Hereditas Antikvárium

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16. Könyvárverés

108 printed page(s)+1 coloured map(s)
Lithographed newspaper for the Hungarian war prisoners in the camp of Irkutsk with a hand-coloured cover. Soldiers captured by the Russians in World War I published similar publications in almost every camp. Irkutsk was one of the largest gathering places, Lajos Terbe mentions four local newspapers in his study “Sibériai magyar lakop 1915—1921”. All of them have communist ideals, this newspaper, if only because of its early establishment, is still free from ideology. In addition to literary and war reports, it reviews foreign magazines. The most interesting thing is that it publishes several works by Géza Gyóni. We found only one mention of it in this regard. László Kovács (Gyóni Géza földi maradványainak sorsa. Hadtörténeti közlemények. Vol. 121, pp. 130) writes about it, but dates its publication a year later. Of course, it is possible that it was published then, but this cannot be decided due to the lack of sources. There is another literary speciality to the piece, and that is the poem entitled “Irkutsk Christmas” on the first page, with the author’s autograph signature underneath: “Dr. András Sík”. We know that Sándor Sík’s brother, Endre, earned a doctorate in law and was a prisoner of war in Irkutsk, so we can rightly assume that the signature is his. The value of our unique item is also enhanced by the dedication of the editor-in-chief, which can be read above the colourful coat of arms: Kedves Lőrés [?] bátyámnak emlékül Irkutck 1916 XII/25 Pazar János”.