site.btaFish Primer Bicentennial Marked by Silver Commemorative Coin

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) Monday put into circulation a silver commemorative coin themed "200 years since the publication of the Fish Primer" from the "Bulgarian Revival" series, the Central Bank said. The Fish Primer was the first textbook printed in modern Bulgarian in 1824. 

The price of the coin when put into circulation is BGN 150, its face value is BGN 10, and it will have a mintage of 4,000 pieces.

On the face of the coin are depicted in the centre - the emblem of the Bulgarian National Bank with the year “1879” on the strip, below it the year of issue “2024” and the nominal value “BGN 10”, around the top - the inscription “Bulgarian National Bank".

On the reverse of the coin are depicted on the left - an open book with elements of the cover of the first edition of the Fish Primer and an illustration of a whale, around the right is the inscription “200 years since the publication of the Fish Primer”.

The coin will be sold by BNB at two counters in Sofia at 1 Knyaz Alexander I Square, and four cash desks at the BNB Cash Centre in Sofia at 10 Mihail Tenev Street.

The BNB points out that each customer will be able to buy only one coin from their cash desks, regardless of whether they buy on their own behalf and for their own account or on behalf and for the account of another person.

By the end of the working day on September 16, the new coin will be provided by the BNB to Investbank AD, First Investment Bank AD, Texim Bank AD, Tokuda Bank AD and Central Cooperative Bank AD for sale in their offices and branches.

Published in Kronstadt (now Brasov, Romania) in 1824, Dr Peter Beron's Fish Primer (its full title is Primer with Various Instructions) is the first textbook (and first book) to be printed in modern Bulgarian and also Bulgaria's earliest secular print publication. With its encyclopaedic coverage of various fields of science, the Fish Primer was a cultural milestone of the National Revival.