Hayastani azgayin grapalat = The National Book Chamber of Armenia and the National Bibliographic publications
On December 1917, the National Commissariat for nationalities established the Commissariat for Armenian issues. The Commissariat for Armenian Issues, besides political and social issues, also tackled publishing in Armenia. The Soviet Armenian government issued a decree on 10 July 1921, which established first national publisher, Aipetrat. The first published books from Aipetrat were the translations of works of Marx, Engels and Lenin in Armenian. The very first of these books was Marx’s Das Kapital, translated by S. Shaumian. Other books that followed were The Communist Manifesto, V. I. Lenin’s “National question” (Natsionalnyi vopros), Program of the Communist Party, etc. There were also books on socio-economic issues, popular science, belles-lettres, and literary works for children. These books were published in Armenian, Azeri and Kurdish.
As with the other Soviet republics in Central Asia, Baltic region, and other ethnic republics within Russia proper, the Soviet authorities established a printing infrastructure to coordinate their nationalities ideology. On 30 July 1920, V. I. Lenin signed a decree, which established book chambers in the Soviet republics. On 27 December, 1922, the People’s Commissariat of Education of Armenia established the State Book Chamber [Gosudarstvennaia knizhnaia palata]. As the official state organ for publishing in Armenia, the Book chamber received the mandate to demand the obligatory deposit copies from the publishers. The publishing world of Armenia was further shaped by the decrees of the 13th Congress of the Communist Party, especially the directives of the Central Committee of December 29, 1928 on “providing books to the masses” and “on literary criticism and bibliography.” In addition to the State Book Chamber, following institutions were established:
Respublikanskaia biblioteka = Republican Library of the Armenian
Fundamentalnaia biblioteka AN Arm. SSR [Academy of Sciences of Armenia SSR Library]
Respublikanskaia detskaia biblioteka [Republican Children’s Library]
These and other institutions began publishing various bibliographic works. One of the first bibliographic works published by the book chamber was G. Levonian’s Armianskaia periodicheskaia pechat, 1794-1934, published in 1930 by the Book Chamber. In addition to the periodical guide, the State Book Chamber began publishing national bibliographic publications of Armenia SSR, modeled after the national bibliographic publications associated with the Central Book Chamber. The following publications were introduced by the State Book Chamber of Armenia SSR:
Lragraying hodvatsneri taregir = Letopis’ gazetnykh statei [Annals of newspaper articles]: This serial title was published around 1934 with limited issues. In 1949, this publication became a monthly publication, which indexed newspaper articles in Russian and Armenian in two separate sections.
Zhurnalayin hodvatsneri taregir = Letopis’ zhurnal’nykh statei [Annals of journal articles]: This title began circulating in 1938. As with Lragraying hodvatsneri taregir, this title contained two separate sections for Armenian and Russian articles. Zhurnalayin hodvatsneri taregir was issued as a quarterly.
Tpagrut’yan taregir = Letopis’ pechati Armianskoǐ SSR [~Annals of Armenian SSR Publications] began as Grkʿi taregir in 1925, “… issued only in the Armenian language until 1950, when the Russian-language parallel title, Knizhnaia letopis’, was added.” During the early 1950s, Grkʿi taregir incorporated noted music, printed pictorial works, and reviews. In 1971, the State Book Chamber changed the title from Grkʿi taregir to Tpagrut’yan taregir = Letopis’ pechati ArmianskoǐSSR [Annals of Armenian SSR Publications]. This serial publication appeared as a monthly. Since the emergence of an independent Armenian Republic, Tpagrut’yan taregir is continued by Hay tpagrutʿyan taregirkʿ:matenagitakan ts`ank = Letopisi armianskoǐ pechati [the Annals of Armenian Publications] as monthly. As of October 2012, Hay tpagrutʿyan taregirkʿ:matenagitakan ts`ank consists of the following sections:
Գրքի տարեգիրք = Book Annals = Книжная летопись[Knizhnaia letopis’]
•Ատենախոսությունների սեղմագրերի տարեգիրք = Annals of Thesis abstracts = Летопись авторефератов диссертаций [Letopis’ avtoreferatov dissertatsiǐ]
•Լրագրային հոդվածների տարեգիրք = Annals of Newspaper Articles = Летопись газетных статей [Letopis’ gazetnykh stateǐ]
•Ամսագրային հոդվածների տարեգիրք = Annals of Magazine Articles = Летопись журнальных статей [Letopis’ zhurnal’nykh stateǐ]
•Սփյուռքահայ մամուլի տարեգիրք = Annals of Diaspora Press = Летопись зарубежной армянской печати [Letopis’ zarubezhnoǐ armianskoi pechati]
•Կերպարվեստի տարեգիրք = Annals of Fine Arts Albums = Летопись изобразительного искусства [Letopis’ izobrazitel’nogo iskusstva]
•Քարտեզների տարեգիրք = Annals of Maps = Летопись картографических изданий [Letopis’ kartograficheskikh izdaniǐ/]
•Նոտաների տարեգիրք = Annals of Notated Music Publications = Нотная летопись[Notnaia letopis’]
Due to its robust online presence, the Book Chamber of the Republic of Armenia currently allows researchers unprecedented access to 51 issues of Hay tpagrutʿyan taregirkʿ:matenagitakan ts`ank. Researchers can access the Armenian National Book Chamber. Moreover, the official website of the book chamber supports interfaces in Armenian, Russian, and English. See below for a detailed description of this title.
LIBRARY CATALOGS
ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ԳՐԱԴԱՐԱՆՆԵՐԻ ՀԱՄԱՀԱՎԱՔ ԳՐԱՑՈՒՑԱԿ [HAYASTANI GRADARANNERI HAMAHAVAQ GRACOWCAK] = Union Catalog of Armenian Libraries
In terms of integrated catalogs and search options, the Union Catalog of Armenian Libraries has no equal in the region. The union catalog’s participating members are:
the National Library of Armenia, Library of the Academy of Sciences, the Book Chamber of Armenia, Science and Medicine Library, Science and Technology Library, the National Children’s Library, Yerevan Municipal Library, Yerevan State University Library, Medical University Library, Engineering University Library, Linguistic University Library, Conservatory Library, the Russian-Armenian University Library, the American University Library of Armenia, and the Agrarian University Library.
By supporting search interfaces in three languages [Armenian, Russian, and English], the union catalog allows researchers to search holdings via four search options: basic, multiple fields, “all in one” multiple databases search, and advanced search. Scholars can search any of the ten individual databases, which includes: monographs database, electronic resources, serials, music scores, dissertations and theses, rare books, map, fine art collections, visual materials, and sound recordings. Moreover, the consortium, in the event of technical difficulties and verifying holdings information, has included direct links to each of the fifteen participating libraries. In terms of tracking or verifying published materials in Armenian or on Armenia, scholars can rely on the union catalog, for its entire structure supports accessibility and convenience. Scholars can directly access this catalog at: [http://armunicat.nla.am/]
Алфавитный каталог книг на армянском языке (1623- ) = Alfavitnyǐ katalog knig na armianskom iazyke (1623-):
ONLINE CATALOG / MICROFICHE COLLECTION
Over the years, the Russian National Library through its Department of National Literatures, has produced and maintained online catalogs for national languages within the Russian Federation, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic countries. For example: Электронный каталог книг на языках народов РФ и стран СНГ[Electronic catalog of books in the languages of the peoples of Russia and CIS]; Каталога Газеты на идиш (список в латинской транслитерации)[Newspapers in Yiddish (the list in the Roman alphabet)]; Издания на финском языке [Publications in Finnish]. In addition the online databases, the Department of National Literatures has reproduced the Russian National Library’s holdings for various languages in microfiche format. As of September 2012, the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian section in the International and Area Studies Library, has purchased approximately 74 imprints catalogs for various languages [UIUC holdings]. For Armenian imprints, researchers can rely on an online searchable catalog [Алфавитный каталог книг на армянском языке (1623- ) = Alfavitnyǐ katalog knig na armianskom iazyke] and the microfiche reproduction of the card catalog for Armenian imprints at the Russian National Library.
According to the Russian National Library, the online catalog for Armenian books and serials contains approximately 64,000 scanned records from the card catalog. The bibliographic records for books and serials in the Armenian language from 1623 to the present, include bibliographic data in the Armenian language with translated title in Russian. The entries are arranged alphabetically according to the Armenian alphabet. The microfiche reproduction of the card catalog and the online catalog of Armenian imprints offer North American and European scholars full access to the holdings of the Russian National Library. More importantly, scholars will be able to engage the literary tradition and the prolific publishing culture of the Armenian people.
BIBLIOGRAPHIES OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Matenagitut’yun haykakan matenagitut’yan: ughets’uyts’. Bibliografiia armianskoǐ bibliografii (Putevoditel’).
Ishkhanyan, R. A. Yerevan: Haykakan Al. Myasnikyani anvan Petakan Hanrapetakan Gradaran, 1963. OCLC Accession Number: 26448104.
Compiled by staff at what is now the National Library of Armenia, this standard bibliography of Armenian bibliographies contains 1,324 entries for bibliographies published as stand-alone monographs, articles of a bibliographic nature from the periodical press, and related works. Matenagitut’yun haykakan matenagitut’yan is divided into five main sections: general bibliographies; subject-specific bibliographies; bibliographies of the works of individual persons (personalia); library and publishers’ catalogs; and (non-bibliographic) works on the history of Armenian monographic and periodical publishing. These are divided into a number of sub-sections according to subject and type of bibliography [The “General bibliography” section, for example, is subdivided into “General bibliographic indexes and periodicals,” “Annual bibliographic publications,” “Catalogs of ‘early-printed’ books [i.e., incunabula],” and “Bibliography of the Armenian periodical press.”]. Within most of the subsections, Armenian-language bibliographies are listed first, followed by Russian-language bibliographies, followed by bibliographies in other languages (i.e. F.C. Conybeare’s catalog of the Armenian manuscripts at Oxford’s Bodleian Library [entry #1079]).
Three separate author and title indexes are provided for works in Armenian, Russian and other languages. A complete chronological index (based on the publication dates of the bibliographies themselves, not their own chronological coverage) and an alphabetical index of publishers/scriptoria are also included. If a particular bibliography is known to have been reviewed, a citation to the review is also provided. A long introductory essay supplies additional detail regarding the history of the bibliography of the Armenian word in printed and manuscript form.
MONOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
Mayr tsʻutsʻak hayerēn dzeṛagratsʻ Mashtotsʻi Anuan Matenadarani. General’nyǐ katalog Armianskikh rukopiseǐ Matenadarana imeni Mashtotsa / kazmetsʻin Ō. Eganyan, A. Zeytʻunyan, Pʻ. Antʻabyan ; khmbagrutʻyamb A.
Mashtotsʻi Anvan Hin Dzeṛagreri Institut Matenadaran. Erevan:Haykakan SSH GA Hratarakchʻutʻyun, 1984-<2009>. OCLC Accession Number: 18107019
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts contains: “approximately 17,000 manuscripts … includes almost every sphere of Armenian ancient and medieval science and culture – history, geography, philosophy, grammar, law, medicine, mathematics, literature, miniature and others, as well as manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Greek, Syrian, Latin, Ethiopian, Indian, Japanese, etc.” Named after the inventor of the Armenian alphabet, Mesrop Mashtots, the centerpiece of the collection is the Echhmiadzin Patriarchate Repository of Manuscripts, which played a leading role in preserving Armenian religious and cultural identity. There are four sections within the Matenadaran: the manuscript fund, the archives, the library and the publishing department.
Each volume includes chronological indexes indicating whether a particular manuscript is an original or a copy of another manuscript; a subject index; a geographical index; a comprehensive index of personal names; an index of the locations where the manuscripts were created; an index of the miniatures included in the texts; an index of manuscripts that incorporate secret messages, and other indexes and tables. Volume 1 includes a number of additional indexes having to do with the provenance and ornamentation of individual manuscripts and their bindings.
This catalog contains the following indexes:
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: Grch’ut’ean zhamanakagrakan ts’ank = Chronological index of writings;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: Nakhagaghap’ar ev hetagay hishatakaranneri zhamanakagrakan ts’ank = Chronological index of prototype/archetype/original;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: Niwt’eri ts’ank = Subject index;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: Teghanunneri e’ndhanur ts’ank = General geographical index;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: Andznanunneri e’ndhanur ts’ank = General personal name index;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: Grch’ut’ean vayreri ts’ank = Index of places of writing;
Volume 1: Grich’neri ts’ank = Index of scribes (cites years, entry numbers, & specific page numbers);
Volume 1: Tsaghkoghneri ts’ank = Index of …clusters/flowers/something-having-to-do-with-flowers (cites years, entry numbers, & specific page numbers = illustrations/flourishes/miniatures/illustrators);
Volume 1: Kazmoghneri ts’ank = Index of bindings (cites years & cities as if to locate binderies in time & place, followed by [the] entry number and page number;
Volume 1: Patuiratu-stats’oghneri (e.g., patviratu-stats’oghneri) ts’ank = commandment/law/order/envoy/agent/proxy-purchase/acquistion/property index;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: Manrankarneri ts’ank = Index of miniatures;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: Knk’adroshmneri ts’ank = Index of seals;
Volume 1, 3, 4: Gaghtnagrut’iunner unets’ogh dzeRagreri ts’ank = Index of manuscripts that incorporate steganography;
Volume 1: “I mi tp’i” dzeRagreri ts’ank = Index of manuscripts;
Volume 1: Metagheay krknakazmer, khach’er ev ayl zarder unets’ogh dzeRagreri ts’ank = Index of manuscripts having metal double-organizations/foundations, stews made of sheep’s trotters, and other ornaments/embellishments/decorations;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: DzeRagreri e’ndhanur takhtak = General table of manuscripts;
Volume 1, 2, 3, 4: PataRik-pahpanakneri e’ndhanur takhtak = General table of: small piece, bit, i.s.o. fragment / armor/guard/cuirass/defender.
Catalogue of early Armenian books, 1512-1850.
Nersessian, Vrej. London: The British Library, 1980. OCLC Accession Number: 7306933.
Due to historical circumstances, the Armenian printing and publishing culture flourished outside of Armenia proper. This Catalogue of early Armenian books (1512-1850) provides scholars with an exhaustive overview of Armenian printing and chronicles the lives of early Armenian publishers and printing presses. Vrej Nersessian’s insightful introduction, which is almost forty pages in length, provides scholars with an authoritative list of titles and publishing houses for Armenian printing. Moreover, this catalog incorporates the holdings of the Bodleian Library, the British Library, and the early Armenian books in the Library of Wadham College, Oxford. In addition to providing lengthy descriptions for each entry, this catalog includes title information in Armenian.
Girk`e Khorhrdayin Hayastanum:matenagitakan ts`ank = Kniga v respublike armeniia: bibliograficheskiǐ ukazatel’
Girkʿě Sovetakan Hayastanum: matenagitutʿyan = Kniga v Sovetskoǐ Armenii: bibliografiia.
Volume 1: 1920-1930; Volume 2: 1931-1940; Volume 3: 1941-1950; Volume 4: 1951-1960; Volume 5: A: 1961-1970; B: 1966-1970; Volume 6: A: 1971-1975; B: 1976-1980; Volume 7: A: 1981-1985; B: 1986-1990; Volume 8: 1991-2000; Volume 9: 2001-2005.
Erevan: Haykakan SSH Petakan Grapalat, 1978-. OCLC Accession Number: 26965470; 70878318.
In 1978, the National Book Chamber of Armenia published a retrospective bibliography of Armenian books, which consisted of two volumes and contained 2891 entries in volume one. Unfortunately, volume two (1931-1940) is held only by Armenian libraries. Combining both the Soviet and republican periods, this bibliography of Armenian books now consists of nine volumes and provides access to 85 years of published material.
Hay tpagrutʿyan taregirkʿ:matenagitakan ts`ank = Letopisi armianskoǐ pechati. The Annals of Armenian Publications [ONLINE]
In comparison with the regional book chambers, the National Book Chamber of Armenia maintains a robust online presence. Since 1991, the National Book Chamber of Armenia has revived all of the national bibliographic publications, most of which date back to 1925. Using the structure of the Soviet Armenian Press Annals, the Annals of Armenian Publications consists of eight parts: book annals, annals of thesis abstracts, annals of newspaper articles, annals of magazine articles, annals of diaspora press, annals of fine arts albums, annals of maps, and annals of notated music publications. the Using the Union Catalog of Armenian Libraries researchers can search the book chamber’s holdings and other participating libraries for issues published during the Soviet period. As of October 2012, the National Book Chamber has posted four years of national bibliographic publications online. Individual publications are stored in PDF documents can be viewed and researchers can download content directly [Note: no fee attached to the download] at: http://nla.am/HAG/Grapalat/annual_en.htm.
•Գրքի տարեգիրք = Book Annals = Книжная летопись[Knizhnaia letopis’]
•Ատենախոսությունների սեղմագրերի տարեգիրք = Annals of Thesis abstracts = Летопись авторефератов диссертаций [Letopis’ avtoreferatov dissertatsiǐ]
•Լրագրային հոդվածների տարեգիրք = Annals of Newspaper Articles = Летопись газетных статей [Letopis’ gazetnykh stateǐ]
•Ամսագրային հոդվածների տարեգիրք = Annals of Magazine Articles = Летопись журнальных статей [Letopis’ zhurnal’nykh stateǐ]
•Սփյուռքահայ մամուլի տարեգիրք = Annals of Diaspora Press = Летопись зарубежной армянской печати [Letopis’ zarubezhnoǐ armianskoi pechati]
•Կերպարվեստի տարեգիրք = Annals of Fine Arts Albums = Летопись изобразительного искусства [Letopis’ izobrazitel’nogo iskusstva]
•Քարտեզների տարեգիրք = Annals of Maps = Летопись картографических изданий [Letopis’ kartograficheskikh izdaniǐ/]
•Նոտաների տարեգիրք = Annals of Notated Music Publications = Нотная летопись[Notnaia letopis’]