Bulgarian literary modernism
Rosen Petkov collection
The catalog contains 145 Bulgarian titles of books and magazines and 12 foreign ones from the collection of Rosen Petkov, illustrating the development of Bulgarian literary modernism (books as artifacts) and an introductory article by the author. The collection has been developed for decades with a lot of effort and love and is a representative sample of Bulgarian books and magazines from the late 19th century to World War II, with an emphasis on the books of modernism from the 20s and 30s of the XX century. The artifacts are divided into two sections, “Collection of Bulgarian Literary Modernism” and “Touches from Foreign Editions-Modernism”. Each of the editions is presented with good quality color material and data about the artifact itself – authors / editors / translators, illustrators, sizes, number of pages, publishers, printers, cover paper and body.
The section “Collection of Bulgarian Literary Modernism” includes some book artifacts from the author’s collection, which contribute to the Europeanization of Bulgarian literature, to the emergence and development of Bulgarian literary modernism. Artifacts from different regions of Bulgaria are presented. These books and magazines were selected either because of the authors / editors / translators or because of the modernist style text or because of the modernist illustrations. In the section you can follow different styles – from Secession to Constructivism. Where possible, the first photographs of the artifacts are in real size.
The catalogue aims at presenting mainly the Bulgarian books from the epoch of modernism, as artifacts. In order to get at least a glimpse of the context in which Bulgarian literary modernism is developing, in the section “Touches from foreign editions-modernism”, some emblematic artifacts from European modernism are presented, mostly periodicals, from the author’s collection – Die Fläche, related to The Viennese Art Nouveau (Secession), the Dutch magazine for modernism De Stijl, the German Der Sturm, the Russian Jar-Ptitza and others.
The book is intended for everyone who likes books and magazines from the time of modernism. It can also be useful to researchers, collectors, artists and designers, who research, collect, present or use the achievements of Bulgarian literary modernism and the book as an artifact. The catalogue can also be useful for teachers, students and pupils who want to learn more about Bulgarian literary modernism, its authors and artists. The modern design of some of the books and magazines, the elements of retro design and influential illustrations can still serve as inspiration for illustrators and designers.
