Publisher's Synopsis
The British Library holds the largest collection of Hungarian books outside Hungary (with the exception of libraries in the former Hungarian cities of Kolozsvar, Cluj and Pozsony, Bratislava). A number of Hungarian books were included in the foundation collections of the British Museum when it was established in 1756, but systematic acquisition of Hungarian books only began in earnest with the arrival at the British Museum of Thomas Watts, in 1838. Major additions to the collections during the 19th century included the Istvan Nagy library of printed books, purchased in 1870, and the Lazlo Waltherr collection of 4000 pamphlets, in 1873, and acquisition has continued to the present day.;This catalogue includes works printed in Hungary up to 1850, in whatever language, and all books published outside Hungary during that period in Hungarian, or containing a significant number of Hungarian words, such as grammars, dictionaries and other philological works. Following the principles established in earlier "Short-Title Catalogues of British Library" collections, care has been taken to discover the authorship of anonymous books, if unknown to earlier bibliographies, and the originals of translated texts. With indexes of printers and place of publication, this work should be a useful reference for anyone working in the area of Central European bibliography.
