A collection of opera works by Joseph Haydn have been uncovered more than 50 years after they were thought to have perished.
Hungary's National Library has been given 39 documents by the 18th Century composer that were presumed to have been destroyed in World War II.
It is believed the documents were discovered by chance in a second-hand book stall in Budapest, where they were bought by curators working on behalf of the government.
The amounts of money involved have not been revealed.
Joseph Haydn was born in Austria in 1732 and composed more than 750 works and arranged more than 330 songs.
The documents have now been handed over to the library where they will be kept "under lock and key" until they are digitally reproduced to allow research work to be conducted.
"Analyses by arts historians proved they are original," Agota Doba, a state curator said of the documents.
Influence
"We were very surprised that they surfaced at all. We thought they had been destroyed along with the full Budapest library of the Count Esterhazy, which burnt down during the war," she added.
The documents bear the seal of the noble Hungarian Esterhazy family which had political and military influence during the rule of the empress Maria Theresa.
"It is a mystery how they were spared in the war. It is likely that they were taken out of the collection before the bombing (of Budapest) because the books bear no trace of injury or fire," Ms Doba.
Prince Paul Esterhazy employed Haydn as the family's court musician.
The patronage of the family allowed Haydn to compose a vast amount of music.
Even after Prince Paul's death, Haydn continued to work for the family, dedicated much of his work to the prince's brother Miklos the Magnificent.
