The Bibliophile Lajos Farkas

Abstract

Philologists and bibliophiles often focus their interest upon the pieces in the collection of Attorney Lajos Farkas of Losoncz (1806–1873), born in Révkomárom. Although Lajos Farkas, one of the most significant bibliophiles of his period, built a remarkable library for half a century little has been said of his life and the history of his library (what did he buy from whom, when and for how much, who did he exchanged books with or who did he gifted with books). The scarce literature that there is states that his book collection received less attention than it deserved. Sources one could study to reconstruct his collection and to establish the provenience of its books are kept in the Manuscripts Collection of the National Széchényi Library in Budapest that purchased the collection from his widow in 1873 for a considerable sum; 7,500 Forints. From the sources it is known that Lajos Farkas was well-educated, read in Latin, Ancient Greek, German, French, Italian and English. The notes and the comments Lajos Farkas made to book lists prove that he was a committed collector who devoted the better half of his life and wealth to bibliophilism. Swearing was not beneath him – and his passion was palpable in these instances – when he found that someone set too high a price for a book he meant to purchase. Lajos Farkas exchanged heated letters also with Miklós Jankovich in connection with the purchase of an old Hungarian book and similar examples could be cited endlessly. Lajos Farkas watched European auctions, compared prices and amassed an incredible amount of data for fifty years that helped him make decisions (what to buy from whom and what book to exchange for what with whom). The documents mistakenly referred to as his diary in literature are more of a collection of notes the bibliophile Lajos Farkas made about old books. These notes today help us track old books, follow their journey from one owner to another, reconstruct Lajos Farkas’ network as well as his interests in certain authors, writings and editions. Lajos Farkas made extensive notes to several articles either in Hungarian or in a foreign language that shows the stages of his preparation. Finally, we present some examples of Lajos Farkas’ correspondences with Miklós Jankovich, one of the most important great rival collectors and a list of the most rare and remarkable books, with unique pieces.