György Kara (descr.): The Mongol and Manchu Manuscripts and Blockprints in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Foreword

FOREWORD The Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, possesses some three hundred and twenty Mongol and some thirty Manchu manuscripts and blockprints. The Mongol collection was founded by Louis Ligeti (1902-1987) who gave the Academy of Sciences more than hundred Mongol books he brought back from his journey in Inner Mongolia and China (see his Rapport préliminaire, 1933, and his handwritten list kept in the Oriental Collection). The only "Mongolian" book he found then in the possession of the library of the academy was an anonymous glossary compiled from Kowalewski's dictionary. Marking it as no. 1, he put it at the head of the books he generously presented. A fine 17th century Kharachin manuscript of the pre-classical Mongolian version with the Tibetan text of Sa-skya pandita's Treasury of Good Sayings is perhaps the oldest and most valuable unit in his material. Among the youngest are some rare periodica from the time of his journey, publications of the Begejing Mongyol Bicig-ün Qoriya, and a Daur booklet in Merse's Roman alphabet. Ligeti also presented a manuscript of the Moghol poet Abd el-Qader. In 1957, following an invitation by Yöngsiyebü Rinchen (1905-1977), he sent three Hungarian orientalists, his students (Katalin Uray-Kőhalmi, András Róna-Tas, György Kara) to Mongolia. This three-month trip significantly contributed to the Mongol and the Tibetan collection of the library. In the 1960s and 1970s, numerous manuscripts (texts of folk religion, a chapter of the Oirat Geser, Baradin's Buryat play Abazha in Zhamtsarano's hand-written copy, brush-written chapters of translations from Chinese popular novels) and (mostly but not only Buryat) xylographs (for instance, a nice 18th century Peking print of the Üliger-ün dalai) came here as Rinchen's gift. To Ligeti he presented a large pre-classical Mongol manuscript of Mi-la's Vita which, according to the owner's will, became a part of the collection. Further occasional acquisitions (purchase, sometimes gift) from persons who worked or travelled in Mongolia augmented this material. The small Manchu collection began with some blockprints from Gabriel (Gábor) Bálint of Szentkatolna (1844-1913), a member of Count Béla Széchenyi's East Asian expedition. It was continued by Ligeti's donation. Some units arrived from Rinchen. Dictionaries and textbooks, translations of Chinese classics and the handbook of the Manchu official cult characterize this collection. In 1978 Lajos Bese (1926-1988) published a hand-list of the Mongol and Manchu collections kept in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Since then the library has added some new acquisitions. VII