The 1872 catalogue of Tivadar Pauler’s library specialized in law

Abstract

Lawyer and university professor Tivadar Pauler held the position of Minister of Religion and Education once, and Minister of Justice twice, and he was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as well. He was one of the major lawyers of the second half of the 19th century, his life and works have been studied sufficiently, however his diary is yet unpublished. He was an avid book collector, and left a library of rare and valuable works, the catalogue of which still exists among his documents and personal bequest in the ELTE University Library, Budapest. The library catalogue was made in 1872, when Pauler was fifty-six years old. It contains more than one thousand and six hundred books. The catalogue is dominated by the presence of law books, but shows also the interest for history, literature, Freemasonry, religion and travelling. Not only the library catalogue, but also a part of the book collection exists in the Budapest University Library and in other university libraries in Hungary. The identification of the books available in the Budapest University Library is not easy at all: I found Pauler’s handwritten possessor mark written with black ink in some books, and the mark ‘Pauler’ written with pencil can be read in others, probably entered when the books got to the library. Professor of the Nagyszombat University Faculty of Law, János József Zelenay was the former owner of some books. Other books were previously owned by the Jesuit College of Nagyszombat. The former owner of one book was Caspar Gilbert Mellerstad, Vicar of Stettfeld. Other books have been identified by the stamp label ‘Pauler Tivadar’s’ in the libraries of Pécs, Szeged and Debrecen Universities.