Hereditas Antikvárium

17. árverés – Miscellanea ex libris Borda Lajos

Lőtsén, 1692. Brever Sámuel ny. (6)+213+(8)p.
Our copy is a publication with a false imprint. According to an examination of the printed material, despite the information in the imprint, it may have been published around 1732 in Győr, at the Streibig printing house. The literature has already noted that there are two versions, but until now there has been no suspicion that one of them might not be a 1692 Lőcse print. However, while one of the printing sets fits perfectly into the Lőcse printing house's material, its decorations and letters were used in the Streibig printing house, most typically around 1732. Judit Ecsedy has recorded several similar cases among old Hungarian books printed in secret around 1733-35 in the Streibig workshop (in the case of Mihály Ács's prayer books and Lutheran gospel books). This procedure was necessary in order to circumvent censorship. During this period, the Lőcse printing house was under the supervision of Jesuit censors and was officially only allowed to print calendars. Thus, the printing house itself repeatedly used the method of reprinting its publications while retaining the original imprint, but in 1739 it finally ceased operations. At the same time, the Győr printer saw a business opportunity in the unauthorized reprinting and distribution of popular publications. Moreover, he did not take any particular risk, because even if the volume somehow came to the attention of the censors, they could not find anything suspicious in a publication from several decades earlier, which was legally permitted to be read as a private spiritual exercise. For the Protestant community, the use of an old, well-known text even increased its credibility. (Dr. Péter Perger)
Contemporary leather. Spine slightly worn.
RMK I 1431.