Count Sándor Apponyi de Nagyappony (19 January 1844 – 18 April 1925) was a Hungarian diplomat, bibliophile, bibliographer and great book collector. Born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where his father, Count Rudolf Apponyi, was a diplomat, Sándor also became a diplomat. After his father's death he moved to

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, and improved his collection. He married Alexandra Esterházy. Working as a Hungarian diplomat in London and Paris he was able to meet many great book lovers who inspired him to collect old printed books, especially works about Hungary by foreign writers. He purchased books from foreign and Hungarian antiquarians and at auction. Thus he was able to amass a collection of interesting historical, arithmetical, biological, geographical and philosophical works in many languages: German, French, Italian, Turkish, Dutch, English and Latin. Known as the Apponyi Hungarika, this fine collection is now held in the

National Széchényi Library The National Széchényi Library ( hu, Országos Széchényi Könyvtár) (OSZK) is a library in Budapest, Hungary, located in Buda Castle. It is one of two Hungarian national libraries, the other being University of Debrecen Library. History The ...

, Budapest, and contains about 3,000 books on a wide range of interesting topics. We can read about the siege and taking of Buda or

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

by the Christian army and about

Rákóczi's War of Independence Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–11) was the first significant attempt to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Hungary. The war was conducted by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by Francis II Rákó ...

. Also there is a book by Count

Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (or Marsigli, Lat. ''Marsilius''; 10 July 1658 – 1 November 1730) was an Italian scholar and eminent natural scientist, who also served as an emissary and soldier. Biography Born in Bologna, he was a member ...

about coffee, from the planting of the shrub to the serving of the drink. As he had family links through his ancestry with

Isotta Nogarola Isotta Nogarola (1418–1466) was an Italian writer and intellectual who is said to be the first major female humanist and one of the most important humanists of the Italian Renaissance. She inspired generations of artists and writers, among them ...

, one of the most famous female humanists of the Italian Renaissance, Sándor Apponyi collected books about her era. This small collection of about 300 works is named Apponyi Rariora. In it can be found the same breadth of topics as in the Apponyi Hungarika, but it is focused on the Italian city of Verona. He compiled a catalogue of his books in which he added comments to the bibliographical data. A special law was adopted in 1926 by the Hungarian

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

to acknowledge the donation of the collection: it mentions several other comparable donations but adds that "Among all these generous, valuable donations, that of Count ándorApponyi is by far the most important." Count Sándor Apponyi owned the Castle of Lengyel in

Southern Transdanubia Southern Transdanubia ( hu, Dél-Dunántúl) is a statistical ( NUTS 2) region of Hungary. It is part of the Transdanubia (NUTS 1) region. Southern Transdanubia includes the counties of Somogy, Tolna, and Baranya. Its capital is the city of Pécs ...

, which was later transformed into a school. A bust of him stands in front of the building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apponyi, Sandor 1844 births 1925 deaths Hungarian bibliographers Hungarian diplomats Sandor