The printing industry – a way of self-expression, identification and self-affirmation of a nation

Eng. Ventseslav Alexiev, Executive Director of Dunav Press AD

On May 27, at an elegant party in the Gallery for Foreign Art, the Union of the Printing Industry in Bulgaria, the Plovdiv International Fair and Polygraphy magazine presented their awards.

Printer of the Year became Ventseslav Alexiev, Ececutive Director of Dunav Press AD. His contribution to the development of the printing industry in Bulgaria and to the prosperity of Dunav Press, which turned 140 years, is enormous.

Mrs. Veneta Dimitrova, Manager of Slavey 91, was chosen for Supplier of the Year.

The printing industry in Russe dates from 140 years ago and this year the Bulgarian State celebrated 125 years of the adoption of the Turnovo Constitution. Is this a historical paradox or a reflection of the actual state of the Bulgarian national spirit? Before they had state institutions, the Bulgarians had achieved moral and spiritual growth, had matured intellectually and created their state as enlightened people and not devoid of learning and spirituality. What else does the establishment of the printing tradition 140 years ago mean to Bulgaria – and particularly to Russe, this door to the East and the West?
I wouldn’t say that what happened 140 years ago – the establishment of one of the first printing houses in Bulgaria before the establishment of the Bulgarian State - is a paradox of history. On the contrary, in my opinion, the events in the 19th c. followed their natural course.

In the second half of the 19th c. Russe had specific socio-politic and cultural distinctions, which with their dynamism and high civil activity acquired national dimensions. There is no doubt that the raising of the city into a vilayet centre played a crucial role for their formation. As part of the massive administrative-economic reform in the capital of the Danube Vilayet, in 1864 Mithad pasha opened the first and most modern printing establishment in our lands, which played an enormous role in the reviving of the cultural and spiritual life of the citizens of Russe. Mithad pasha implemented a policy aimed at incorporating the Bulgarian population in the Ottoman rule. At the same time, however, the striving of the Bulgarians for state and cultural independence increased. This way one of the first printing houses in Bulgaria, the one in Russe, played a useful role in the development of Bulgarian literature, the training of printers, the furnishing of printing houses opened after the Liberation. During the second half of the 19th c. about 159 editions were printed in the vilayet press: the district Dunav newspaper published in Bulgarian and Turkish, Slava magazine, the first printed book Turkish-Bulgarian Primer by Ivan Chorapchiev, Miserable Family by Vassil Drumev, Lost Stanka by Iliya Blaskov, the Reader of Nikola Mihailovsky, a textbook of agriculture by Tzani Ginchev, books by Father Matei Preobrazhensky, Bacho Kiro, different handbooks, church books, codes, etc.

Notably, long before 1864 – in 1806 Bishop Sofronii Vrachansky published a book entitled Kyriakodromion (Sunday instructions), containing Sunday and festive sermons. It was the first Bulgarian printed book. In the translation of the Greek Kyriakodromion (1803) by bishop Nikiphor Theotokos, Sofronii included parts of the Holy Scriptures in “simple Bulgarian” language.

In 1824 the first Bulgarian secular textbook containing natural science knowledge was published – Riben Bukvar (The Fish Primer) by Petar Beron.

So the pre-Liberation Bulgarians were not devoid of spirituality at all. Let us not forget the foundation of the first Bulgarian secular school in Gabrovo in 1835, and later in 1870 – the establishment of the independent Bulgarian church with a Sultan’s firman. And above all, we should note the significant development of printing, which was not an activity peripheral to culture and education but a way of self-expression, identification and self-affirmation of a nation. The Bulgarian intelligentsia played a crucial role in the struggle for independence.

All these factors, together with the broad revolutionary activities, naturally led to the establishment of an independent Bulgarian state.

Already during the National Revival in Russe there were different consular representations, the town was considered a centre where the foreign aristocracy could find intellectual entertainment and the Bulgarian elite of tradesmen, artisan and culture figures created a stratum that was by no means inferior to the European aristocrats. In this respect, how has the development of the printing industry and the related activities (opening of bookshops, publishing of newspapers, magazines and books) contributed to the establishment of intellectual traditions in Russe and the region?
You described very precisely the town and its citizens after the Liberation. As the biggest city in the Principality of Bulgaria, Russe became a natural focal point for eminent Bulgarian public and culture figures, who continued or started their printer’s career here. Highly educated and pragmatic, they turned the city into the liveliest centre of Bulgarian periodical press and book publishing in the end of the 19th c.

Spas Popov managed to restore part of the Danube district press, destroyed during the War of Liberation, and opened the first printing house after the Liberation. Lyuben Karavelov in association with Nestor Zheinov moved his press to Russe and after his death his wife Nataliya Karavelova started working in the publishing house. The works of Lyuben Karavelov were printed in Russe under the editorship of Zahari Stoyanov. Hristo Bachvarov and Rashko Blaskov moved their printing houses from Gyurgevo to Russe and continued publishing Bulgarian newspaper and Slavc Brotherhood magazine. In 1880 Todor Hadjistanchev also opened a publishing house in his own home in Flotska St. where he published Slav newspaper. The Croatian Dimiter Drobnyak opened the first chromlithography in Bulgaria where different invitations, historic and geographic maps, shares, etc. were printed. Several periodicals were published here: Russenski Kurier newspaper, Ruse, Makedonets, Komar, Zakonnost and Pobornik-opalchenets magazine. In 1882 the printer’s career of Stoyan Roglev started – at first as manager of the press of Naroden Uchitel magazine and later as its owner.

Gradually, the printers expanded their activity by creating binderies and bookshops. Many press owners combined printing with book selling. In the last decade of the 19th c. on the book-publishing stage in Russe stepped the interesting personage of Spiro Gulabchev, the most outstanding adherent of anarchism in Bulgaria. Over 140 books were printed in his publishing house, mainly socio-political, historic literature and fiction. Greatest interest aroused the book by Chernishevsky “What to Do” and the first Bulgarian translation of the “Manifest of the Communist Party” by Marx and Engels.

I will quote only a couple of figures. By the end of the 19th c. in Russe came out over 1500 books, 45 different newspapers and 14 magazines. I think this historical data is the best proof of the high level of the intellectual traditions in our town after the Liberation.

What does the powerful complex Dunav Press mean to the citizens of Russe today: a stable economic structure providing jobs, Revival cultural tradition, emblematic production and an example that in the last years when the real market economy was under construction, the free and enterprising spirit of the Bulgarian has not disappeared but on the contrary – has received an opportunity to manifest itself, including on international level?
It is best to let the others make assessments of Dunav Press. But I think you already did so in your question. Everything you said gives an idea of the essence of the modern Russe press.

After the changes in 1989, big part of the polygraphy giants in Bulgaria collapsed, a number of production structures disappeared. Dunav Press managed to keep its leading place in north-eastern Bulgaria, to develop its production capacity. The merit for this goes mainly to the people who are working here. Thanks to the qualification and the enthusiasm of its staff, Dunav Press won the 21st prize for best trade name, awarded in 1996 in Madrid by Trade Leader’s Club. In the framework of the fifth edition of the international exhibition of printed communication Printcom 2003, Plovdiv, Dunav Press received another recognition of high professionalism. The company is winner of the second prize in the Second National Contest for Company Calendars. And the quite recent prestigious award “Printer of the Year”. The people in Dunav Press continuously affirm the name of the company, adequately respond to the changes in the market, and take care of the company prestige in the country and abroad. The highly qualified staff of the company, along with the modern equipment, guarantees the high quality and the good servicing of all our clients, among which there are many from countries like Moldova, Greece, Russia, Georgia, etc.