Typescript letter from Arthur Koestler to Dr. Thomas Koevari

This material is held atEdinburgh University Library Heritage Collections

Scope and Content

This ts letter from Arthur Koestler was sent to Dr Thomas Kovari (Kövári Tamás) who had escaped from Hungary in 1956. The letter to 'Dear Mr. Koevari' - indirectly described by Koestler as a fan - was written from the Berghotel 'Böglerhof', Alpbach, in the Tyrol, Austria, on 2 July 1959. It is signed in Koestler's hand. Koestler thanks Mr. Koevari for the trouble he has taken to point out a passage... a 'howler'.

Although the title referred to is un-named, it is The Sleepwalkers, a history of man's changing vision of the universe, published in 1959 (London: Hutchinson).

The letter states: 'The formulation on page 506 was indeed very careless'. It goes on...: 'The "spiral" was meant metaphorically, referring to a meteor entering the earth's atmosphere [...]'. Koestler tells Mr. Koevari that he hadn't noticed 'an even more striking howler on page 394'.

Access Information

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Related Material

In addition to the very large collection of Papers of Arthur Koestler (Coll-146), there are also: Papers of Iain Hamilton built around his work on Arthur Koestler (Coll-1479); and, Correspondence and copy letters between Arthur Koestler and publisher Victor Gollancz and others, 1941-1990, and relating specifically to 'Spanish Testament, 'Scum of the Earth', and 'Reflections on Hanging' (Coll-1745)... but check the mss catalogue for other materials too.