Az Encyclopédie méthodique a gróf Barkóczyak könyvtárában a szállítólevéltől a könyvespolcig

The French collection of the Count Barkóczy family library, founded in the 18th century, was among the most significant at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries and ranked among the largest private libraries. The Barkóczy library in Pálóc, Zemplén County, survived in two instalments, though with many losses. After 1945, one half was transferred to the city of Baja, where it remains accessible today in the old collection of the Ady Endre Municipal Library; the other entered private ownership, and the descendants of that owner sold the fragment of the collection to the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2022. While researching the history of the Barkóczy Library, I became acquainted with both collections, and the striking volumes of the Encyclopédie méthodique caught my eye both in the bookcases in Baja and in the collection that ended up at the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. There are 102 volumes in Baja, while the number at the Academy remains unclear. After the revolution, subscribers dropped to five hundred, and Count Barkóczy remained among them, a fact that ranks him among Europe’s most devoted subscribers. Acquiring the Méthodique required sustained financial support over decades despite procurement difficulties. The fragmentary series has survived in only a few Hungarian collections, unlike the great French Encyclopédie, absent from the Barkóczy library.

Keywords: history of encyclopedias, French intellectual influence, book distribution networks,
book acquisition practices, publishing history, private libraries in Hungary
Kulcsszavak: enciklopédiák története, francia szellemi hatás, könyvterjesztési hálózatok, könyvbeszerzési gyakorlatok, kiadástörténet, magánkönyvtárak Magyarországon

A tanulmány a HUN-REN DE Klasszikus Magyar Irodalmi Textológiai Kutatócsoportban végzett kutatás keretében készült.