Typography Since Olden Times

It was 450 years ago that the first printing press of Nagyvárad started business. Our illustrated album celebrates this event presenting the printing press history of Nagyvárad with rare treasures to enrich knowledge of the town’s eventful history, life and culture.
It was remarkable indeed how the periods of flourishing and decay alternated in the history of Nagyvárad. It was sieged by Tartars, Turks, Hungarian Kurucs and Austrian troops, its castle was destroyed by internal wars that almost devastated the whole settlement. Ruins cannot reflect the splendid memory and the glorious past, that is why it is possible – as László Cs. Szabó puts it – that a graveyard of the Árpád period (11th-13th century) looks younger than certain towns in Partium and Transylvania, although these have only some hundreds of years of history.
According to the authentic sources available, the founding of the first printing press of Nagyvárad took place at the end of 1565. Up to present day there has not been a comprehensive illustrated book about the typography of the 450 years that followed, and the most recent monographic summary by Lajos Neményi was written 115 years ago.
This gap called for our illustrated album published now with five valuable studies presenting almost five centuries of history. The writings explore the history of Nagyvárad typography until World War II, its situation and the biographies of the illustrious personalities behind it. The authors are staff members of National Széchényi Library Szilvia Bánfi, László Boka and Judit V. Ecsedy, Nagyvárad archivist and book historian András Emődi and historian of the 19^th century Lajos Naményi. The studies are accompanied by an excellent selection of illustrations that includes several prints and historical documents published now for the first time, edited by László Boka and András Emődi.