Royal Asiatic Society of Calcutta, Czech Scientific Society, and a year later the Florence Academy, Archaeological Academy of Rome, Royal Swedish Academy. In the covering letter of the exchange copies president József Teleki and the secretary-general Gábor Döbrentei drafted the principles operative up to the present: the exchange of publications is a means of scientific cooperation and solidarity of mankind fostering the sciences and arts. The first sending of exchange copies made it possible to establish personal contacts among the members of different national academies. It was the founder and vice-president of the Hungarian Academy, Count István Széchenyi, who presented the first volumes of the Annual to Schelling at the Bayerische Akademie, to Gay-Lussac at the Institut de France, and to the Earl of Sussex at the Royal Society in London and in the name of the Hungarian Academy he personally addressed the sessions of the above institutions in Paris and London. By the means of exchange relations the Academy joined in the circulation system of the world of science and at the same time the Library managed to acquire invaluable publications. A great amount of modern scientific publications were given to the Library on exchange, and later, under difficult financial circumstances, it was the international exchange which — several times — remained the only real possibility of acquisition. At the beginning codices, linguistic records and manuscripts were mainly presented to the Library by donators. In the 1830s the copying of materials related to Hungary in foreign and Hungarian archives and the collecting of the literary remains of scholars and scientists were started. The public character of the Library in the first years could not be guaranteed with much success. The use of the Teleki-collection had been allowed by the family twice a month before it was taken over by the Library. As far as the existing holdings of the Academy are concerned, owing to lack of space, equipment and personnel, it was only the periodicals and latest publications purchased or given on exchange which were accessible to members wanting to gather information. In 1836 the Academy moved from the premises of Deronhouse to Trattner-Károlyi-house at 612 Úri Street (the present 3 Sándor Petőfi Street), where in 1837 — following the offices of the secretary-general — the Library also succeeded in getting four larger rooms and four smaller ones. Systematic processing could be started. The archivist Gergely Czuczor began to compile the first alphabetical catalogue in book form which was continued by his successors till 1841. It contained a short description of the miscellaneous materials stored by the Academy. The sorting and cataloguing of the total holdings were carried out by the secretary-general Ferenc Toldy with the help of