Hereditas Antikvárium

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14. Könyvárverés

In the letter, he writes that he would like to receive two of the books left behind by his late friend Béla Tóth: an annotated copy of the “Egri csillagok” and an equally annotated copy of Zsigmond Simonyi's "Tüzetes magyar nyelvtan". He writes: "I would be happy to exchange it for a book of my own works of fiction worth three times the retail price."
Béla Tóth, the journalist mentioned in the letter, was born in 1857, the son of Kálmán Tóth and Flóra Majthényi. He attended the Piarists of Pest and later enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine and Natural Sciences of the University of Budapest. In 1877, he made his first trip to Constantinople, a trip of decisive importance for him. It was here that his companions named him “Ephendi”.
After leaving school, he became a journalist, which became his main occupation. He worked for several newspapers, including “Fővárosi Lapok”, “Függetlenség” and “Budapesti Hírlap”, and from 1897 he became chief editor of “Pesti Hírlap”. Here, he published his most famous articles in the column “Esti levelek” (Evening Letters). Several books are associated with his name. The most famous of these is probably the six volumes of “A magyar anekdotakincs”.
He was a close friend of Gárdonyi, as evidenced by several surviving letters. When Gárdonyi wanted to collect Turkish sources for the “Egri csillagok”, he asked Béla Tóth to guide him.
Being childless, after he died in 1907, his mother, Flóra Majthényi, became his heir. Even that year, the „Pesti Napló” reported that "A movement has now started in the circles of the Lipótvárosi Casino to acquire the valuable library from the heirs for the casino and preserve it there under the name of »Lipótvárosi Kaszinó Tóth Béla-könyvtára«". A year later, it was reported that Flóra Majthényi offered her son's legacy to the Nemzeti Múzeum (National Museum) on the condition that a Béla Tóth room be arranged. However, the National Museum has stated that it lacks enough room and therefore cannot accept the items."
After that, we have no more information about the inheritance, presumably, it had scattered. This is also indicated by this item, the supposed addressee of which is Dr. Jenő Ringer, the chief physician of a sanatorium, who, according to the letter, had several books from Béla Tóth's legacy.
2 written pages.
Dated: Eger, 11 May 1910