Класическата библиотека на някои образовани българи през XIX век
The Classics Library of Some Educated Bulgarians during the 19th Century

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the library catalogues of some Bulgarian enlighteners and of three educational facilities in order to reveal the presence of the Greek-Roman antiquity in the Bulgarian 19th century book titles. It was established that there was a limited, yet detectable presence of it within the catalogues of some educated Bulgarians, especially the ones of Marko Balabanov. This presence can be indicated by the notice of some classical authors and titles which, with small exceptions, were seen in all catalogues and with a significant predominance of Ancient Greek classical literature. Ancient Roman literature, even within Balabanov’s library, was very poorly represented, despite the regular possession of dictionaries and grammar books for Latin studying. This fact may be explained by something that can be defined as “a trend among the preferred authors” imposed by the Bulgarian educational facilities, where many Bulgarians were educated. The most convincing example of this, apart from the often met Ancient Greek authors among which Homer, Thucydides, Plutarch and Lucian, is the Roman historian Cornelius Nepos. Without underestimating his works, the absence of the iconic Roman historiographers, Titus Livy and Cornelius Tacitus, and of the first Roman military historiographer, Gaius Julius Caesar with his “Commentaries on the Gaul Wars” and “Commentaries on the Civil War” is extremely surprising from a modern point of view in regards to analyzing the Ancient classical literature.

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