Teleki Library

The Teleki–Bolyai Library or on its widely known name Teleki Téka [Teleki Library] is one of the most significant cultural legacies of Târgu Mureş. The library was founded in 1802 by Count Sámuel Teleki, chancellor of Transylvania, who devoted most of his fortune to buying the more than 40,000 volumes that constitute the basis of the public library bearing his name today. The library preserves several incunabula, old books, manuscripts and book rarities. From 7 November 1759 to 17 November 1763 SámuelTeleki took part in a study tour in Switzerland, the Netherlands and France, in the course of which he studied at the universities of Basel, Utrecht and Leyden. In starting the book collection he was advised by professor of theology and history Jakob Christoph Beck, guard of the public library from Basel. In the cities that he visited in the course of the study tour he met scholars, book merchants and librarians, and on returning home he brought with himself nine chests of books. Upon settling down in his estate from Sáromberke/Dumbrăvioara, he kept in touch with the contemporary scholars in the country and abroad through correspondence, he organized his book acquisition network and lent books. He primarily entrusted the Transylvanian students studying abroad to inform him on the book novelties and to assist him in acquiring the books and transporting them home.   

In 1778 Teleki moved to Nagyszeben/Sibiu, where he also took his books with him and continued lending. In 1785 he transferred his residence to Nagyvárad/Oradea and in 1787 to Vienna, but he stored the books in Nagyszeben/Sibiu. In Vienna he got acquainted with Johannes von Müllerrel, the renowned book expert of the age, who helped him a lot in identifying and estimating the books. In 1788, due to the Austro-Turkish military operations taking place in Transylvania, Teleki was very worried about the condition of his library, this is why he asked his brother-in-law, Antal Jósika, to move the books to Marosvásárhely/Târgu Mureş. At the beginning of the 1790s (the exact date is not known) Teleki had his library moved to Vienna, but in April 1797, because of the war with the French, again, he moved the library to Târgu Mureş. There he had the books stored in the Wesselényi House, which was inherited by his wife, Zsuzsanna Bethlen de Iktár from her aunt, Countess Kata Wesselényi. In the period 1799–1802 Teleki extended the L-shaped building from the 17^th century, and before the opening, in autumn 1802 he personally directed the arrangement of books. This is the time when he employed the first librarian from Târgu Mureş, József Szász, who set up a highly modern catalogue system. In the following period he remotely watched and directed the fate of the collection; he addressed his last letter – 19 days before his death – to him. In his will he disposed of the fate of the collection: he bequeathed it as entail to his heirs, obliging them to operate the library further; at the same time, he entrusted the Transylvanian Reformed Supreme Consistory with its supervision. He also annexed to his collection the exclusively Hungarian language 2000-volume collection of his wife, who deceased in 1799.

Starting with the 1880s, the institution turned from a library into a book museum; its acquisitions did not keep pace with the scientific claims of the era. On 5 December 1913 the heir in charge with the supervision of the library, Sámuel Teleki, established a new foundation with the aim of operating the library. The 60,000–70,000 volumes, the main bulding of the library, the yard between the two wings as well as the librarian’s garden remained as what constituted the fortune of the foundation. At this time the Church’s right of supervision ceased. In 1942, in accordance with the agreement between the Teleki family and the Reformed Church, the new Teleki Library Foundation was established, thus the library got under the supervision of the Church and the trusteeship of the foundation council. In the years following the Second World War the Teleki Library got under state control. In 1955 the Library of the Reformed College in Târgu Mureş (Bolyai Library) moved into the building of the Teleki Library, then in 1962 the two collections were unified under the name Teleki–Bolyai Library. This is where dr. Elek Farczády discovered the 14^th century monument of the Hungarian language known as the marosvásárhelyi sorok or marosvásárhelyi glosszák.

After nationalization, the Teleki–Bolyai Library hosted the collection of the dissolved Franciscan monastery from Mikháza/Călugăreni, the library of the former Unitarian School from Székelykeresztúr/Cristuru Secuiesc, the library of the Reformed College from Máramarossziget/ Sighetu Marmaţiei, as well as the teachers’ library of the Roman Catholic High School from Târgu Mureş.