The passion for book collecting
Pesti Napló, February 1897 (Volume 48, Nos. 32-59) 1897-02-20 / No. 51
Recently, the passion for book collecting has become very common in Italy, and with it the Italian antiquarian book trade has also developed amazingly. Apart from the products of German literature, the Milanese and Roman markets can confidently compete with the Leipzig book market in terms of cheapness. The only reason why French, English, and even Italian books still flow into Hungary from Germany is the favorable trade and postal agreement concluded with Germany. And it is amazing that no matter how much book collecting and book trade develop in Italy, the most complete and valuable Dante library is still in Dresden.
There are also book collectors who indulge in this noble passion purely out of whim. Some collect only folios, some collect books only for the sake of binding, and Professor Albrecht collected books for thirty years solely to prove that Lessing was the world's greatest plagiarist.
Such capricious collectors are naturally exploited by unscrupulous antiquarians as much as they can.
they are blackmailed. The victim usually suspects this, and that is why a true book collector buys from 3-4 dealers at once, so that he can make comparisons, and it really takes years to test the reliability of each antiquarian. And a book lover can often get a book that he thinks is very expensive to buy from a third party for a very cheap price.
The book auction, which is very fashionable abroad, is intended to help with this problem. If an antiquarian gets access to a large library, he prints out a list of the books — without prices, and sends the list to his regular customers. The buyer then offers the book what it is worth to him, and for that money he gets it at the public auction. It would be a good idea to introduce these auctions here in Hungary. Hungarian book lovers would then be able to supplement their collections much more easily, and public libraries would also be able to acquire the books that they have been shamefully lacking so far. For example, the national museum library, which contains half a million books, has hardly any of the publications of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Because in Hungary, public libraries are the most dispassionate book collectors.
It is interesting that the most sought-after and most expensive book in Hungary is the list of names of noble families. They promise 120-150 forints for a complete copy, — even though this work was printed in very large numbers. Ipolyi's Hungarian Mythology, which is now sold for sixty forints instead of five, is so expensive because of the small number of copies.
The products of Hungarian literature are hardly ever found in antiquarian bookshops. — New copies of the works of Arany, Vörösmarty, Tompa, Eötvös are not even sold out, — let alone being available at antiquarian bookshops for cheap money. It seems that the proverb «habent sua fata libelli» was invented for Hungary.