47. évfolyam, 2001. 3. szám
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Examining the truth of the “habent sua fata libelli” in a collection of books on library science

HANGODI Á.

Könyvtári Figyelő (Library Review) New Series 11. (Vol. 47.) 2001. No. 3. pp. 451 – 468. 

 

The special collection of the Metropolitan Library in librarinaship was founded upon the initiative of the library director of the time, Ervin Szabó, in 1904. The successor of the institution, the Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library, has decided a few years ago to donate a part of the special collection, consisting of about 1500 volumes, significant from the point of view of book history, to the Library Science Library of the National Széchényi Library. Hangodi has made a historical analysis of the books while processing them. She paid attention not only to the contents of the books but also to their outfit, binding, illustrations, notes, ex librises. What is more, their use could also be traced since their majority contained lending cardsas well.

Already the oldest foreign volumes from the 18th and 19th centuries have influenced contemporary Hungarian librarianship with their novelty or with their defects. Books borrowed or donated by outstanding Hungarian librarians, historians of writing, books or libraries or the ones who had become famous later (e.g. E. Szabó, B. Kőhalmi, L. Dienes, G. Sebestyén, B. Hamvas, V. Wessetzky, B. Kéki, Gy.Walleshausen, G. Borsa, I. Papp) give an insight into what they were dealing with, or give hints about the development of their ideas. Readings are related by the author of the writings of the historians mentioned.

This partial collection, giving a view of the early history of the Metropolitan Library being a sort of foggy even today, reflect mostly the development and composition of the collection, but it also contains interesting Hungarica unknown so long.

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