Székely György: Edward Gordon Craig és Hevesi Sándor levelezése, 1908 -1933 (OSZM, Budapest 1991)

ELŐSZÓ

PREFACE The second book written by Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966), On the Art of the Theatre (London: Heinemann, 1911), has an Introduction by Sándor (Alexander) Hevesi (1873-1939), director of the Hungarian National Theatre, Budapest (1922-1933), conceived originally as a letter to be read at the banquet given in honor of Mr. Craig in London, July 16th 1911. It was not the first nor the last item of a long correspondence lasting from 1908 to 1933, interrupted only during the First World War. The Hungarian Theatre Institute, Budapest, has acquired 43 letters written, by E. G. Craig from the legacy of Sándor Hevesi in 1962.* Nobody had known at that time where the counterpart of this correspondence could be found. Then, in 1976, L. M. Newman, librarian at the University of Lancaster, has published a volume, the Gordon Craig Archives (London, the Malkin Press), listing all theatrical collections where materials by and about E. G. Craig are to be found. This highly useful survey made it possible to find the missing letters in Paris, in the "Collection Craig" of the Bibliothéque de l'Arsenal. In 1981 we succeeded by way of exchange to complete the correspondence, making it possible to prepare an edition of this valuable material. We cannot be sure, however, if every letter sent by these two men to each other is now in our possession. Some could have gotten lost, others, perhaps, may hide in another collection. Yet, these existing 83 letters give an approximately true picture of this special connection between two outstanding personalities of the theatrical world during the first half of our century. Most envelopes of the letters written by Craig (with postmark) are extant; not a single one of those written by Hevesi. A fact which has made it quite difficult to arrange the letters into their original chronological order. Accordingly, we had to use direct and indirect methods to establish the place of the letters. It was easy enough when the author of the letter has put the date himself, or when the stamps were clearly readable. In all other cases we had to insert the letters according to their contents, especially if questions and answers have followed each other. * The name of the Institute has been changed in 1991 to Országos Színháztörténeti Múzeum és Intézet (The Hungarian Theatre Institute and Museum). In this edition we use only the old name and its abbreviation (MSZI). * 11 *