Kulich Julianna - Török Róbert: „A good merchant is the benefactor of the world”. Two centuries of Hungarian trade (Budapest, 2016)

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Our current permanent trade history exhibition shows the story of Hungarian trade and industry from the first half of the 1800s until the end of the 20th century, and it makes references to today’s trade as well.

Its start date is justified by the fact that during the Hungarian reform period (19th century) there has been a substantial progress in Hungarian trade, that time within an institutionalized framework due to the then new commercial law on bills of exchange and company forms. We have extended the period covered by the exhibition, unlike previous permanent trade exhibitons, to the second half of the 20th century, showing trade in the socialist era as well. ?is is justified and made possible by large amounts of material collected by our colleagues over the past decades, and the fact that sufficient time has passed since the change of the regime.

?e exhibition is not only chronologically themed but it is arranged thematically as well. In other words, every room is focusing on a special theme. Most of these mean the presentation of different shops, allowing the visitor to learn about the world of spice stores, drug stores, candy shops, department stores, paper and stationery shops, ironmonger’s shops and others. But in addition to these, it deals with other important issues, such as the development of vocational trade education, everyday work of tradesmen, exhibitions and trade fairs, the co-operative movement, and in a nutshell it provides an overview of the advertising story and other phenomena as well.

?is publication follows the themes of the exhibition, however, both in terms of content and visual material it surpasses that. We’ve highlighted and presented more subtopics, which was not possible due to the space limitations of the exhibition. We have also added illustrations that are not included in the exhibition.