Partner Project

Full Title: Fragments from the Batthyaneum Library in Alba Iulia.

Partner Institutions: National Library of Romania, Batthyaneum Library, Alba Iulia (Biblioteca Națională a României, Filiala Batthyaneum, Alba Iulia) – Centre for the History of the Book and Texts (CODEX), Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj (Centrul pentru Istoria Cărții și a Textelor-CODEX, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai, Cluj).

Financed by: Financing to be secured (exploratory phase).

Duration: 2025–

Project Leader: Prof. Adrian Papahagi.

Academic Collaborators: Dr. Cristian Mladin (Batthyaneum Library); Mrs Ligia Gherasim (Batthyaneum Library).

At the beginning of the twentieth century, 125 manuscript and incunabula fragments were detached from the bindings of books in the Batthyaneum Library. They were placed in five boxes, and were divided into two groups: A (66 items) and B (59 items). In addition to these, six fragments (some including several leaves or quires) received inventory numbers, and were described in Papahagi, Dincă & Mârza, Census (2018). The collection has received little attention, and the fragments have not yet been catalogued or published in any form.

The project is in its exploratory phase. A few samples from the collection will be published as early as 2025. When financing has been secured, we intend to identify further fragmenta codicum, to restore the fragments that are in poor condition, and to publish the entire collection on Fragmentarium, and in the form of a printed catalogue.

Literature:

Adrian Papahagi, Books from Lost Libraries: The Medieval Dioceses of Cenad, Oradea, and Transylvania, Cluj: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2023.

Doina Biro, ‘Ex-librisuri de pe cărțile Bibliotecii Batthyaneum, legate în fragmente de manuscrise pe pergament’, Apulum 58.1 (2021), 199-217.

Adrian Papahagi, Adinel-Ciprian Dincă, with Andreea Mârza, Manuscrisele medievale occidentale din România: Census, Iași: Polirom, 2018.

Adrian Papahagi, ‘Lost Libraries and Surviving Manuscripts: The Case of Medieval Transylvania’, Library & Information History 31 (2015), 35-53.

Contact:

Dr. Cristian Mladin
Biblioteca Batthyaneum
Str. Gabriel Bethlen 1, 510009 Alba Iulia, Romania
cristian.mladin@bibnat.ro
https://bibnat.ro/services/biblioteca-batthyaneum/

Prof. Adrian Papahagi
Centrul CODEX-Facultatea de Litere
Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai
Str. Horea 31, 400202 Cluj, Romania
adrian.papahagi@ubbcluj.ro
https://centrulcodex.com/