Books from Hungary 1961. 2 [antikvár]

FIFTEEN YEARS OF HUNGARIAN PUBLISHING A big volume of almost four-hundred pages, entitled Y]ungarian PubUshing —19(compiled by János Bak, Budapest, i960, 382 pp.) came out last autumn. On grounds of statistical data checked upon bibliographically, it gives a detailed cross-section of the past fifteen years of book publishing in Hungary. In addition to explanatory texts, the book contains 284 statistical tables. The unusually exhaustive data give an interesting picture of the structure of Hungarian publishing, as well as of its development and formation in the course of these fifteen years. Unlike the practice followed in other countries, the Hungarian statistics of books consider the total output of books since 1945 and, out of the data thus obtained, defines the different groups showing the results achieved in book publishing in Hungary according to the kinds of publications, their character, subject matter, etc. Based on the national bibliography the output of books in 1938 is also elaborated in the volume, which thus gives a basis of comparison with the last year of peace preceding the Second World War. The following data taken from the first table of the volume shows the development in the publication of books: All Publications Year Qun^bcr lengih in thousand 1 number of copies pages {in millions) 1958 8,156 590.4 17-5 1946 3,602 292.8 16.1 1949 j 6,124 547-2 , 48.0 19!! 17,507 2054.4 i 44.8 i9!9 i 19,812 2139.2 1 52.9 The proportion between scientific, educational, technical and special literature which have been published is given in the following table. Scientific literature . . . Works diffusing general knowledge Technical and spccial literature Number of Copies in Millions >945-«959 [ '919 35-9 ! 1-3 215.4 1 8.4 57-5 4.i Scientific literature, according to the Hungarian statistics of books, comprises works containing new results achieved by original research, or else a systematic and scientific summary of a branch of science or some special field. In 1938, 231 scientific works totalling in 45,299 pages were published in 302,500 copies as against the 530 scientific works totalling 177,392 pages, published in 1,344,000 copies in 1959. Nor do these figures in themselves reveal very much. Deficiencies of several decades in the publishing of scientific books in Hungary had to be made up. To begin with it was mostly translations that appeared. From 1955 onwards, on the other hand, Hungarian works took the place of foreign ones and the publication of scientific books, written originally in Hungarian and covering all fields of science, came into being. Yearbooks of Hungary's scientific institutes, appearing regularly, moreover systematizing summaries (which had been lacking for a long time) of the several branches of sciences and, last but not least, scientific works containing the new results of original research were among those publications. It was particularly in the fields of medicine, of natural sciences (first and foremost mathematics), linguistics (especially scientific dictionaries) and of fine arts that works were published in a great number of copies. Not only in Hungary but abroad too, these books had a resounding success. Works diffusing general knowledge convey information about sciences of their special branches in a popular way and are not destined for the tuition of specialists. The number of copies of those books which has increased by leaps and bounds is most characteristic of the development of the past fifteen years. The average number of copies was over ten thousand in the period between 1949 and 1955. The aim of the large-scale publishing of educational books (in 1949, 61.6 per cent of the total number of copies of books published in Hungary were works diffusing general knowledge) was to create a new reading public from the masses of people who had not read at all before. This was achieved by the publication of inexpensive popular works—mostly in the form of brochures—chiefly political, economic and scientific, or other dealing with related subjects. Hungarian book publishing has achieved this aim. The basic—and often first— reading matter of the new public belonged mainly to educational works, which had been published in several hundred thousand copies and boosted by new methods (sale of books in factories, from kiosks in the streets, book fairs, mobile libraries, etc.). Thus they reached workers and peasants alike. Recently there has been a rise in the number of educational works published in book form. Works written to increase knowledge in some special field are listed among technical and special hooks in the Hungarian statistics of books. Such works were published in Hungary even prior to 1945, but only in certain fields, (H. g. special books of law, medicine, agriculture, etc.) In the course of the past ten years the picture has es-