Gyula Todoreszku was born 150 years ago – Exhibition

It has been long due for National Széchényi Library to set up the first exhibition presenting the unmatched library of Gyula Todoreszku. The central part of the collection, the significance of which can be compared only to the donations of Ferenc Széchényi and Sándor Apponyi, is provided by early Hungarian prints, but it also includes incunabula, manuscripts and rare Cyrill-letter and Romanian-language publications. Todoreszku’s illness and early death prevented him from donating his treasures to the nation personally. His will concerning his intention to donate was fulfilled by his wife, Aranka Horváth. It was her who kept on generously supporting the development and maintenance of the collection.

A catalog was made of the Todoreszku-Horváth Library in 1922, and not much later unique items of the collection were also processed. Later, however, there had been silence about this topic. Recently, the collection got into the forefront of research again on account of its unpublished watermark collection and the bibliographically unknown Romanian-language prints.

The exhibition presents a selection from the treasures of the library, which can rarely be seen, presenting at the same time their history, while selecting from documents related to the fate of the collection and from furnishings donated together with the library. Todoreszku’s library also draws attention on account of book bindings made by outstanding contemporary designer artists.

Curators: Bernadett Varga (Early Printed Books Collection) and István Elbe (Director of Information Services)

The chamber exhibition will be open between September 16 and January 28, 2017, on the corridor adjacent to the Manuscript Collection during the opening hours of the Reading Room.Visitors, who do not own a Reader Pass to NSZL, can attend our temporary exhibitions for a flat fee of HUF 400.

Guided tours:

• 3 p.m. on October 4, 2016
• 3 p.m. on October 11, 2016

Invitation card

Poster

Viktor Akantisz: The Old Hungarian Library of Dr. Gyula Todoreszku and his Wife Aranka Horváth in the Hungarian Electronic Library

Gallery