János Nadányi [trans.]: Kerti dolgoknak le-irása...

Négy könyvekben rendessen bé-foglaltatott: Mellyek közzül az elsö A’ kerteknek Gondviselését, ékesitését és sok rend-béli titkait mutattya meg: a’ második az óltásnak mesterségét adgya elönkben; az harmadik kerti holmiknek orvos hasznait rendre irja ki: a’ negyedik a’ kerti holmiknek parajoknak, gyökereknek, gyümölcsöknek, szölöknek, bornak és husnak gyönyörüséges állapotban meg-tartásoknak módgyát fejtegeti. Mind ezek... most elöszször megöregbittettek és világossittattak. Deákul Mizald Antal, Monluciai Orvos Doctor által. Magyarrá penig fordittattak és sok helyeken továbra-is értelmessebben magyaráztattak Nadanyi Janos által.
 
[Szeben] Colosvarat, 1669. [Udvarhelyi], Mihaly Veres-Egyhazi Szentyel.
(16)+526 [rect 528]p.
 
An early piece of Hungarian horticultural literature, a rare Hungarian-language RMK publication.
 
The work Antoine Mizauld XVI. translation of the book of a 19th-century French astrologer and naturalist, who also processed medieval and ancient medical and alchemical writings. Nadányi completed his conversion to Hungarian in Fogaras Castle in four months. Its importance is due to the fact that it is the first to present the European Renaissance garden culture in Hungary. In accordance with the practice of the time, he places great emphasis on medical botanical issues. That is why, in addition to traditional gardening topics, it also talks about, for example, the preparation of wines that "help against various pests". But it also touches on food preservation issues. At the same time, thanks to Nadányi's work, it is almost the only document of its kind that preserves the Transylvanian horticultural approach, which is more archaic than that of Western Hungary, which is more elaborate.
 
The explanation was made with the encouragement and financial support of Princess Anna Bornemissza of Transylvania, who also paid for the printing costs. His surviving account books and his famous cookbook prove that he was unusually busy at the time with the organization of the princely court and the control of farming. By publishing this work, he wanted to make the basic knowledge of agriculture and medicine accessible to a wider population.
 
János Nadányi studied in Utrecht, Franecker, Leiden, then stayed in London, Basel and Vienna. In 1663, his Latin-language Hungarian history Florus Hungaricus was published in Amsterdam. From 1666 he taught at the college in Nagyenyed, but they were not satisfied with his work. That is why the princess tried to give other tasks to the young man who is related to her, who had just returned from foreign academies, and to make use of his thorough education. From 1671 he was a teacher in Várado, then a reformed minister in Nagybajom until his death.
 
According to the title page, the print was made in 1669 in Cluj. However, the text of the recommendation reveals that it was "under the hands of the previous printer for two years". This former typographer, Mihály Udvarhelyi, wrote a letter to Anna Bornemissza, which provides a lot of information about the printing conditions. He explains the delay by saying that he has received a bad manuscript with which he has much more to do than he thought. It can be learned that he printed the main text up to page 320 in Sibiu in 1667-1668. The printing house moved from here to Cluj-Napoca in November 1668, where his successor, Mihály Szentyel Veresegyházi, completed the publication by adding the main part and printing the introductory parts. It is very exceptional that the document has preserved the former number of copies. According to this, Udvarhelyi planned to print 75 copies, 50 on görgény paper and 25 on better quality sepes paper. He undertook the printing for HUF 3 per sheet.
 
Of the already small number of copies mentioned, only two complete (and 3 truncated) volumes have survived in public collections in Hungary, but only 13 copies are registered worldwide, most of them incomplete. The appearance of an intact, complete copy can be considered a real sensation.
 
RMNy 3542.; RMK I 1087.