Géza Gárdonyi: The Eclipse of the Crescent Moon, volume I–II.

This is the facsimile of the first hard cover edition of the great historical novel by Géza Gárdonyi, The Eclipse of the Crescent Moon (known as Eclipse of the Crescent Moon since its second, 1905 edition). The first part of the ‘Gárdonyi-trilogy’, and in spite of the remarkable quality of the other two novels, A láthatatlan ember [The Invisible Man] (1902), and Isten rabjai [Prisoners of God] (1908), the greatest success, was first published in sequels by Pesti Hírlap from the end of 1899, and then in 1901 as a book. Also the author considered it his favorite.The readers immediately loved it, and after the first hard cover edition, prestigious literary circles praised it, too. The unquestionable success of the novel and its outstanding position in the Hungarian literary canon was confirmed by the decision of the readers who chose it Hungary’s favorite book in the nationwide voting of The Big Read campaign in 2005. This masterpiece of Gárdonyi’s had had more than a hundred editions by then.

The Eclipse of the Crescent Moon is a novel with several narrative threads that take place in vast space and time with many kinds of romantic and realistic action. An impressing row of genre images, twists and battle descriptions made it deservedly the favorite read of generations of Hungarians.