Minkov (Svetoslav) Избрани произведения

[Selected Works]. Foreword by Emil Petrov
Sofia, , 1958.

First Bulgarian edition, limited to 8000 copies. Signed presentation copy from the author. 8vo. Printed in Bulgarian. Original terracotta cloth.

Signed and warmly inscribed by Svetoslav Minkov on the half-title in Bulgarian, the inscription translates as: “To good friends Brigitte and Peter, with much warmth and devotion – Sv. Minkov, London, 29.11.60.” The recipients were the Bulgarian author & journalist Brigita Yosifova, and the British poet & translator Peter Tempest – an inscription that speaks to Minkov’s literary friendships and his continuing engagement with intellectual circles beyond Bulgaria.

This is a scarce collected selection by one of the most distinctive voices in 20th-century Bulgarian literature. A central figure in Bulgaria’s interwar avant-garde, Minkov introduced the grotesque, the fantastic, and speculative futurism into a literary culture largely shaped by realism & social narrative. His coolly ironic prose, fascination with technology and sharp sense of the absurd place him in dialogue with the broader European modernist tradition; he is frequently regarded as the father of Bulgarian science fiction & horror. Themes of mechanisation, alienation and the fragility of identity run through his work, lending it a striking modernity that still resonates.

The volume is arranged in four sections: first, twenty-five short stories — including his celebrated The Lady with the X-Ray Eyes, alongside The Hydrogen Gentleman and the Oxygen Girl, The Woman in the Golden Coffin, and others; secondly, a group of travelogues; thirdly, fairy tales; and finally, a series of feuilletons and satirical sketches, which display his characteristic wit and satirical edge.

Svetoslav Minkov (1902-66) travelled extensively across Europe, Asia, and South America both before and after the Second World War. He worked as a journalist for several Communist newspapers and later served in an official capacity within the Bulgarian government’s cultural office, navigating a complex cultural landscape while maintaining a voice that remained distinctly his own.