Az Athenaeum kézi lexikona

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Az Athenaeum kézi lexikona, in English: Handbook of the Athenaeum, subtitled The Encyclopaedia of Science with Special Reference to Hungary was a large 2-volume general lexicon in Hungarian at the end of 19th century.

Description

The work, published in 1892–1893 courtesy of Athenaeum Irodalmi és Nyomdai Rt., With a total length of about 1,900 pages (more precisely, 3,840 large 8 ° columns) was a thorough hand lexicon. The cover of the volumes has an ornate design, similar to the large lexicon of Pallas, which appeared almost at the same time.

According to a contemporary book review, the volumes edited by the contemporary historian of Jewish origin, Ignác Acsády, attempted to present all branches of human knowledge, namely:

Volume editor, Acsády Ignác

• the literature
• history
• law and political science
• economics and finance
• the philosophy
• the geography
• the natural history
• natural science
• astronomy
• the chemistry
• medicine
• the military sciences
• the art of music
• the sports
• engineering, mechanical and technical sciences,
• and a large number of biographies

- In an ABC-like way, “using the latest advances, advances, research and data in line with today’s level of science,” so that the work can serve the interests not only of professionals but also of the wider readership. The publishers placed great emphasis on making the work a Hungarian-style work, ie it also deals in depth with scientific and artistic topics related to Hungary. In addition, pictorial appendices (“16 color worksheets, 32 maps, 34 double-sided blackboards, 14 tables”) were filed to better process knowledge across multiple topics. The goal was to make the lexicon a library for all Hungarian families. At the same time, in order to emphasize its European significance, it was indicated in the description that the work could be a special Hungarian supplement to the famous German Conversations Lexicon. It was offered to customers in an ornate half-leather binding for HUF 14, and in a laced version for HUF 12.

The work does not have a reprint edition, but it is available to anyone electronically from the Hungarian Electronic Library website: [2]. Due to its rarity, it sometimes also occurs as an auction item.

Sources

• Antikvarium.hu
• Arcanum
• MEK
• Template:KatLex [3]