The history of printing, books, and libraries, is confined only to a limited extent within the boundaries of individual countries. There are, indeed, few historical developments which have played a more universal role, in reaction against all kinds of particularism, than type design, printing, book production, publishing, illustration, binding, librarianship, journal ism, and related subjects. Their history should be assessed and studied primarily in an international, not in a local, context. The bibliographical resources, however, which the historian of these sub jects has at his disposal correspond hardly at all to the essentially inter national character of the object of his studies. Since the appearance of the retrospective bibliography of BIG MORE and WYMAN, covering the subject comprehensively up to 1880, the only current bibliography has been the lnternatwnale Bibliographie des Buch-und Bi bliothekswesens. Covering a representative part of newly published liter ature, it appeared from 1928, but did not survive the Second World War. More recently, several useful, but limited, bibliographies have appeared.

This twenty-third volume of ABBB (Annual bibliography of the history of the printed book and libraries) contains 3956 records, selected from some 1600 periodicals, the list of which follows this introduction. They have been compiled by the National Committees of the following countries: Arab Countries Italy Australia Latin America Austria Latvia Belgium Luxembourg Byelorussia The Netherlands Canada Poland Croatia Portugal Denmark Rumania Estonia Russia Finland South Africa Spain France Germany Sweden Great Britain Switzerland Hungary Ukrain Ireland (Republic of) USA Benevolent readers are requested to signal the names of bibliographers and historians from countries not mentioned above, who would be willing to co-operate to this scheme of international bibliographic collaboration. The editor will greatly appreciate any communication on this matter. Subject As has been said in the introduction to the previous volumes, this bibliography aims at recording all books and articles of scholarly value which relate to the history of the printed book, to the history of the arts, crafts, techniques and equipment, and of the economic, social and cultural environment, involved in its production, distribution, conservation, and description. Of course, the ideal of a complete coverage is nearly impossible to attain.

Stephen I, Hungary's first Christian king (reigned 997-1038) has been celebrated as the founder of the Hungarian state and church. Despite the scarcity of medieval sources, and consequent limitations on historical knowledge, he has had a central importance in narratives of Hungarian history and national identity. This book argues that instead of conceptualizing modern political medievalism separately as an 'abuse' of history, we must investigate history's very fabric, because cultural memory is woven into the production of the medieval sources. Medieval myth-making served as a firm basis for centuries of further elaboration and reinterpretation, both in historiography and in political legitimizing strategies. In many ways we cannot reach the 'real' Stephen, but we can do much more to understand the shaping of his myths. The author traces the origin of crucial stories around Stephen, contextualizing both the invention of early narratives and their later use. A challenger to Stephen's rule who may be a medieval literary invention became the protagonist of a rock opera in 1983, also standing in for Imre Nagy, a key figure of the 1956 revolution; moreover, he was reinvented as the embodiment of true Hungarian identity. The alleged right hand relic was 'discovered' to provide added legitimacy for Hungary's kings and then became a protagonist of the entanglement of Church and state. A medieval crown was invested with supernatural status, before turning into a national symbol. This book analyses the often seamless flow that has turned medieval myth into modern history, showing that politicisation was not a modern addition, but a determinant factor from the start.

The immediate purpose of this handbook is to aid further research by stating, in a form providing handy reference, the facts concerning the Communist ideology in Hungary Following a narrative of the vicissitudes of that ideology prior to its power-phase - intended as a general introduction contributing to the proper assessment of the 1945-1965 period, which is the main concern of this book - the essential and relevant facts concerning the events, issues, organizations and opinions which have shaped post-war Hungarian Marxism Leninism are set out without indulging in lengthy commentaries and personal value-judgements. (Since even the 1956 revolution is treated thus - perhaps the most important, and certainly the most controversial single event of the above period - I should add that the reader interested in finding a detailed analysis and evaluation of the ideological relevance of that event may refer to my Individualism Collectivism and Political Power, The Hague, 1963, pp. 111-140. ) Despite the specificity of much of the data, sufficient translations of Hungarian titles, names and terms have been provided to render the present book useful for the investigator regardless of whether or not he reads Hungarian. But the fundamental purpose of this volume is to make a modest contribution to East-West understanding. It has arisen from the belief that the lessening of world-tensions is best served by understanding, and understanding is best served by objective information.

"Presents and analyzes texts of learned magic written in medieval Central Europe (Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary), and attempts to identify their authors, readers, and collectors"--Provided by publisher.

From the late 18th century in the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary, new language-based national identities came to dominate over those that had previously been constructed on legal, territorial, or historical basis. While the Hungarian language struggled to emancipate itself, the roles and functions of Latin (the official language until 1844) were changing dramatically. Latin held a different significance for varying segments of society, from being the essential part of an individual identity to representing an obstacle to “national survival”; from guaranteeing harmony between the different linguistic communities to hindering change, social and political justice. This pioneering volume aims to highlight the ways language debates about Latin and Hungarian contributed to the creation of new identities and ideologies in Central Europe. Contributors include Gábor Almási, Per Pippin Aspaas, Piroska Balogh, Henrik Hönich, László Kontler, István Margócsy, Alexander Maxwell, Ambrus Miskolczy, Levente Nagy, Nenad Ristović, Andrea Seidler, Teodora Shek Brnardić, Zvjezdana Sikirić Assouline, and Lav Šubarić