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Philip the Handsome, Maximilian I (1459-1519) also set great store by the new
art,’ though the manuscripts played a leading part in his library or the manuscript
like illuminated printed materials and the high-quality engravings. Ferdinand II
of Aragon (1452-1516) and Isabelle I of Castile (1451-1504) also considered sup¬
porting publishing important, since a known printing house was already run in
Castilie in 1472.8 The instructions of the Catholic Monarchs issued in 1502 in
Toledo (Pragmätica) dealt with the investigation of the standards of content and
form in printing. This censorship law namely dwelt on the quality of ink or pa¬
per and the shape of the characters.” Scholars give different reasons about why
the spread of printed materials in royal collections was late, sometimes pointing
to genres where manuscripts existed for a longer period, like musical works or
books of hours." We also have data about royals having published books copied
and illuminating them magnificently." Yet, the analyses from a history of reading
approach are worth considering the most. As mentioned previously, the printed
book, the Gutenberg-galaxy demanded a different set of reading and understand¬
ing skills. In the codices the text and the images were egually important, in fact,
the pictures more prominent, since we can easily recognise what we see, whereas
abstract thought is needed in order to grasp the meaning of the text. Ihe images
shaped the interpretation of the text. Although many studies analyse this phe¬
nomenon in relation to the editions of antique authors,” the approach closer to
this topic is the previously mentioned excellent monograph of Laetitia Le Guay
on the Philippe de Commynes and Jean Froissart manuscripts used by generations
of Dukes of Burgundy.”
Matthias Hunyadi’s relation to printed books was analysed by Lajos Dézsi”
and many other scholars. The printed materials belonging to the library was even¬
tually recorded by Jolan Balogh; Csaba Csapodi exhaustively commented on
each of her statements.”
7 Ow the passion of the Spanish kings to collect books: Sarrid, ed. Les rois bibliophiles, 1985. On
Maximilian I: HAAG-SANDBICHLER, hrsg., Maximilian I, 2019, MADERSBACHER-POKORNY, hrsg.,
Maximilianus, 2019.
68 Cr. EscoLar 1987.
® Cr. SARRIA, ed. Les rois bibliophiles, 1985. catalogue with the chapter „La bibliophilie d’Isabelle la
Catholique’.
9 Cr. Dear, ed, La librairie de Marguerite d'Autriche, 1987, XVIII-XIX.
Corsten 1995, 128.; cf. with Csaba Csapodis entry (Corvina): CoRsTEN-PFLUG-SCHMIDT¬
KÜNSEMÜLLER, hrsg., Lexikon des gesamten Buchwesen, 1987, 185.
SEE e.g.: STACKMANN 1967.
3 Le Guay 1998.
4 Deézsi L. 1902, 167-171.
75 Barocu J. 1966, I, 330-334.
7 Csapopi 1973 accepts three of the eight volumes claimed by BALocu J. 1966 as authentic and extant
corvinas: Nr. 438 (Nicolai de Ausmo), Nr. 54 (Aristotle), and Nr. 695 (Virgil), one volume is at an
unknown place, if it still exists: Nr. 983 (Statuta Romae), two volumes are doubtful according to him:
Nr. 409 (Lucanus), Nr. 682 (Leonardus de Utino), he claims one volume is definitely not a corvina: Nr.
46 (Antoninus), and one volume was bought by Matthias for the Carthusian monastery in Lévdld, not
part of the Bibliotheca Corvina: Nr. 566 (Raynerius de Pisis).
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