Old 'Eclipse of Crescent Moon' Novel Sells for Millions of Forints at Hungarian Auction
- 21 May 2025 2:00 PM
A two-volume dedicated copy of the novel Egri Csillagok (Eclipse of the Crescent Moon) by Géza Gárdonyi fetched more than Ft 2 million at an auction hosted by Antikvárium.hu that ended on Sunday evening.
More than 200 titles featured at the auction of signed copies. The most valuable proved to be the signed third edition of Egri Csillagok, which was sold for Ft 2.2 million.
Gárdonyi’s novel, first published in 1899, was voted the best-known Hungarian novel in a national survey in 2005.
Hungarian Literature Online writes, "Eclipse of the Crescent Moon, translated by George F. Cushing, is a fictionalised retelling of a central moment in Hungarian history: the 1552 Siege of Eger.
Its author, Géza Gárdonyi, spent years researching the topic, from the names of the people defending the fortress (the full list of which can be found at the end of the book) to the internal politics of the Ottoman army; his research even took him to Istanbul where he witnessed a religious procession described in the book.
Most of the characters appearing in the novel are historical figures whose fictionalised lives Gárdonyi follows from 1533 to 1552. In the opening scene, the main character Gergely Bornemissza is a young boy who sneaks away to a creek with his friend Éva.
They are subsequently captured by a janissary and only manage to escape thanks to Gergely’s bravery which prompts István Dobó, a soldier visiting their village to prophesise that he will in time become a great soldier too.
At the end of the book, Gergely is a grown man and Éva is his wife; they are standing in the Fortress of Eger which they had defended against the Ottomans under the leadership of Dobó." For more background on the book see here.
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