The Bulgarian Section (B)
The library owns a rather large collection providing information on Bulgarian culture from the first editions of early Bulgarian works until the latest editions as well as works by all significant writers. Particularly the collection of publications issued by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences since its establishment in 1910 is extensive. The first Bulgarian books and magazines were published outside Bulgaria – in Russia, Austria, Romania, Turkey and Germany, which made them very difficult to obtain. In spite of that, such printed books are in the holdings of the library, including the first Modern Bulgarian printed book Kyriakodromion by Sofronii Vrachanskii from 1806, further e.g. Gorski pătnik by G. S. Rakovskii and his magazines Bălgarska starina or the magazines Znanie, Liuboslovie, Bratski trud, published by L. Karavelov, Chitalishte etc. One should also mention the first edition of the work Drevnie i nyneshnie bolgare (Moscow, 1829) as well as other works by the Russian and Bulgarian historian Iurii Venelin, who, despite his unprofessional approach to history, immensely contributed to the revival of interest in the Bulgarian national past. Venelin had a major impact i.a. on the leading exponent of the Bulgarian National Revival Vasil Aprilov, whose works Dennitsa novo-bolgarskago obrazovaniia (Odessa, 18410) and Dopolnenie (Sankt Peterburg, 1842) can also be found in the collection.
Bulgarian historical science is represented by numerous works written by Marin Drinov, Vasil Zlatarski, Gavril Katsarov, Bogdan Filov and Petăr Nikov; linguistics by Liubomir Miletich, Stefan Mladenov, Benʼo Tsonev and Aleksandăr Teodorov-Balan; literary history and criticism by Boian Penev, Ivan Shishmanov, Mikhail Arnaudov, Malcho Nikolov and Boris Iotsov. Among literary figures, the author of the largest complex of book editions is Ivan Vazov, followed by Khristo Botev, Liuben Karavelov, Pencho Slaveikov, Zachari Stoianov, Peio Iavorov, Anton Strashimirov, Dora Gabe, Elisaveta Bagriana, Georgi Karaslavov, Liudmil Stoianov, Emiliian Stanev, Blaga Dimitrova and others.
