DLA043-0098  Translation

DR OTTÓ LÉGRÁDY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF PESTI HIRLAP

Budapest, 4th July 1936

Dear and honoured Friend,

It is with deep regret that I am compelled to accept your definitive decision, of which Siklóssy^[1] has already informed me. I hope the time will yet come when you will be able to avail yourself of my hospitality. We have been searching for some time for a place which would meet all of your requirements. I am unable to give a definite result just at present but our friend Siklóssy will communicate with you on the subject in the next few days.

Some of the possibilities we have considered are as follows: Count László Károlyi’s manor house in Fót (30 km); the archbishop’s palace in Kalocsa (121 km), the Palace Hotel in Lillafüred (178 km); the Eszterházy mansion in Tata (92 km) and the Hortobágy^[2] (222 km). All the above-mentioned places can largely be reached on good metalled roads. But as I say, Siklóssy’s letter will give you all the details of these and the other possibilities.

Hubay’s manor in Mosóc sadly turned out to be unsuitable.^[3] According to information from the painter Béla Vidovszky,^[4] the manor house (which in any case is in occupied Czech territory, 220 km from Budapest)

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contains no suitable room. Andor Hubay’s^[5] studio is in one of the manor house annexes but it is dark and there are large trees in front of it. It would not do for you at all.

I spoke to Count Károly Széchenyi today, who told me that he would be delighted to offer you his Póstelek manor in Békés County for the month of September. There is a studio in the house too, which was made for the count’s sister, who used to dabble in painting. The count is also on very good terms with Elemér Preszly and Ferenc Herczeg^[6] and will be happy to see them, as well as myself. Póstelek is 225 km from Budapest and there is only a metalled road as far as Szolnok, but Széchenyi says that the roads thereafter are perfectly good. The manor is eminently suitable; the only drawback is the folk costume of the region, which is not very colourful. I enclose a few photographs of the manor house and its park with this letter.

You may perhaps know that Countess László Károlyi^[7] has set up a wonderful little colony in Zebegény, consisting of a garden with houses done up in perfect Hungarian style, and that she has started taking paying guests there. I am sure you would be interested in this extraordinarily tasteful little nook, a veritable Hungarian Eden. I enclose the English-language brochure with this letter.

Your book will go to press this summer, when the printers have less work and so can concentrate on it more fully.^[8] I am very pleased that in the autumn, when you come to Budapest,

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you will – as you have indicated to Siklóssy – be able to furnish all the copies with your signature. I hope that the book will be good from a technical point of view, too.

It was with great pleasure that I saw in your letter that you are spending your free time writing an account of your career, which is something that must surely be of interest to all people of culture. It is something I feel will not only be an important source for art historians but will also do great service to the glory of Hungary.

Grateful thanks for sending the Daily Telegraph article about the important lecture you gave.

In closing this, allow me to send you my best wishes on becoming an officer of the Légion d’Honneur, conferred by the President of the French Republic.

My respects to your dear wife,^[9] and affectionate greetings to you, in the spirit of our long friendship,

Yours very truly,

Ottó Légrády

6 enclosures

Editorial Note:

Doctor Ottó Légrády (1878–1948), editor-in-chief of the Pesti Hírlap newspaper from 1919 to 1944.

AH (translation)

13/08/2025

Pd’O (summary)

03/07/2009