The Albatrosz series (1963–1990)
The Magvető (The Sower) publishing house launched a series named Albatrosz in 1963, primarily dedicated to crime fiction, although casually adventure or science fiction novels were also published in it. Initially, the publisher’s name did not appear anywhere among the paratexts, as if that absence testified the guilt felt for the publication of such novels. Beside Jenő Rejtő and some other Hungarian authors, translated novels from other socialist countries brought legitimacy to the series. In a second phase, from 1966, the translation of Western crime fiction was initiated by the novels of Chandler (from 1966) and Simenon (from 1968), and was joined soon by the novels of Agatha Christie, Charles Exbrayat, Sébastien Japrisot, Boileau and Narcejac, Ed McBain.
240 titles were published from 1963 to 1990.
Georges Simenon: Maigret et le client du samedi. Hungarian edition from 1968. Translated by Katalin Rayman
Léo Malet: Le soleil naît derrière Paris. Les nouveaux mystères de Paris. Hungarian edition from 1985. Translated by Gábor Zalabai
Raymond Chandler: The Lady in the Lake. Hungarian edition from 1966. Translated by Olga Gy. Szentkláray
Georges Simenon: Maigret et le voleur paresseux. Hungarian edition from 1968. Translated by Tivadar Gorilovics
James Hadley Chase: No Orchids for Miss Blandish. Hungarian edition from 1981. Translated by Lívia Rácz
Jenő Rejtő (P. Howard): Vesztegzár a Grand Hotelben/Quarantine at the Grand Hotel. Hungarian edition from 1982