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Primary sourceDocument15 March 1848

Nemzetidal broadside

Sándor Petőfi · 15 March 1848

A printed broadside of Petőfi's 'Nemzeti dal', run off the Landerer and Heckenast press on 15 March 1848, the day of the revolution.

This is the printed, distributed version of Petőfi's own poem, signed by him, from the day of the revolution he helped spark.

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Printed broadside of the poem Nemzeti dal (National Song) by Sándor Petőfi, in Hungarian, two columns of verse with a handwritten dedication note in cursive at the bottom and the signature Petőfi Sándor.
Petőfi / Landerer and Heckenast press, printed broadside of 'Nemzeti dal', 15 March 1848.

About this source

What it is

This is a printed broadside of 'Nemzeti dal' ('National Song'), the poem written by Sándor Petőfi, produced by the Landerer and Heckenast printing house in Pest. It carries a handwritten dedication and Petőfi's signature.

Why it matters

This broadside was among the first products of the press after revolutionaries removed censorship controls on 15 March 1848. Its rapid printing and distribution helped spread Petőfi's call to arms through the city on the very day the revolution began.

Look closer

  • Why would printing and distributing a poem quickly matter so much to a revolution?
  • What does the handwritten dedication and signature add to a printed, mass-produced sheet?
  • How might the poem's meaning change when read from a printed broadside instead of heard recited aloud?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Sándor Petőfi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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