The discounted annual pass that was issued in 1915 for the first class is a real curiosity.
The document was hidden in the suit pocket of Endre Ady, the great of Hungarian literature, that year. In 1915, Ady already lived in retirement and traveled a lot by train, as he regularly rested at the family villa of his wife and muse, Berta Boncza, in Csucsá. The pass states that Endre Ady is the editor of Nyugat, all of which is interesting in that most of the extant Ady passes used the word employee.
It is known, of course, that Ady was never the editor of Nyugat, as a sign of respect, his name as editor was displayed on the front page of this important magazine.
Endre Ady's railway passes have fortunately been treated well by the storm of history, as several are known. There are also some of them in the collections of the National Széchenyi Library and the Petőfi Literary Museum, a railway pass issued in 1908 was written about in 1924 by the newspaper Színházi Élet.
The railway pass, the ID photo of which was also signed by Endre Ady. Photo: Central Antiquarian
Five years after Ady's death, a certain István Illés applied to the newspaper with him. As it turned out, in 1908 he worked at Budapesti Napló alongside Ady, and at the beginning of the following year they simply exchanged their expired railway passes.
Illés took the pass home, put it in a drawer and forgot about it, but found it by accident in 1924. The pass, which has just been discovered, is in excellent condition and was purchased by the Központi Antikvárium.
The special feature of the pass is the ID photo taken of Ady by the famous photographer Aladár Székely in the fall of 1913. According to the antiquary, the ID picture is particularly rare, only three copies are known in the literature.
The second is preserved in the Petőfi Literary Museum, while the third has been lost over time. I knew about the photo of the pass that has just been discovered, because it was auctioned in 1973, i.e. 51 years ago (at the event of the Központi Antikvárium), when it was bought by a collector from Pécs: "I've seen a lot of special things. For example II. King Louis' letter, which he sent two weeks before the Battle of Mohács, in which he urges military assistance, or a certificate signed by King Matthias. This Ady pass is unique to me because Hungarian history, culture, and literature are objectively included in it," said György Márffy, head of the Central Antiquarian, who also added that it is not inconceivable that interested parties will soon be able to bid at one of the antiquarian's auctions. For Ady relic.
Featured image: Endre Ady - Photo: Aladár Székely
