Fery Veronika szerk.: Fery Antal élete, munkássága, alkotásainak jegyzéke (Miskolc, 2005)

The life and work of Antal Fery by Dr. Imre Soós

books are still in demand today and have become expensive book rarities: each volume includes more than a hundred original, autographed prints in colour. During the next congress of ex libris collectors, held in Budapest at the Fészek Club, several exhibitions of graphic art were staged in the capital. One of these, an exhibition of contemporary small prints in the Ernst Museum, was arranged by Antal Fery with professional expertise and excellent taste, contributing greatly in this way to the success of the wellattended international get-together. In 1974, at the request of the editors of the Belgian magazine Graphia, I wrote an article on Antal Fery in French. A review of his work written by Dr Marc Edo Tralbaut, director of the International Van Gogh Archive in Antwerp also appeared in Belgium. In 1978 Andor Semsey congratulated Antal Fery on his 70th birthday in the magazine Small Prints. In the article he underlined that in the last ten years the artist had increased the number of his works by more than 800 prints. To mark the anniversary a large-scale exhibition of Fery's work summing up his oeuvre opened in the renovated wing of the castle in Szerencs. I should mention here that the staff of the museum collect and preserve Antal Fery's works with expert care. Almost the entire collection of his work can be found here. The museum of his birthplace not only arranges the collection of his oeuvre, but also sees to the necessary scientific data publication too. This has primarily involved the preparation and publication of a catalogue of the artist's works. In 1970 the first part, containing data on 607 pieces completed in the period 1939 to 1969, was printed. The second part which appeared in 1978 deals with the years 1970 to 1977. The third part comprises works completed between 1978 to 1986 and ends with opus number 1817. The fourth part was published by KBK after Antal Kery's death in 1995, starting with the year 1987. His last piece bears the number 2083. The material of these four catalogues appears in a unified form in this volume, having been checked by the artist's daughter Veronika Fery against the core material preserved by her. By the time he reached his 80th birthday in 1988 the waves of his popularity abroad reached as far as Portugal. This was when the six volume encyclopaedia by the renowned Portuguese specialist and publisher, A.M. da Mota Miranda appeared, with a review of Antal Fery's work in French illustrated by 23 small prints. Through his small prints Antal Fery gained many friends in Italy too. On the occasion of his 80th birthday one of these, the well-known collector and publisher of graphic art, Mario de Filippis, celebrated his Hungarian friend with an excellent publication in which he describes the origin and effect of their spiritual affinity. After Antal Fery's death Mario de Filippis commemorated him with another fine publication. Since 1992 Antal Fery's permanent exhibition can be seen in the renovated