A unique collection of manuscripts and incunabula is a golden intellectual fund of Uzhhorod National University
It's no secret that at the time of electronic media and the Internet the role of libraries, as the leading source information for researchers and students, somewhat weakened, but the importance of libraries, as guardians of knowledge and witnesses of the intellectual progress of humanity, remains a priority. One can make such a conclusion having visited the department of incunabula and rare books of the Scientific Library of Uzhhorod National University.
Witnesses of culture
- A carefully preserved collection of old books is a real national treasure, the evidence of cultural traditions, historical events illustrating the important stages of the history not only of Transcarpathia, but also of Central Europe in general, – says the director of the library Mariya Medved, with whom we had a conversation on the eve of the National Day of Libraries.
Today, the fund of the Department of Incunabula and Rare Books of the Scientific Library of UzhNU has 20,576 unique manuscripts and printed books of XV-XIX centuries. The collection was formed over four centuries and is a unique source of information on the Central European and national history, the history of culture, books and book science, book art and printing. Many books have valuable signs of the time on them such as bookplates, autographs and marginal records of prominent personalities. The funds of the department include incunabula (editions of the XV century), palaeotypes (first half of the XVI century.), aldines, frobens and elseveries - editions of the most famous European publishing firms of the XVI-XVIII centuries, other books printed in Latin and Cyrillic alphabets and a collection of manuscripts.
Incunabula
The records on incunabula say that they were delivered to Transcarpathia from different cities of Western Europe in the second half of the XVI century and belonged to famous aristocrats such as L.Fekete, B.Schaeffer, I.Fallai and others. The incunabula were donated to Jesuit College.
The incunabula represent the works by such Roman writers as Marcus Tullius Cicero (speeches and oratorical works), Publius Ovidius Naso "Metamorphoses", "Heroines", "Fasti", "Tristia", Valerius Maximus "Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings", Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus "The twelve Caesars" and Claudius Ptolemaeus “Cosmography".
A separate section contains the incunabula by some Christian writers of the III-VII centuries including Lactantius "The Divine Institutes", Eusebius Pamphili "Church History", John Chrysostom "Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew", Augustine of Hippo "Expositions of the Psalms", "The Art of Preaching", Orosius "History" and St. Gregory the Great "Moral on the Book of Job", writers of the XII-XV centuries: Johannes Balbus "Grammar and Etymological Dictionary", Bernardin de Sienne "Speeches", Gerson “The imitation of Christ", Jacobus de Voragine "The Legends of the Saints", two Bibles and some others.
Most of the incunabula were printed in the 90-ies of the XV century. The two oldest ones originate from the mid-60-ies of the XV century. They are the work by Augustine of Hippo "The Art of Preaching" and the work by John Chrysostom.
- Most of the incunabula that can be found in our library were published in Venice, others - in Basel, Strasbourg, Nuremberg, Paris, Augsburg and Ulm, says the head of the museum Ihor Zombor. - Some of the incunabula are very rare and we do not have their equivalents in other libraries of Ukraine and former Soviet Union.
- The university managers submitted all the necessary papers with the request to recognize rare books kept in the Scientific library of Uzhhorod National University a national heritage, and the University has been waiting for the decision for two years already, - says the Vice-Rector for Research Professor Ihor Studenyak.
Palaeotypes and manuscripts
Palaeotypes are another kind of old books. These are the books that were published during the first half of the XVI century. At present, there are 225 copies of palaeotypes in the department of the library (47 of them were found among the books of the library in 2014-2015). A lot of marginal records reveal some new information about the distant past of the Carpathian region.
The collection contains editions of famous European printing companies of the XV-XVII centuries owned by Aldo from Italy (Venice), Etienne from France (Paris, Geneva), two Dutch Plantin (Antwerp, Leiden) and Elzevir (Leiden, Antwerp) and the leading French publisher of the XVIII century Didot (Paris).
The collection of manuscripts of the Scientific Library of UzhNU contains 560 units including 70 copies of Cyrillic manuscripts of the XVI-XIX centuries. The collection of manuscripts also contains the works by Transcarpathian writers, public and cultural figures V.Dovhovych, O.Dukhnovych, A.Kotsak and historian M.Luchkay. There is also one of the oldest Transcarpathian manuscripts "Menaion" as of 1500 and others. The books with the autographs of O.Dukhnovych, A.Kralytskyy, I.Orlay, A.Batchynskyy and some other outstanding figures should be mentioned. To preserve this golden intellectual fund is the only way to provide future generations of researchers with complete and versatile information.
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