EN
History of the reformed book culture in Sárospatak during the 17th century was very closely linked with three institutions: a reformed school, a printing office and a school and princely library. As regards the development of Sárospatak as an important center of the reformed confession in Upper Hungary and thus of the reformed book culture as well, an irreplaceable role was played by the princely Rákóczi family. George I Rákóczi, his wife Zsuzsanna Lorántffy, as well as their son Sigismund were among the nobility whose level of education was extremely high for that time – in addition to being dedicated supporters of the Reformed Church, they were aware of the importance of education and valued it. The value they saw in education – including their support for book culture – stemmed from their deep religiousness and reformed confessional mentality. An important impulse for the development of education and book culture in Sárospatak were John Amos Comenius’ activities in the period 1650–1654. In this period, the school started to offer higher quality education and a printing office was established, which published many important works of the reformed book culture in the following decades. Although the promising development of the school and related institutions was interrupted in the last third of the 17th century, its activities were renewed in the 18th century and it has continued to function to this day.