András Jósa was a man who liked reading, both for scientific interest and for his a private passion as well. He was a scientist with an open, inquisitive attitude devoted to constant self-development. He declared about himself the following:
”I have always wanted to know the surface of that tiny, insignificant dust of the universe, called the globe, which I am also a parasite of. I would like to find out more about the Earth before the trumpet of Archangel Gabriel would summon me to present myself in front of the Greatest Judge on the day of the final judgement.”
At the same time, he was a doctor by profession, his hobby being the „sport of archaeology” for which he was devoted. For both professions books meant for him the source of science and new knowledge.
He read whenever he had the chance: usually in early mornings. He was often seen with a book in his hand going on a horse carriage to visit his patients. He read not only books on science but belles-lettres as well. He was surrounded by books, in his home, in his surgery, in the museum, even in his indispensable, leather bag, regarded as his constant travel companion, he always carried some books. According to Jósa Jolán’s notes, he had a library consisting of several thousand of books, a part of which he inherited from his grandfather, who was a doctor, and a part from his father, Péter Jósa, who was a lawyer.
Unfortunately only a fraction of this library remained up to this day. According to inventories, the first Jósa inheritance entered into the possession of the museum library presumably as a donation of the family a few years after Jósa’s death. The donated books, somewhat more than one hundred volumes, were predominantly on medicine and archaeology.
The following part, a larger one, (approximately 120 volumes) was donated to the museum by Jósa’s grandson, dr Jenő Dohnál in 1972. According to the gift certificate, these were the books remaining from András Jósa’s library.
Among these books there were
- the diary, the agenda and draft laws of the parliament session held in Buda in the year 1790 printed in Vienna in 1790 with the letters of János Dávid Hummel
- János Dávid Hummel: Péter Jósa (1804-1873). A museum document. Parliament Hungary 1790-1791.
- Broeder, Christian Gottlieb (1745‒1819) (German minister, writer, Latin study books):
A collection of grammars / Christian Gottlob Boreder. ‒ Leipzig: Crusius, 1796. - Crusius, Siegfried Leberecht (1738‒1824) (German bookseller, editor). ‒ Jósa András (1834‒1918) (doctor, archaeologist) Museum document
