[BUDAPEST NATIONAL MUSEUM] - Lot 127

[BUDAPEST NATIONAL MUSEUM] Das ungrische National-Museum zu Pesth Vienna, Anton Strauss, 1814 THE SZECHÉNYI GIFT: TO GO BEYOND THE PERSONAL COLLECTION AND BUILD A NATIONAL MUSEUM, ALL IN THE MIDST OF NAPOLEONIC TURMOIL. VERY RARE BROCHURE ORIGINAL EDITION In-4 (240 x 190 mm) COLLATION: 16 pp. BROCHED, in marbled paper cover, as issued PROVENANCE: handwritten bookplate Joseph Creter (?) RARITY: according to WorldCat, as of February 2, 2024, no copies are listed in North America, at BnF or in any library in Great Britain. Very slight crease The history of the Budapest National Museum began in 1802 with the donation of rare books by Count François Szechényi (1754-1820) to the Hungarian crown. The library was moved to the former St. Paul's Convent in Pesth and opened to the public. Hungary's national library bears the name Szechényi in his honor. Later, donations of all kinds - numismatics and natural history in particular - began to pour in from all quarters. In 1808, the fund received an endowment of over 500,000 florins to construct a building to house the future collections. The land, in the heart of Pesth, had been purchased the previous year from Prince Grassalkovich. However, paper money melted like snow in the sun during the Napoleonic Wars, and the museum found itself short of funds to maintain and expand its collections. The National Museum became the starting point for the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.