The coursebook of the Czech educator Jan Amos Komenský (in Latin: Johannes Comenius, 1592–1670), the so called „Orbis pictus”, was originally made to help pupils to learn Latin the easiest way. However, it also contains materials from almost every scientific field, hence becoming a simplified encyclopaedia of the 17th century knowledge.

The work was printed first in 1658, and until 1917 it was published for almost 300 times. The first four-language edition was issued in 1666 in Latin, German, French and Italian – this particular book was also written in these languages. In the beginning, the work was illustrated with woodcuts, but later on the pictures were printed with copperplates. The coursebook contains 150 topics, each illustrated with a picture and complemented with word-lists as tools to help the pupils in the process of studying. Among the topics one can find nature, flora and fauna, religion and the aspects of human life, e. g. the human body, craftsmanship and children’s games. This book once belonged to historian János Mircse of Barátos, who left his book collection to the University Library (this catalogue can be find under the call number J 147/d I-II).

The book is part of the book adoption program of the Foundation for the University Library. Save a book, adopt a book!

For more information, please, visit our website: https://konyvtar.elte.hu/en/support-us/adopt-a-book. 

RMK III 623/a 

Komenský, Jan Amos 

Joh. Amos Comenii Orbis sensualium pictus quadrilinvis emendatus, hoc est: omnium fundamentalium in mundo rerum et vita actionum pictura et nomenclatura Germanica, Latina, Italica et Gallica. Cum titulorum indicibus atque vocabulorum dictionariolis accurante Matthia Cramero, lingv. exotic. professore. Cum gratia et privil. sac. caes. majestatis. regis Poloniae et sereniss. electoris Saxonici. 

Noribergae : sumptibus Martini Endteri, MDCCVII [1707]. 

The ELTE University Library and Archives offers extended opening hours for readers and students on weekdays and Saturdays between the 30th of May and the 1st of July 2023 until 22.00 hours, on a trial basis. Our training room will also be available, providing free computer access and learning opportunities.

We are constantly expanding our services to help ELTE students prepare for their exams efficiently and effectively, with the support of the Eötvös Loránd University Students’ Union and in cooperation with the students.

The following services are available between 20.00 and 22.00 on weekdays and between 18.00 and 22.00 on Saturdays:

• study and reading in the Reading Hall and free use of computers in the training room,
• return of books using the self-lending terminal and the book deposit box (Bibliobox),
• self-service printing and photocopying using a pre-purchased card,
• free self-service scanning.

During the extended opening hours, reception and general information is provided. The lobby, the Reading Hall and the training room are open to the public only with a pre-purchased library card.

Everyone is welcome and we wish all our students a successful spring semester!

During the Easter holidays, between the 7th of April 2023 and the 10th of April 2023, the ELTE University Library and Archives is closed.

From the 11th of April 2023, we are open with our full range of services.

We wish you a happy and blessed Easter! 

This missal was printed in 1704 in Nagyszombat (Trnava, Slovakia), and contains the text of the requiem mass, from the Missale Romanum, to be used in every church (based on the title page).

The book contains the complete text of the Mass with the canon, and each part is supplemented by musical notations for the sung segments. The sheets (consisting of four staves) are not engravings but rather made up of small individual pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. This becomes evident when one looks at the tiny spaces between the pieces. Besides the sheets, the volume is enriched with two-colour printing (black and red) and a copperplate engraving prefacing the canon of the mass (depicting Jesus on the cross, the Virgin Mary and Saint John). The large fonts of this folio print make it possible to read the missal from a distance. The leather markers also had a practical use: the priest could turn a page without touching the paper, thus his hands remained clean. According to the possession note on the title page, the Minorites of Lőcse (Levoča, Slovakia) used the book in the18th century (1722). The friars wrote short Latin texts on the verso of the last leaf with the date 3 November.

The book is part of the book adoption program of the Foundation for the University Library. Save a book, adopt a book!

For more information visit our website: https://konyvtar.elte.hu/en/support-us/adopt-a-book 

RMK II 534a

Missae in agenda defunctorum tantum deservientes : ex missali Romano recognito desumptae, cum ordinario, et canone, ut in ipsis servatur, ad usum, et

commoditatem omnium ecclesiarum

Tyrnaviae [Nagyszombat] : ex typographia Academica Soc. Jesu, anno M.D.CC.IV.

[1704]

The main creators of emblem books in the 16th and 17th centuries were the Jesuits followed by the Piarists. An exception was Johannes Sambucus, János Zsámboky (1531–1584), physician, court historian, the author of several emblem books. He spent a large part of his life in Vienna, but was also in correspondence with lay aristocrats and the high clergy in Hungary. One of his most famous works was the Emblemata (1564) published by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp. The emblem book in our picture was published six years later in the same city by Philips Galle. The volume also contains 16 engravings and the Carmen heroicum by humanist physician Hugo Favolino. The work is generally regarded as a laudation of John of Austria (1547–1578), the victorious Spanish general at the battle of Lepanto (1571), but a number of quite complex interpretations have been recently proposed. Most of the emblems depict military deeds and virtues with Classic inscriptions, triumphal arches decorated with mythological heroes and gods, but also include contemporary references (e.g. Ottoman garments). The work is related to the apologetic literary tradition associated with the heroes of the battle of Lepanto, in which we can perceive the recreation of the Classical literature. The copy preserved in the University Library and Archives is damaged (signatures C5-6 and D1-6 are missing).

The book is part of the book adoption program of the Foundation for the University Library. Save a book, adopt a book!

For more information, please, visit our website at https://konyvtar.elte.hu/en/support-us/adopt-a-book.

RMK III 134/b 

Arcus aliquot triumphal, et monimenta victor. classicae in honor invictissimi ac illustris. Iani Austriae, victoris non quieturi, auctor Ioan. Sambuco. Quibus adiectum est eiusdem argumenti Carmen heroicum per Hugonem Favolinum. 

Antverpiae [Antwerpen] : apud Philippum Gallaeum MDLXXII [1572] 

In 1648, Italian astronomer and astrologer Andrea Argoli (1570–1657) published his astronomical ephemerides for the years between 1641 and 1700. In 1676, the astronomers of the University of Nagyszombat (Trnava, Slovakia) adapted this work for Hungary and Austria, and the Academic Press printed the calendar in the same year (or maybe at the end of the last one). The compilers thoroughly explain the structure at the beginning of the volume, the same information for every day of the year: feast days, astronomical observations, lunar phase, duration of day and night, weather, Austrian anniversaries etc. A prognostication for the year and two writings titled Dissertatio physico-mathematica (of waterbodies in Austria and Hungary) and Synopsis chronologica (main events in Austria from Rudolf I to Leopold I, from 1218 to 1675) follow the almanac. A family tree of the Habsburgs – which traces its origins back to Pharamond, the legendary king of the Franks – ends the book. The copy of the University Library is unique: a nobleman near Pozsony (Bratislava, Slovakia), András Szency wrote his diary on blank leaves after each month, giving a short description of almost every day, thus making it possible to reconstruct his whole year. Several leaves were added to the end of the book as well, which contain the account book of Szency with precise numbers. The calendar and the diary later came into the possession of the Hédervári family.

The book is part of the book adoption program of the Foundation for the University Library. Save a book, adopt a book!
For more information, please visit our website: https://konyvtar.elte.hu/en/support-us/adopt-a-book.

RMK II 260a:2

Calendarium typographiae Tyrnaviensis, ad annum a nato in terris Deo, M. DC. LXXVI. ad meridianum Tyrnaviensem, ad elevationem poli XLVIII. graduum, adeoque in usum praecipuorum locorum tam in Ungaria, quam in Austria, nec non adjacentium provinciarum, supputatum ex calculis ... Andreae Argoli / opera et studio, astrophili cuiusdam in Academia Tyrnaviensi Regni Ungariae Tyrnaviae [Nagyszombat] : typis Academicis, [1676].

The mission of the ELTE University Library and Archives, which won the Hungarian Heritage Award and – as part of the University Library Service – the title of Qualified Library in 2018, as well as the EFQM “Committed to Excellence” certificate in 2020, is to provide Hungarian and foreign academic teachers, researchers and students with domestic and foreign literature, intending to integrate them into the international circulation of scientific life. Now, you can also help to ensure free access to information, to preserve and digitize our cultural values, and to acquire modern technological equipment and implement continuous service development. Please, support the Foundation for the University Library by offering 1% of your tax. 

The Foundation for the University Library was established in 2005 to provide the technical modernization for the ELTE University Library and Archives and help expansing its services and protecting its holdings. The library's old book collection of nearly two million documents is part of the national cultural heritage and is also significant in Europe, so it is our shared responsibility to preserve these values ​​for the rising generation.

The non-profit organization, led by Dr. Péter Kiszl, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, significantly supports the library's value-saving activities. In order to restore the volumes of the collection, which requires special attention and constant preservation, the foundation has launched a book adoption program. In addition, it contributes to the organization of events promoting the values ​​and the professional work of the University Library and Archives, the publication of a wall calendar presenting the rarities of the library and the university’s cultural heritage, as well as the publication of the Traditions and Challenges conference volume and acquiring new technical equipment.

More information about the support possibilities of the Foundation for the University Library is available here.

Foundation for the University Library

H-1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6.

Phone: +36 1 411 6738

Email: alapitvany@lib.elte.hu

Tax number: 18121362-1-41

Account number: 12010532-00120645-00100003

The Library will be closed between the 23rd of December and 1st of January 2023. Our library's services will be available from the 2nd of January 2023. 

We wish all our dear readers a very merry Christmas and a successful New Year!

The opening hours of the ELTE University Library and Archives will be changed from the 5th of December 2022. Our library is open on weekdays between 9.00 and 15.00 to offer our readers a full range of services, on Saturdays our Reading Hall is available between 9.00 and 15.00 for study and reading. Borrowed books may be returned using our Bibliobox in the lobby until 18.00 on opening days.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and supportive cooperation.

The ELTE University Library and Archives will be closed on the 25th of November 2022 due to a university event. From Saturday (from the 26th of November 2022) we are waiting for our visitors according to the usual opening hours.