Contribuții la istoricul bibliotecii Colegiului Iezuit din Cluj: volume necunoscute păstrate în fondurile Bibliotecii Centrale Universitare „Lucian Blaga” din Cluj-Napoca
Contributions to the History of the Jesuit College Library in Cluj: Previously Unknown Volumes Preserved in the Collections of the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library of Cluj-Napoca

Summary/Abstract: In the course of compiling a catalogue of sixteenth-century volumes held by the ʺLucian Blagaʺ Central University Library in Cluj-Napoca, we have identified seven books originating from the former holdings of the Jesuit College Library in Cluj-Napoca. Of these, two volumes were briefly presented by Klára Jakó in the reconstructed inventory of the Jesuit library, published in the series Adattár XVI-XVIII. századi szellemi mozgalmaink történetéhez volume 16/1. The remaining five volumes, however, have thus far escaped scholarly attention. This study focuses on these rediscovered volumes, tracing their fata libelli. In the first volume, the inventory inscription made by the Jesuit fathers has been crossed out; the book originates from the Library of the Reformed College of Orăştie, having previously been part of the collection of Sámuel Enyedi, and later that of Mihail Halici. The second volume in the library’s holdings bears the supralibros A. K. 1560, indicating acquisition by Alexander Kendi during his studies in Wittenberg. This volume later came into the possession of Johannes M. Varsolci the Younger, in the wake of the anti-Jesuit uprising of the Cluj population on 9 June 1603. Two other volumes bear the supralibros S. W. C. 1562. These books belonged to the private collection of Stephanus Wolphard, a prominent figure of the Transylvanian bourgeoisie and judge of Cluj in the late sixteenth century. Wolphard acquired the volumes during his study trip to Wittenberg in 1562. His library was later inherited by Stephanus Kakas, a doctor of legal sciences and the second husband of Wolphard's widow. Kakas subsequently donated the collection to the library of the so-called ʺBáthory Universityʺ. In addition to these two volumes, we have identified a third book donated to the Jesuits by Stephanus Kakas, the work Epitome totius astrologiae, printed in Nuremberg in 1548. The volume represents a fragment of a coligatum, most likely its first section. On 21 August 1867, the volume was sent to the Transylvanian Museum Society by György Etédi Jakab, a museum benefactor based in Făgăraş. The present study also examines the physical characteristics of these volumes, with particular attention to their bindings. Notably, six of the seven volumes retain their original Renaissance-style bindings.

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