National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus



Books, Pamphlets, Booklets

Collection "Books, pamphlets, booklets" covers about 8 thousand units and continues to grow steadily. It consists mainly of books and booklet publications and leaflets, printed after 1830. Most of them were published in Belarus or are somehow related to the Belarusian history and culture.

Books of the 19th - early 20th centuries (up to 1917) are presented mainly by Russian and Polish-speaking publications dedicated to the history and culture of the Belarusian lands in the Russian Empire. Among them there are "Belarusian" volumes of Zhivopisnai︠a︡ Rossii︠a︡ ("Picturesque Russia"), Vitebskai︠a︡ starina ("old Vitebsk") by Sapunov, Bi͡elorusski͡a pi͡esni ("Belarusian songs") by Bessonov, Skazki i razskazy bi︠e︡lorussov-poli︠e︡shukov ("Fairy Tales and Stories of Belarusians from Paliessie") by Serzhputovskīĭ and many others. Here we should recall the Belarusian literary classics, such as one of the first novels of the 19th century, in which the Belarusian language was used – Szlachcic Zawalnia czyli Bial̨oruś w fantastycznych opowiadaniach ("Nobleman Zawalnia, or Belarus in Fantastic Stories") by Jan Barszczewski; a number of editions (including the 1st of 1855) of verse novel Hapon by Wincenty Dunin-Marcinkiewicz; pre-revolutionary publications of works by I︠A︡nka Kupala , I︠A︡kub Kolas, Maksim Bahdanovich, Kanstantsyi︠a︡ Buĭlo, Tsi͡otka, Uladzislaŭ Halubok and others. We can’t but mention the books published by the companies "Zahlanie sonce i ŭ naše wakonce" ("The Sun Will Look Into Our Window") (including Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz translated by Wincenty Dunin-Marcinkiewicz and Dudka Biełaruskaja or Belarusian pipe by Maciej Buraczok); "Polachanin" ("citizen of Polack") (Kateryna by Taras Shevchenko translated into Belarusian) and Belarusian publishing company (e.g. Run′ or Shoots of winter crops by Maksim Harėtski).

Literature that demonstrates the way of formation of the Belarusian statehood, as well as the formation of the republic’s education, science and culture since 1918, is richly presented in the collection. There are publications of the Institute of Belarusian Culture and "Maladniak" ("Youngsters"), numerous historical and philological works (for example a collection of 450 years of the Belarusian printing, a variety of dictionaries and grammars), as well as works of art by I͡аzėp Pushcha, Kandrat Krapiva, Piatro Hlebka, Pi︠a︡trusʹ Broŭka, etc.

West Belarussian part of the collection is represented, for example, by the books of the Belarusian School Association (Poshylysʹ u durni or They made fools of themselves by Marko Kropyvnyt︠s︡ʹkyĭ) and of the publishing house "Homan" (Nachėpnasʹtsʹ). As for fiction presented in this collection we should mention the works of such authors as Maksim Harėtski, Mikhas' Mashara, Maksim Tank and Mikhasʹ Vasili︠o︡k and as for non-fiction we should mention brochures by Adam Stankievič and Ramualʹd Zâmkevìč.

A large number of political books reflect the realities of life of the country during the interwar and post-war periods. Also the collection includes works devoted to the achievements of Belarusian Science, translations of Belarusian writers into languages of the USSR nations and other world languages and also foreign literature translated into Belarusian language.