”Others only get their laurels leaf by leaf…”

The most significant event of the János Arany Memorial Year was the ”Others only get their laurels leaf by leaf...” – Treasures, Cult, Reception History exhibition of National Széchényi Library inaugurated on 28 April 2017.

The interactive exhibition at the Ars Librorum space was built upon the unique treasures of our Manuscript Collection and the first publications of Arany’s works in contemporaneous papers and book editions. It presented also the further history of the poet’s reception and cult. The catalogue edited by curator Zsuzsanna Rózsafalvi contains the pictures of the rich material accompanied by detailed explanations to preserve the memory of the event for the future.

The focus of the exhibition was on the set of manuscripts of the Toldi trilogy donated by the poet’s descendants to National Széchényi Library in 1899. The originals of two complete manuscript variants of Toldi and Toldi’s Night, together with the final version of Toldi’s Love were displayed, as well as the manuscripts of other iconic works like Family Circle, The Consecration of the Bridge, Becky Scarlet and The Death of King Buda.

Visitors were given insight into the work of the poet as Secretary of the Academy of Sciences and his correspondence with Petőfi, and they could admire the famous drawings of Petőfi, also from the collections of National Széchényi Library, that depict János Arany and the Truncated Tower.

Apart from the chronological and thematic presentation of Arany’s life, the exhibition included the originals of several pieces of fine art inspired by him. Works of Miklós Barabás, Bertalan Székely, György Buday and Alajos Stróbl were borrowed for this occasion from Hungarian National Gallery and Budapest Museum of Fine Art.

The organizers who paid attention to the contemporary cult of Arany, asked nearly one hundred Hungarian poets to submit their reflections in manuscripts. A selection of these poems was recently published under the title 24 Carats, and the precious set of manuscripts exhibited will be preserved by our Manuscript Collection in a separate fond to honor the 2017 Arany Memorial Year.

This illustrated fine catalogue keeps the memory of the exhibition that offered so many interesting aspects of the poet’s oeuvre and inspiration. We hope that the golden (Arany) bridge of his spirit has now been lengthened to one hundred more years.