Dear Mr. Deputy President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences,
Dear Academician Golovinski, dear guests, dear colleagues,
For 50 years now, the Bulgarian Encyclopedia at the BAS has been carrying out its scientific, educational, educational and promotional mission by creating the most authoritative Bulgarian encyclopedias and reference publications. The historical fate of our country – to be under foreign slavery for 5 centuries, interrupts the rich literary activity of our country. While in Western Europe already at the beginning of the 17th century the compilation and publication of works under the name encyclopedia began, in Bulgaria the first general encyclopedia – Encyclopedic Dictionary, the work of 30 years of work by Luka Kaserov, was published only at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century – in 1899-1907. The Bulgarian Encyclopedia “A-Z” by the brothers Nikola and Ivan Danchovi, which is still popular today, was the first illustrated general encyclopedia in Bulgaria and was published in 1936. The Scientific Information Center “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” is the successor and continuation of the work of the Danchov brothers both with its name – “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” and with its goals – to present accurate facts and data to the readers, and even with the fact that Ivan Danchov is one of the first editors of the newly created Bulgarian Encyclopedia at the National Academy of Sciences.
In 1955, by Order of the Council of Ministers No. 753 of May 26, a specialized unit was created at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences – Bulgarian Encyclopedia sector, for “writing and publishing a Short Bulgarian Encyclopedia”. The decision was made on the proposal of the then chairman of the BAS, Academician Todor Pavlov, made with report P-18-82 of April 25, 1955. The Council of Ministers ordered “the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences until the end of 1958 to ensure the writing and publication of Kratka Bulgarian encyclopedia in 2 volumes, and for this purpose he did what was necessary for the improvement and expansion of the Bulgarian encyclopedia sector. In accordance with the Order of the Council of Ministers, a small team of BAS employees was formed. Academician Todor Pavlov personally led the organization of the work. It became clear very soon , that in the absence of any experience on how encyclopedias are made, it is necessary to form a team of specialists and editors to study the world experience in encyclopedia work. It is clear that the deadline set for the completion of the Short Bulgarian Encyclopedia by 1958 , is unfeasible, it is clear that serious preparation and accumulation of experience is needed. In fact, the actual work on the encyclopedia began after 1958. To begin with, a connection was established with the publishing house “Soviet encyclopedia”, the dictionaries and methodological guidelines of Bolshaya were received and studied soviet encyclopedia. Thus, without any experience, but with great enthusiasm, the creation of the Short Bulgarian Encyclopedia began. Its editor-in-chief is Academician Vladimir Georgiev, members of the main editorial board are prominent Bulgarian scientists. In just a few years, the authors, consultants and editors – about 1,500 scientists and specialists from the BAS and higher schools, representatives of cultural institutions, public organizations, etc. institutions, prepared the manuscript for the first volume, which was published in 1963. The fifth volume completed the series in 1969.
A short Bulgarian encyclopedia contains 25,000 articles, richly illustrated – 7,472 photos, drawings, diagrams, maps. The material about Bulgaria is about 1/4 of the contents of the encyclopedia. Even today, after so many years, the merits of the first academic encyclopedia are visible – despite the lack of experience, the authors and editors managed to present the readers with a professionally made reading – reliable and rich information, well-structured articles, rich illustrations, good polygraphic layout. With the preparation of the Short Bulgarian Encyclopedia, the first professional encyclopedia editors, who went through the entire process of creating the encyclopedia, were created.
There is no school to train encyclopedia editors. And the encyclopedia is a collective work that obeys rules built over many years – from the time of the Enlightenment in Western Europe, when the first encyclopedias were created, to today. The specificity of encyclopedic work requires editors not only to have good knowledge in the field in which they are specialists, but also to have a broad general culture, an excellent command of the Bulgarian language, foreign languages, and encyclopedic rules, so that they can create author’s material that is diverse in style a single manuscript with balanced articles, linked through the system of references, so that the reader can get the most complete and accurate information on the matter of interest, and in the most accessible and easy way and in the best Bulgarian language. These skills are acquired with a lot of effort and desire in the process of working on more than one edition and by using the accumulated experience of the long-standing encyclopedic editors in the Bulgarian Encyclopedia. In fact, the school for encyclopedia editors is really a Bulgarian encyclopedia. I would like to respectfully mention the names of the first encyclopedia editors, who fortunately worked for many years in the Bulgarian Encyclopedia – some from its creation until their retirement, and passed on their experience to younger colleagues: Hr. Krushev, Em. Ivanova, S. Bakardzhieva, G. Popov, G. Batakliev, P. Vladev, D. Petkova, N. Stefanova, Hr. Tilev, M. Minkov, T. Smilova, E. Balyucheva, Iv. Baeva, S. Sretenov, M. Manolov, E. Peovska, M. Glushkova.
In the following years, the development and successes of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia continued. The 1970s and 1980s were some of her most successful years. On the basis of the Short Bulgarian Encyclopedia, the one-volume general encyclopedia “A-Z” was prepared and published in 1974. The main compilation work was carried out by the editorial team of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia under the leadership of the editor-in-chief Academician Vladimir Georgiev. The encyclopedia contains 21,337 short, but very informative and well-structured articles, 2,375 photographs, drawings and drawings, maps, tables, appendices. This encyclopedia experienced the ordeal of being “arrested” – due to the reaction of the Yugoslav country because of the article about the then Federal Republic of Macedonia, the volume was stopped from sale. After some time, with the blessing of T. Zhivkov, it was put on the market without changing the article about Macedonia, and it was a great success.
The main publication that Bulgarian Encyclopedia worked on in the 1970s and 1980s was the national 7-volume encyclopedia “Bulgaria”. Chief editors are Academician Vladimir Georgiev and Academician Angel Balevski. It is dedicated to the 1300th anniversary of the Bulgarian state and contains the most complete and summarized information about Bulgaria. The encyclopedia is the first and only edition of its kind with a nationwide character. A huge amount of factual material has been collected and systematized about everything essential created by the Bulgarian people during its 13-century development. The centuries-old history of the Bulgarians is traced, the material and spiritual culture of the country and Bulgaria’s contribution to world culture are presented. The beauty and diversity of the Bulgarian nature are shown. Encyclopedia “Bulgaria” contains many biographical articles on historical, social, scientific, cultural, economic and other figures who left a lasting mark on the centuries-old life of the people, on Bulgarians connected with the history of other nations and on foreigners whose activities are closely connected with Bulgaria. Monographs, archival documents, statistical data, information from municipalities, community centers, museums, archives, libraries, and from individuals were used. A huge collecting activity was carried out by the editors of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia “Bulgaria” is truly an inexhaustible source of information about our country. Here I would like to pay special attention to the fact that each encyclopedia is a mirror of its time, reflects the peculiarities of its time and grows old with its time. Along with its indisputable merits, the Bulgaria encyclopedia, as well as the Short Bulgarian encyclopedia and the A-Z encyclopedia, in some of their articles are subject to the ideologization imposed by the time in which they were created. But despite this, even today, the encyclopedia “Bulgaria” is a valuable reference book with a huge volume and variety of information about our country collected in one edition.
The first volume of the encyclopedia “Bulgaria” was published in 1979, the sixth – in 1988 – with a very good rhythm for a multi-volume edition. The seventh (last) volume was completed in 1989. On the one hand, the changes that occurred in the early 1990s necessitated some revision and modernization in order to reflect the most significant changes in the socio-economic and spiritual life of the country, on the other hand the already finished volume cannot be completely changed, because it completes the series of already released 6 volumes and must preserve the main idea of the publication. There are voices that the volume should not be printed at all. The editors of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia have made efforts to update and update the content as much as possible. In the Addendum to the volume, updating, supplementing and correcting the articles already published in the six volumes were included, new articles were included, for example, an article about the labor-educational dormitories, known as the camps, created after September 9, 1944, for the polar expeditions of Bulgarian scientists and others. Here I would like to thank Academician Ivan Yukhnovski and Academician Evgeni Golovinski for insisting and supporting the volume to be printed. With the financial support of the National Donor Fund “13 Centuries Bulgaria” it appeared on the book market in 1996.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Bulgarian Encyclopedia also prepared the first academic specialized encyclopedias – Agricultural and Physico-Mathematical and Technical Encyclopedia. In both encyclopedias, a successful attempt is made to establish a uniform terminology in the respective fields of science.
Agricultural Encyclopedia is a scientific reference publication that reflects the achievements of world and Bulgarian agricultural science and its application in practice. Chief editors are Academician Hristo Daskalov and Academician Kiril Bratanov. Almost all plant and animal species, objects of agriculture are presented, information is given on agricultural machinery, hydraulic engineering and land reclamation. The first volume of the encyclopedia was printed in 1984, the second – in 1987. Unfortunately, the third volume, which was ready for printing and completely collected in 1990, due to the changes that occurred and due to lack of funds, could not be published. To this day we are indebted to the readers of the Agricultural Encyclopedia.
Physico-mathematical and technical encyclopedia is the first Bulgarian scientific and technical encyclopedia. Chief editors are Academician B. Petkanchin and correspondent member Pavel Markov. The main modern knowledge and achievements in the fields of mathematics, physics, astronomy, geophysics, geodesy, chemistry, geology and technical sciences are presented. The purpose of the publication is to popularize this knowledge in a form accessible to a wide range of readers, to give or remind the specialist of additional knowledge outside his specialty. The first volume was completed in 1982, but was not published until 1990. The second volume was completed in 1988 and, after updating, was published in 2000 with the financial support of the Eureka Foundation. The third volume is nearing completion and will be published by the Academic Press next year. Since the mid-1980s and especially in the 1990s, it has become more and more difficult to publish encyclopedias – the centrally allocated financial resources for the preparation of the manuscript and the printing of the encyclopedias are already reduced or completely absent.
An example of how quickly and qualitatively an edition of 976 printed pages can be prepared – that too in English and richly illustrated, when funding and good organization are secured, is the encyclopedia Information Bulgaria – a joint edition of the BAS (prepared by the Bulgarian Encyclopedia) and publishing house Pergamon Press. But this publication was commissioned by the then government. In just a few months in 1984, the editorial work was completed and the encyclopedia was published in 1985.
There are many more examples of how difficult it can be to print a finished manuscript – the already mentioned Agricultural and Physico-Mathematical and Technical Encyclopedia, and especially the new edition of the one-volume general encyclopedia “A-Z”, on which work began already in the mid-80s years. Although the manuscript was ready in 1990, it could not be published until the end of 1998. The time was difficult both for our country as a whole and for the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and respectively for the Bulgarian Encyclopedia and the Academic Publishing House, which until then published all our encyclopedias. There were no financial means available to pay royalties, prepress and printing. The then director of the Academic Publishing House categorically refused to publish the already finished manuscripts of four of our encyclopedias. Information became outdated, editors constantly updated the text, but it became outdated again without a chance to be published. The atmosphere for creative work was oppressive. With a desire to change the existing situation and with great persistence, the editorial team managed to prepare and ensure, with the financial support of the Open Society Foundation, the printing of the Nobel Laureates encyclopedia, which was published in 1994 – the only edition in Bulgaria encyclopedia published in the period 1990-1998.
At the beginning of 1997, after 5-6 years of impasse, we managed to find an opportunity to get out of the crisis – after successful negotiations with the Book Publishing House “Trud” we signed a contract to publish the encyclopedia “A-Z”. I am especially grateful to Mr. Borislav Chalakov – Deputy General Director of BTA, and to Mr. Nikola Kitsevski – Manager of KK “Trud”, who believed in the possibility of Bulgarian Encyclopedia to offer readers a modern encyclopedia and despite the risks of time – transitional period, impoverishment of people, to assist us in publishing the encyclopedia “A-Z”. We also owe a lot to Academician Evgeny Golovinski, who has been the editor-in-chief of the “A-Z” encyclopedia since 1996, and since then has always been with us, and with his great experience and erudition, with his great responsiveness, he is the man, the great scientist, whom we can count on for everything and always. I also thank Academician Ivan Yukhnovski and Prof. Naum Yakimov for their support and assistance in conducting the negotiations with KK “Trud”. After the conclusion of the contract with KK “Trud”, a huge work began on updating and preparing the encyclopedia for printing. In less than two years, the entire manuscript was re-edited – new articles were included, the articles in whole departments, especially in the social sciences and economics, were rewritten, many new illustrations, tables and appendices, maps were included. This huge work was done in very difficult conditions – outdated text, typed, without a single computer and without any financial means, after a drastic downsizing of the staff, which disrupted the technology at work. But with great enthusiasm, persistence and professionalism we managed, despite the difficulties, to do everything possible for the successful completion of the volume. The editor-in-chief, Academician Golovinski, also helped us, reviewed the manuscript for several months and with his active participation contributed to its improvement. All pre-press preparation – computer set, processing of the illustrations and pagination was carried out in K “Trd” and at the end of 1998 the encyclopedia appeared on the book market under the name Bulgarian Encyclopedia “A-Z”. Her appearance became an event in the cultural life of the country. The Bulgarian cultural public, readers have long been waiting for the one-volume general encyclopedia. The huge reader interest caused a multiple increase in the circulation of the first edition (it reached 17,000 copies), followed by a second supplemented and updated edition in 2002 – about 30,000 articles, 3,000 illustrations, 350 tables, maps, color appendices (circulation 4,500 copies) and third updated edition in 2005 (circulation 2000 copies). With the publication of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia “A-Z” there was a real turning point in the work of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia. I thank the team from KK “Trud” for the correct and responsible cooperation. We realize that: first – they took on a really difficult publication in a transitional time, when it was not clear how it would be received by readers, second – they took on all the pre-press preparation, printing and distribution, third, fourth – I can I list more details of our joint work, but I think the most important thing was that they believed in the merits and need of this book, that they were extremely correct both during the preparation of the edition and after it was printed and distributed. Our joint work with KK “Trud” became the basis for our further successful development – on the one hand, we saw the fruit of our work, its high evaluation by our cultural community, on the other – the funds we received from the sale of the encyclopedia allowed us to step back on our feet and to continue work on our new editions in a much more favorable environment – we manage to pay royalties to our collaborators, we built a computer network of 25 computers – today the work of the editors is fully computerized.
I dwelled in more detail on our joint work with KK “Labor”, because I really value the correctness of our partners, because we manage to implement our joint ideas and be at least one step ahead of others. Together, but already with another partner – Software Company “Sirma”, we made the first electronic general encyclopedia in Bulgarian – in 2002, the prestigious book edition of the Bulgarian encyclopedia “A-Z” came out in a modern electronic form to continue the the good of traditions and to usher in the encyclopedias of the 21st century. In 2004, the second supplemented, expanded and modernized edition of the electronic Bulgarian encyclopedia “A-Z” was published. The possibilities offered by the new electronic form have been used to the maximum. The encyclopedia contains 32,000 articles, which, in addition to alphabetical order, are categorized into 700 categories and subcategories in various scientific fields. Through hyperlinks, searchability is facilitated to such an extent that reading becomes an endless journey into the depths of human knowledge. The encyclopedia is richly illustrated with about 11,000 color and black-and-white illustrations, over 300 tables and attractive multimedia applications, there are 360 audio excerpts, over 300 video fragments, over 140 excerpts from literary works and popular science articles. The atlas offers a virtual trip to each country, presented both with an attractive relief map and with information on the state system, nature, history, economy and with statistical data on 34 indicators. The Chronicle of Humanity has an extremely rich content and presents about 10,000 of the most significant events in the development of society, science, and culture in the world and separately in Bulgaria. There is no doubt that from now on all our publications will be published in electronic form in addition to books. I cannot fail to mention the good work of the team of programmers from SK “Sirma” who created the software for the electronic Bulgarian encyclopedia “AZ”. I must point out the enviable ability of our partners from SK “Sirma” to work in a team – creative, modern and executive, both among themselves and with the editors from the Bulgarian Encyclopedia. The huge volume of the encyclopedia, the diverse tasks and the short deadlines were a big challenge, which we overcame together in the best way possible.
It is worth noting one more of our publications, which differs both in terms of subject matter and layout, as well as in its fate from our other publications – the illustrated encyclopedia “Traditional Bulgarian Calendar”. A very beautiful encyclopedia – album, in Bulgarian and English, with the editor-in-chief, Ph.D. Margarita Vasileva. The encyclopedia aims to acquaint the readers with all the cultural wealth that can be covered by the concept of Bulgarian calendar-holiday rites. The description of the traditional holidays is supplemented with information about the Orthodox Christian calendar, a brief biography of the patron saint of the holiday or the Christian legend associated with this day, which provides some guidance in the complex relationship between paganism and Christianity. This interesting, beautiful and representative publication was published in 2002 in Bulgarian and in 2003 in English, but unfortunately it was not developed due to the incorrectness of the publisher – “Vion” publishing house from Plovdiv, and is an example of how a wonderful publication cannot find its place in the book market because of the dishonesty of the publisher and distributor.
In cooperation with KK “Trud” and SK “Sirma” in 2005 we marked another success through an extremely useful work – the creation of the educational portal Znam.bg – the first attempt in Bulgaria to create a national network of knowledge, the basis of which is Bulgarian Encyclopedia “A-Z”. The portal is primarily intended for schools – with the support of the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Ministry of Education and Science, 50,000 free licenses for schools have been provided. Of course, Znam.bg can be used by any inquisitive citizen for a minimal fee. The portal is constantly being developed and improved with the participation of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia.
All our further plans are closely related to the expansion and improvement of our activity, to the continuation of the enlightening mission of the BAS, which we carry out, not only to create science, but also to disseminate it widely and in an accessible form. The publication of the specialized encyclopedia “Medicinal plants in Bulgaria” with the editor-in-chief Prof. Stefan Nikolov, which we prepared with the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Medical University in Sofia, is about to be published, we anticipate that the one-volume national encyclopedia “Bulgaria” with the main editor will appear on the book market next year editor Academician Vasil Gyuzelev and the third volume of the Physical-Mathematical and Technical Encyclopedia. We are also working on a common three-volume encyclopedia, we have more ideas that we are working on implementing. I am sure that we will successfully complete them as well.
Bearing in mind our experience of our joint work with various publishing houses, I want to emphasize again how important to us are correct relations and the conclusion and execution of mutually beneficial contracts with them. The contracts we conclude with the publishing houses ensure the financing of our activity. They probably correspond to the contracts that BAS institutes conclude with external institutions for the development and financing of various projects. Since the Bulgarian Encyclopedia does not have any other source of funding, we must continue to look for the most profitable opportunities for cooperation with publishing houses.
With special gratitude, we note the proposal of the Chairman of the Academy of Sciences of the Academy of Sciences Ivan Yukhnovski and the Decision of the General Assembly of the Academy of Sciences of the Academy of Sciences to approve the status of the Bulgarian Encyclopedia from January 1, 2003 as an independent specialized academic unit – Scientific Information Center “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” at the Academy of Sciences. The approval of the new statute contributed to an even more successful development of our activity.
During all the years from its establishment until today, the Bulgarian Encyclopedia maintains and develops successful cooperation with institutions that also prepare encyclopedias. This activity is among our main tasks – several regional encyclopedias were prepared with our help – in Lovech, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad (“Pirinsky region”), our colleagues participated in the compilation of the Cyril and Methodius encyclopedia, the Economic encyclopedia, the encyclopedic reference book “Bulgarians of the XX century” and many others. The Bulgarian Encyclopedia prepares materials about Bulgaria intended for foreign encyclopedias or for Bulgarian embassies abroad and for foreign embassies in Bulgaria.
Our cooperation with related institutions abroad is also successful. The Soviet Encyclopedia assisted the newly created Bulgarian Encyclopedia, later contacts were established with the Polish, Slovak, Ukrainian, Romanian, Belarusian, Uzbek, Greek, Portuguese Encyclopedia, the GDR Encyclopedia. In recent years, we have actively cooperated with the Polish, Catalan, Estonian, Irish and especially the Croatian encyclopedia. The exchange of information with foreign encyclopedias is very important – on the one hand, we provide them with materials about Bulgaria, promote our country abroad and ensure the most reliable coverage of the history, culture, science of Bulgaria in foreign publications, on the other hand, it is important to receive most accurate information about the respective country in order to reflect it in our publications. Everyone who uses reference literature has encountered the discrepancy of information about the same event or person in different reference books. This is an insurmountable obstacle for us as well – who can we trust, how can we find the most accurate information? In addition to consultations with leading specialists in the given field, we look for a way out of the problem based on the information indicated in the relevant national encyclopedia.
And here I would like to draw attention to one more question – is it necessary for small Bulgaria to publish its own encyclopedias, while they can use the large foreign encyclopedias – Larus, Britannica, Brockhaus, the Great Russian Encyclopedia, etc., which have long-standing traditions and much greater opportunities than the Bulgarian publishers. I think, and this is not just my opinion, that every encyclopedia – big or small, is valuable with the information it contains, each with its own specificity, with its own view of events and phenomena in this world. But every national encyclopedia, including the Bulgarian one, unlike the foreign ones – translated or in the original, gives its national point of view, the information about the country is much richer and significantly more accurate. The BAS encyclopedias created by the Scientific Information Center “Bulgarian Encyclopedia” are the result of the experience accumulated over the years, the work and efforts of highly qualified authors and editors, with a clear awareness of the responsibility that the BAS encyclopedias must be of a high academic level, to give reliable, complete and objective information – simply to be the best, and to win the trust of readers. And in support of how important it is to have good Bulgarian encyclopedias, I will allow myself to quote the words of the author of the first modern Bulgarian encyclopedia “Encyclopedic Dictionary” Luka Kaserov, said in 1898 and still relevant today:
“…These concepts are so numerous and varied that even the most frequent memory cannot always accurately and quickly recall each one. Every reader, more or less educated, needs to deal with some event, person, date, term with one book or another. Doesn’t everyone have all the books needed for this purpose at hand, and does he always have time for a brief information to dig through various manuals, today one, tomorrow another, or go to the city library to he can handle an encyclopedia, if there is one there, and if he knows the language in which it is written, because we don’t have our own encyclopedias… And can we expect an encyclopedia, published for foreign readers, to provide information on Bulgarian affairs, what Bulgarian readers would like? It is obvious, therefore, that we need a handy book of our own, a complete encyclopedia that will illuminate us with abundant light on all subjects. …It is good to remember that the dictionary is a book for everyone and that what is easily seen by one is difficult for others. Hence the need to explain sometimes things that would seem to someone to need no explanation…”
With particular pride, I would like to mention the awards that the Bulgarian Encyclopedia has received for its work. In 1981, the State Council awarded the Bulgarian Encyclopedia with the Order “Cyril and Methodius” 1st class “for significant results achieved in the development of the encyclopedic work in Bulgaria and in connection with 25 years since its creation”. Our work was also highly appreciated by the Management of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 2002. The Bulgarian Encyclopedia was awarded the honorary plaque of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences “Marin Drinov” “for outstanding contributions to the development of encyclopedic editions related to the educational activities of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the publication of the second edition of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences encyclopedia “A-Z” Of course, a great reward for us is the trust and appreciation of our readers.
And finally, allow me to thank the Management of the BAS and personally the Chairman of the Academy Academician Ivan Yukhnovski for the support and attention to our work, to our scientific supervisor Academician Evgeny Golovinski for his active participation in our work and for his indisputable contribution to the success us in recent years, to the editors-in-chief, members of the main editorial boards, authors and consultants of our editions for their responsiveness and invaluable contribution to the topicality and reliability of the information in our encyclopedias, to our partners from CC “Trud” and SC “Sirma” for the trust in us and the correctness with which we have been working for almost 9 years now, to the Academic Publishing House “M. Drinov” for our long-term cooperation, to our former colleagues from whom we learned, and of course to the Bulgarian Encyclopedia team, to all colleagues, with which we overcame the difficulties of the early 1990s and together we continue our educational mission with a sense of revival. Thank you to our many readers for trusting us, for the feedback they constantly send us and thus help us make our encyclopedias better. I also thank all of you who, with your presence in this hall, support us to continue developing the encyclopedic work in Bulgaria. Thanks.
