British Library Slavonic and East European Collections
The British Library Slavonic and
East European Section acquires material across the spectrum
of the humanities and social sciences. It is responsible for
obtaining and making available material published in the countries
of Central and Eastern Europe, and for material in the languages
of those countries published anywhere in the world.
This page provides an overview of the Albanian Collections,
illustrated by specific examples. |
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Copyright © 1997, The British
Library Board
Portrait of Scanderbeg, reproduced from Marinus Barletius,
Historia de vita et gestis Scanderbegi, Epirotarum principis,
etc, (Rome, [1520?])
[148.h.3 and G.1452]
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Contents
An overview of the Albanian
Collections | Catalogues, printed guides
and other resources | Albanian material
elsewhere in the British Library | Further
information
Collections
In the following text, codes which appear in brackets after references
([1201.b.2]) indicate British Library shelfmarks.
The exact size of the Albanian holdings is not known, since, like
other country/language holdings, they have no separate catalogue
and are dispersed within the rest of the collections. There are
approximately 1,200 titles in Albanian in the current catalogue
(which covers items acquired since 1975).
The Library's holdings of early Albanian literature include some
16th-century works printed in the Latin alphabet. Also well represented
are the works of the Albanian humanists and scholars from that period,
including Marinus Barletius's Historia de vita et gestis Scanderbegi,
Epirotarum principis, etc (Rome, [1520?]) [148.h.3
and G.1452] and Historia del magnanimo,
et valoroso Signor Castrioto, detto Scanderbego (Venetia, 1580)
[1201.b.2].
In the 17th century, under Ottoman rule, a large number of writers
emerged in Albania, notably Don P. Budi who wrote Dottrina christiana...
tradote in lingua albanee dal Reuer (1636) [845.a.21
and 3505.d.46]. The first dictionary
was published during this period; Dictionarium latino epiroticum
vna cum nonnullis vsitatioribus loquendi formulis (Romae, 1635)
[628.a.28 and G.16845]. Also contained
within the collections are many examples of authors such as Franciscus
Blanchus, Pjeter Bogdani.
Important figures in the 19th century were the architect of Albanian
literature, Jeronim de Rada, who wrote Rapsodie d'un poema albanese...
(1866) [11586.c.39], and Naim Frasheri, widely
considered the true founder of Albanian "National literature", whose
masterpiece is George Kastioti-Scanderbeg (Tirana, 1962)
[X.700/12694].
In the past 50 years, despite poor exchange relations with Albanian
libraries and academies, the British Library has obtained a good
collection of Albanian Socialist Realist literature. The literature
which came out Albania in the 1950s and 1960s was particularly didactic
and moralising, and produced few serious works. The most noteworthy
author of that period is Ismail Kadare, who wrote Poemi e poesie
scelte (Tirana, 1968) [X.908/16615] and General
of the dead army (translated from French) (London, 1971) [YC.1986.a.6725].
In spite of the past difficulties, however, coverage of Albanian
material in the humanities and social sciences is good. In the 1990s,
the British Library has established new and good relations with
the Albanian National Library and the Academy of Sciences, and as
a result, acquisition of Albanian publications has been enhanced.
Special attention is currently being paid to the acquisition of
material charting political developments during the time of transition
in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Albanian material elsewhere in the British
Library
Further information
For further information on the Albanian collections, please contact
Milan Grba:
Slavonic and East European Collections
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
United Kingdom
e-mail: slavonic@bl.uk
