As the closing chord of the centenary of Endre Ady's death, this richly illustrated album aims to show the general public the unparalleled treasure trove of documents owned by the National Széchényi Library, which has a source value in its entirety. The National Széchényi Library preserves nearly 1,200 unique documents that can be directly linked to the life or oeuvre of Endre Ady (his poetry, journalism). These are unique materials of various genres and fundamental importance in terms of his oeuvre.

The volume approaches Ady's oeuvre from a new perspective – from the perspective of his real, physical travels and journeys. It also shows Ady's inner search for a way out, his doubts and fears.

The volume, along with autograph poems, photos, letters, Ady's handwritten autobiography, dedications of first editions, etc., and in connection with priceless material legacies, evokes places to which Ady's life and career are connected, and which are significant nodes of internal struggles, the search for a way out, and the formation of identity. On the one hand, the real physical space takes center stage, all the real stations of the life path that "From the Heart to the Ocean" visited: Érmindszent, Zilah, Debrecen, Budapest, Nagyvárad, Paris, Venice, Rome, Monaco, Reinfeld, etc. From these locations, Ady informed his friends about his whereabouts and current works in letters and postcards that were exciting in terms of content and form. The process of visiting and inhabiting places inspired his poetry with a novel world of motifs, but travel, finding a way, being on a continuous path, wandering, inner journey, loneliness, and the insecurities inversely proportional to success could already be clearly felt in 1909.

On the one hand, the focus is on space – editorial offices, coffee houses, hotels, sanatoriums –, travel locations and means (car, horse, railway, ship, boat, etc.), and on the other hand, their strong, conscious symbolism. In addition to the specific moments of visiting and inhabiting places, or the search for a place, the various forms of the lack of a sense of comfort, the topos of finding a way out, being on a continuous journey, wandering, and being chased are also presented, which can be traced back to the ultimate disappointments and forms of disillusionment of the search for the Universe that is so characteristic of Ady. (in love, sex, intoxication, belief in God, worldly success, the search for God, etc.) The volume is therefore intended to examine, in a way that has not been examined before, the external, “moving means, scenes” of the development of the human and authorial self, and its inner loneliness, search for a way out, and symbols.

Our volume is a colorful album illustrated with approximately 250 photographs of documents, framed by two studies by the editors, along specific themes, since the lifelong development of identity, the external, objective aspects and phases of its construction and dissolution, can be experienced not only in the medium of various real places and locations, but also through the internal search for reflection, self-reflection, and introspection.