Boundless History: 1826 – Count József Teleki donates his family library “for the use of the Learned Society and all citizens of the nation”

In the history of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the name of József Teleki (1790–1855) is of outstanding significance not only because he was the institution’s first president (1830–1855), but also because the foundation of the Academy’s library is associated with his donation of the Teleki family library, consisting of nearly 30,000 volumes. In addition, he contributed substantial sums towards the establishment and operation of the Society, while also earning recognition among the scholars themselves.

József Teleki was descended from a Transylvanian aristocratic family in which the patronage of science, culture and book collecting had centuries-old traditions. His father, László Teleki (1764–1821), already possessed a major library, having inherited, together with his brother, an extensive collection of more than 3,000 volumes from their father, József Teleki (1738–1796). The brothers significantly expanded the collection themselves, at times by purchasing entire private libraries. László Teleki, in turn, left his books to his son József, who showed the greatest inclination of his children towards intellectual pursuits.

Four months after István Széchenyi’s donation proposal of 3 November 1825 in support of the establishment of the Academy, a letter from József Teleki was read aloud in his absence at the Diet on 17 March 1826, in which he offered his family’s extensive library, collected over three generations: “In order that the Learned Society to be established for the promotion of the national language and thereby the cultivation of the sciences [...] may fulfil its mission [...] it must be provided with a large quantity of literary resources, and above all with major book collections […] Therefore [...] we have resolved to dedicate and offer our considerable library [...] for the use of the said society and all citizens of the nation.” With this step, Teleki provided the intellectual framework for the scientific work to be carried out within the proposed learned society.

The volumes had already been organised into two major collections during the time of József Teleki’s grandfather (works in Hungarian and works related to Hungary), as well as a separate section containing a larger number of foreign volumes. László Teleki, in turn, continued to expand the library with the aim of eventually making it available to a learned society. József Teleki expanded the family collection primarily with historical works that were of interest to him. After many years of waiting, the library found its permanent home in 1844 at the Society’s new headquarters in the Trattner–Károlyi House in Pest.

The sheer size of the library is illustrated by the fact that only two-thirds of it could be housed here; the donated volumes were kept separate from the other books and treated as a distinct collection. The entire library, supplemented by the remaining part of the original collection and the additional 5,000 volumes that Teleki bequeathed to the library in his will, was moved to its permanent home in the Academy Palace in 1865 and opened in 1867 for the use of “all citizens of the nation”. A library of this kind – given its content and historical scope – was indispensable for research. The collection contains volumes in various disciplines dating from the 15th century onward, and some of them are now considered works of art. The library’s holdings now total more than two million items, including its three special collections (the Collection of Manuscripts and Rare Books, the Oriental Collection, and the Archives).