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Reading room for rarities and part of
library of Tekelianum
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THE
OLD AND RARE BOOKS
The Matica Srpska Library has an
exceptionally valuable collection of old and rare books, which had
begun to accumulate since the day the Library was founded. During
its long existence, this collection was expanded with special care.
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The Apostlos of Matica srpska from the 13th
century |
The manuscript collection includes 671
copies, of which 487 are Cyrillic scripts. The oldest manuscript is Maticin apostol (The Apostlos of
Matica Srpska) written on parchment in the 13th century. It is the
oldest preserved unabridged apostle in Serbian edition. Also, there
are two manuscript fragments on parchment, in Serbian edition, from
the 13th century - Iriski odlomak apostolskih
i jevandjeljskih ctenija (Irig's Fragment of Apostle and
Gospel Readings) and Bjelopoljski odlomak
izbornog jevandjelja i apostola (Bjelopolje Fragment of
Selected Gospels and Apostles). There are two parchment manuscripts
from the 14th century - Beckerecki
tipik (Beckerek Rulebook) and a fragment from Cetvorojevandjelja (Tetra-Evangeliary). Psaltir Gavrila Trojicanina (Psalter of Gavrilo Trojicanin) is one of the best-written and
illuminated books in the Library. It was copied in the monastery
Sveta Trojica (The Holy Trinity) near Pljevlja in 1643. Another
well-written and ornamented manuscript is called Stihologija (Stichologion) and it was
copied at the beginning of the 18th century in Szentendre by
Kiprijan Racanin, famous copyist of "Raca School".
The Matica Srpska Library has 16
incunables - books printed at the end of the 15th century. Among
them is Oktoih prvoglasnik (Octoechos) of Djurdje Crnojevic printed in 1493/94. As the oldest
Cyrillic Southern Slav book, it was printed in Cetinje,
Montenegro.
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Oktoih prvoglasnik (Octoechos) of Djurdje
Crnojevic printed in 1493/94 |
There are very valuable books from the
16th and the 17th century, written in various languages, 38 of which
are elsevier type books. There are 172 books from this period
printed in Cyrillic scripts, 144 of which are Serbian. Based on to
the number of Serbian books from the period between the 15th and the
17th century, the Matica Srpska Library is the richest one in the
world.
The Library has the
biggest collection of Serbian books, from the 18th century (523
books including 19 menologies); the biggest collection of 19th
century Serbian books (about 5,500) and the richest collection of
Serbian periodicals from the 18th and the first half of the 19th
century (160 titles with 2,190 volumes). The periodicals include
among the others: Orfelin's Slaveno-serbskij
magazin, the first Serbian journal published in 1768,
complete volumes of the first Serbian newspaper published in Wien by
brothers Markides Puljo in 1791-1792, complete volumes of the second
Serbian newspaper, published also in Wien by Stefan Novakovic in
1792-1794, all issues of Letopis Matice
srpske, the oldest Serbian and South Slav literary
journal, published from 1824 to the present day, as well as other
journals and newspapers. The Library has valuable books in foreign
languages, also from the 18th and the 19th century, among which the
collection of works in Hungarian and Russian are of special
significance.
The Matica Srpska Library has arranged the library of the oldest
Serbian Secondary School in Sremski Karlovci into a museum-type
library, and the arrangements for the Backa Eparchy library in Novi
Sad are in progress. Together with the National Library of Serbia,
the Matica Srpska Library is arranging the Szentendre's and the
Chilandar's Serbian treasuries.
The collection of rare books includes
books with dedications, signatures and notes of significant persons
in history, science and culture, as well as books with seals, books
of special technical and artistic value, books printed in a small
number of copies and illegal and war periodical editions.
The Library has begun the publication of three editions of
catalogues of rare books and legacies:
1) Old
Cyrillic Manuscript Books in the Matica Srpska
Library (first book published in 1988)
2) Catalogue of Old and
Rare Books in the Matica Srpska Library (started in
1994)
3) Catalogue of Legacies
in the Matica Srpska Library (started in 1995).
Old and rare books in the Library are stored in a special store-room.
Their restoration, conservation, manual binding and microfilming
are regulated by an established programme, the Programme for the
Preservation of Old and Rare Publications. Old and rare books and
microfilms are available to readers only in a special reading-room
for rarities.
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Nicole and Sreten Maric
donation
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LEGACIES
Sets of books, personal libraries and
libraries of different institutions and societies, which number
about 100,000 books, have special cultural, historical and museum
value, and are in possession of the Matica Srpska Library. The library
of Bishop Platon Atanackovic is the oldest personal library and
it was received in 1841. Today it contains 341 books. The most valuable
one is the personal library of Sava Tekelija,
one of the greatest endowers and donators of the Serbian people
with 1,984 books in 15 languages. In reconstructed library
of Tekelianum there are 7,104 books in various languages.
The Matica Srpska Library also has special sets of books belonging
to personal libraries of Djoka Mijatovic, Avram Djukic, Aleksandar
Sandic, Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj, Tihomir Ostojic, Petar Popadic, Vasa
Stajic, Stevan Josifovic, Mita and Predrag Klicin, Radomir Radujkov,
Ivan Subotic, Stojan Subotin, Mirko and Ruza Cvetkov, the Aleksijevic
family, Svetozar Matic, Radoslav Mitrovic, Marko
Maletin, Jovan Popovic, Milenko Milosevic, Rasko Dimitrijevic, Stanislav
Bajic, Nikola and Kosta Milutinovic, Slavko and Katarina Borojevic,
Zivan Milisavac, Dusan Popov, Vasilije Jovanovic, Bosko Petrovic,
Berislav M. Beric, Bozidar Timotijevic, Irinej and Stevan Ciric, Borivoj Mirosavljevic, Vojislav Voki Kostic, Dragan Klaic, Vitomir Vuletic and Ljubica Miljkovic. The donation
of Nicole and Sreten Maric (13,000 books) has been arriving
to our library since 1989. The Matica Srpska Library also has in
its possession the library of the Serbian
Orthodox Great High School of Novi Sad (founded in 1819)
which includes 12,000 books, the collection of books belonging to
the Serbian United Youth, as well as
the valuable library of the Sterijino Pozorje
- Yugoslav Theatre Festival which includes books on history,
the theory of theatre and drama literature.
Donated Library of Austria has been
stored in the Matica Srpska Library since 1998, containing now over
4.000 books and periodicals. It is completed continously with new
publications.
Old and rare books and legacies have been processed to the Department
of Old and Rare Books and Legacies. Since 1992, when the computer
cataloguing of rare books began, it has been made possible to search
for them in an electronic catalogue, as well as in the existing
classical card catalogue. The computerized library system enables
the technical preparation of the rare book catalogues for printing.
Publishing of these catalogues is now more intense.
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Ornament from Oktoih prvoglasnik (Octoechos)
of Djurdje Crnojevic |
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