Republished 100 years after it was first written, the volume is presented on 16 September
Written by: Magdalena Gigova
‘Popovo: the Town and Its District’ will be presented on 16 September at the Sts Cyril and Methodius National Library. The book is published thanks to the ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ National Endowment Fund, which, through one of its thematic sessions, supports various museums and galleries to implement editorial projects in the areas of research and promotion of Bulgarian cultural heritage.
Winning such a Fund project allowed the Popovo History Museum to reissue the unique local publication, which is almost a hundred years old. ‘The book authored by the teachers Nikolay Kanev and Alexi Popov was written in the period 1928–1929,’ Vladimir Ivanov, Director of the cultural institution, told the Bulgarian News Agency.
Thanks to NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’, the only copy, whose original cover had been destroyed over the years, has been given a new lease of life and the chance to reach curious readers almost a century after it was written.
For BNA, Mr Ivanov commented: ‘This is a unique publication, because it presents the Popovo District in detail—not only the town, but also the surrounding villages. It is rare to find such a work, as it contains valuable information on both the economic and business life of those times.’
At the beginning of this year, the museum won the NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ project to support the printing of this book of immense cultural significance. The goal is for it not to be lost to the generations and to keep the memory alive. And this has been achieved and surpassed, for the book is in great demand. and has already undergone four reprints. Copies of the latter are being kept especially for the presentation of the book at the Sts Cyril and Methodius National Library on 16 September, at 5:30 p.m.
The cover’s designer, artist Kapka Kaneva, great-granddaughter of one of the authors, will attend the event along with her father, Dr Nikolay Kanev, who had preserved the book.
Dr Iveta Rashkova, who was born in the same town, will speak about ‘Popovo: the Town and Its District’.