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Exhibiting decorated medieval codices has always been a rewarding task. Pro¬
fessionals, philologists, book historians, have been using these opportunites of the
exhibitions of the manuscripts to show that these displays go far beyond profes¬
sional interests. Ihese certainly cannot be financed without conveying the social
and political messages linked to the subject of the research. In fact, a major ex¬
hibition was organised, initiated specifically as a result of the collaboration of the
philological world.
1he first corvina exhibition was organised in 1877, when the Hungarian Na¬
tional Museum displayed the 35 codices that Sultan Abdul Hamid II presented
to the students of Pest. This gesture by the Sultan, and the subseguent exhibi¬
tion resulted in considerable press coverage and the publication of new studies on
the origin of the codices. Afterwards, Emperor Franz Joseph decided to donate
the four gift codices he received from Abdulaziz to the Hungarian National Li¬
brary. In the period between the two world wars, especially around the 500th
anniversary of the birth of Matthias Hunyadi (1940), research on the Bibliotheca
Corvina was given new impetus, but the time was not ideal for organising major
exhibitions. However, a bibliography of the history of the library was produced
with the aim to achieve a complete bibliography at that time.’ The Hungarian
representatives, those who had lost their wars and their country, excluded from
the community of nations, wanted to emphasise their belonging to the European
nations by presenting this collection.
The communist Hungarian state also implicitly considered it important to pre¬
sent the history of the famous library for the same purpose. However, it should be
noted that after 1963 the institutes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences deal¬
ing with Renaissance research, especially the Institute of Literary Studies (thanks
to Tibor Klaniczay), considered it essential to organise exhibitions or publish a
major monograph on the history of books, including the findings of international
Renaissance research. Csaba Csapodi and his wife, Klara Csapodiné Gardonyi,
created the canon of the Corvina Könyvtár (Corvina Library) (what is the corvi¬
na?) with almost their entire life’s work by organising a travelling exhibition in
Transylvania in 1967" and publishing a commemorative album of the complete
codex collection. This album, supported by the state, also had significant propa¬
ganda value. Based on the 1967 exhibition catalogue, it was published in French
(1967),°° followed in 1969 by three imprints in English,°” and one in German.*”
‘The second enlarged edition of this album, meanwhile Csapodi Csaba published
his still essential book The Corvinian Library: History and Stock, ""? was published
566 CF. ERŐDI 1877.
567 Zounal K.-Firz 1942.
568 Csapopi-CsAPODINÉ GÂRDONYI, Bibl. Corviniana, 1967.
CsaroDi-CsAPODINÉ GAÂRDONY1I, Bibl. Corviniana, 1967.
CsAaPoDI-CsAPoDINE GÄRDONYI, Bibl. Corviniana, 1969.; Csapopi-CsAPoDINÉ GARDONYI, Bibl.
Corviniana, 1969a.; CsApopI-CsAPODINÉ GÄRDONYI, Bibl. Corviniana, 1969b.
CsAaPoDI-CsAPoDINE GÄRDOoNYI, Bibl. Corviniana, 1969c.
572 CsAPODI 1973.
569
570
571
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