Books from Hungary 1960. 1. [antikvár]

BIBLIOTHECA HUNGARICA ANTIQUA Facsimile édition of old Hungárián books The Bibliotheca Hungarica Antiqua, started in the last month of 1959 by the Institute for the History of Litera-ture of the Hungárián Academy of Sciences is a sériés edited by Béla Varjas, consisting of facsimiles of rarities from the early centuries of Hungárián book printing. These works of outstanding literary and scientific importance in a get-up suited to the style of the period are meant for both scholars and book lovers. This is the continuation of an old undertaking of the Academy, initiated by Áron Szilády in the past century but discontinued in the years of World War I. The sériés covers such créations of the Hungárián past as have corne down to us in but one or very few copies. These rarities are usually among the cherished treasures of some library in Hungary or abroad and are therefore not easily accessible even to research workers though they represent valuable sources to be consulted by the histórián of literature, the linguist, the histórián, the ethnographer, the musicologist, the historiographer of printing as well as other specialists. Up-to-date scientific research can no longer rest satisfied with the éditions of old sources in a more or less exact transcription; it cannot do without the inspection and examination of the original texts, because authoritative scientific results can only be achieved by carefully analysing the original sources. Another circumstance that makes the publication of these rarities imperative is that, in spite of ail the care devoted to their conservation, the few surviving copies may get lost or destroyed. Many of our literary monuments were lost in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, during the Turkish occupation ot Hungary, many hundreds of them were lost or destroyed in the years between the Hungárián War of Independence of 1848-49 and the end of World War I, owing to the wars or other reasons. Therefore the conservation of the best works still extant, reproduced in facsimile éditions executed with high technical skill, is a duty towards our cultural legacy. The programme of the first four years covers the publication of some fourteen works, priority being given among them to the rarest copies. The first volume of the sériés already published is János Sylvester's translation of the New Testament printedin 1541 at Sárvár-Újsziget. This is the first book printed in Hungary in the Hungárián language, a highly important work for the history of the Hungárián language and science, the richest in illustrations among those published here in the sixteenth century. The second volume to be out soon is Sebestyén Tinódi's Cronica published in 1554 at Cluj. Tinódi compiled in this volume illustrated with musical notes the rhymed chronicles encouraging his compatriots to fight against the Turks and relating the battles fought after the fall of Buda in 1541. These chronicles are authen-tic historical sources which have not only been studied by historians but become the inspiration of many a Hungárián poet of modem times. O Bibliotheca Hungarica Antiqua. Publishing House of the Hungárián Academy of Sciences @ Bibliotheca Hungarica Antiqua. Publishing Houle of the Hungárián Academy of Sciences The next volume will contain István Székely's Világkrónika (World Chronicle), the first "history of the world" written in Hungárián. The work published in 1559 has conserved many interesting conceptions on the history of mankind. These will be followed, presumably in i960, by Imre Ozorai's De Christo et eius Ecclesia of 1535, with Hungárián text under the Latin title. Ozorai was a pioneer of the Reformation in Hungary; his book gives us an insight into the social background of the diffusion of Reformation in Hungary. The next volume will be Heltai's Concionale, from 1574 containing the most populär historical lays of the mid-sixteenth century. Each volume is supplemented by a treatise based on scientific research—and offering, at the same time, easy reading—concerning the author, the origin of the work, its compilation, the history of its éditions and variants with ample references and information. The Publishing House of the Hungárián Academy of Sciences, in compliance with the international réputation of its publications and in a form worthy of the mission of the sériés, issues each volume in a get-up accurately reproducing the original édition by applying the most up-to-date printing methods, on hand-made paper, bound in leather, with the contemporary decorative motifs.