AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1963-1964. Budapest (1966)

III. Az OSZK gyűjteményeinek anyagából - Soltész Zoltánné: Az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár ősnyomtatvány-gyűjteménye - The collection of incunabula in the National Széchényi Library

The collection of incunabula in the National Széchényi Library E. SOLTÉSZ In. 1802, by the time Count Ferenc Széchényi had laid the foundation of Hungary's National Library there were hardly forty incunabula in its collection. Nevertheless, by the end of the century this collection grew to be the greatest in Hungary due to the generosity of the scientists, citizens and bibliophile noblemen supporting the development of the National Library and the regular purchases of the library. Széchényi's small stock of incunabula became an important collection after the purchase of Miklós Jankovich, famous book and art collector's library (1832, 1851). At this time nearly 550 incunabula entered the possession of the National Széchényi Library. The most valuable piece of the acquisition was the first Hungarian print Chronica Hungarorum published in Buda in 1473 and the Thuróczy Krónika published in Augsburg in 1488 which was one of the parchment copies with a preface printed in gold. In the 19th century the collection increased considerably with some valuable donations by Palatine Joseph further with the library of István Illésházy, landowner in Dubnicz ^ind Lajos Farkas, landowner in Lbsonc, as well as with the collection of István Horvát, university professor and librarian. Among the valuable pieces the library bought, the following are worth mentioning: Second edition of the Gonstitutiones inclyti regni Hungáriáé''' published by Kachelofen in Leipzig and bought in 1873; the splendidly illuminated parchment copy of Missale Quinqueecclesiense (Venice 1499) bought for 40 gold coins in 1878 and Missale glagoliticum (Senj 1494) bought for 1505 marks in 1895. The collection, which consisted in 1902 of 1100 volumes was enriched by the material coming from the Old Hungarian Library of the landowner dr. Gyula Todoreszku and from the precious Hungarica collection of Count Sándor Apponyi. At the beginning of the fifties it was further increased by the nationalized material from dissolved libraries. It was from this material that the only Corvina incunabulum of the collection, the copy of Nicolaus de Ausmo's Supplementuni Summae Pisanellae (Venice 1473), illuminated for King Matthias came into the possession of the library. The library bought in 1957 the fragment of the Gutenberg Bible of 42 lines and in 1960 Franz Renner's and Petrus de Bártfa's Venetian Breviárium Romanian edition of 1478. According to the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke and the Italian catalogue of incunabula only two copies were known to be in existence from the latter. In 1963 the collection of incunabula consisted of 1742 prints originating from the XV. century. Over 850 incunabula were prepared in German and over 600 in Italian printing houses. In the collection there are 142 incunabula from Basel, 30 from France, 21 from the Netherlands, 19 from Vienna, 14 from Belgium, 9 from Bohemia, 1 from Hungary, 1 from Spain, 1 from Portugal and 1 from Montenegro. Comparatively only a few XV. century's books from West European countries have reached us. The collection contains 74 German, 15 Italian, 11 Greek, 3 Czech, 1 Latin-Dutch, 1 Hebrew, and two incunabula (1 Glagolite -and 1 Cyrill) written in the language of the Old Church Slavonic. The incunabula are likely to have been guarded in the honorary hall of the library even -at the end of the last century. According to our information their first thourongh catalogue was prepared in 1888 and in 1895 a printed catalogue

—containing 896 works and numerous duplicats — was published by Ignác Horváth. In the early fifties the collection was rearranged and the pieces got new location marks. Simultaneously modern catalogue-cards •of the incunabula have been made and catalogues presenting the collection from twelve points of view have been drawn up. The rich collection of incunabula and their catalogues in the national library facilitated to work out the union catalogue prepared for the press for 1963 •of nearly 7000 incunabula guarded in Hungary's libraries. 128