University library "St. Kliment Ohridski"

Special collections

The collection of Rare and valuable editions at Sofia University Library is organized on a collective basis, and includes manuscripts, old-printed editions, serials, reference books, maps and atlases, and bibliophile editions in Bulgarian, Slavic, classical and modern European languages, published from the XVIth to the XXth centuries. The foundation of this collection was established with the first special collection “Bulgarian old-print editions 1806-1878” of 1118 volumes of rare books and serials. Some of them are “Kyriakodromion sirech Nedelnik” (1806) by St. Sophronius of Vratsa, “Kniga siya zovomaya ogledalo” (1816) by Kiril Peychinovich, “Bukvar s razlichni poucheniya” (1824) by Dr. Petar Beron, “Balgarska gramatika” (1835) by Neofit Rilski, “Gorski patnik” by G. S. Rakovski, Hristo Botev’s newspapers, the first Bulgarian journal “Lyuboslovie” and others. 

Sofia University Library holdings include the following special collections:

1. Manuscripts (XIV-XIX centuries).
2. Bulgarian old-printed editions (1806-1878).
3. Foreign old-printed, special and rare editions (XVI-XX century)
4. Archive of Prof. Stoyan Romanski (a unique collection of 396 handwritten dissertation theses on ethnography).
5. Collection “Slavica” (special and rare publications in the field of Slavic Studies, published in 1822-1922).
6. Cartographic editions (published until 1900) and others.