Bibliotheca Corviniana 1490-1990 [antikvár]

On the 500th anniversary of the death of King Matthias, the National Széchényi Library, successor of the once world-famous Bibliotheca Corviniana, could pay no more fitting tribute to the humanist ruler than to exhibit the items that have survived from the collection. This is the first time since the dispersal of the Corvina that such a large number of codices from the royal library have been brought together. In 1882 sixty-six Corvinas were shown at the exhibition of books organized by the Museum of Applied Art and then, almost a century later, in 1968 the public could see thirty-seven of the Corvinas to be found in Hungary at the highly successful exhibition held in the Hungarian National Museum. The 1982 Schallaburg exhibition on Matthias and the Hungarian Renaissance and the Budapest version of the exhibition in 1983 assembled some forty Corvinas. Several Corvinas could also be seen in the National Széchényi Library's 1985 exhibition on "Codices in mediaeval Hungary". Today scholars know of the existence of 216 authentic Corvinas in different public and private collections around the world. We have now brought together more than half of this considerable quantity of codices that once formed part of a single collection, overcoming the technical and stock protection difficulties, with the aim of reconstructing the fullest possible picture of the stock in King Matthias's famed library. We wish to express our gratitude to all the public and private collections in Hungary and abroad which have agreed to place their cherished Corvinas at our disposal, to allow us to present a substantial part of the remnants of the Bibliotheca Corviniana on this special anniversary. We also extend our thanks to all those institutions that have made substantial material contributions and donations, enabling us to hold the exhibition in a manner befitting the occasion.