Les Trésors de la bibliothèque Mardiguian de NAASR

Part 3, the final part of this feature, takes us from 1920 up to 1946. The post-World War II era saw further developments in terms of translations which lie beyond the scope of this feature (but could form the basis for future ones).

Author: Hēnrik‘ Ibsēn = Հէնրիք Իպսէն [Henrik Ibsen]

Title: Dzovun Digině = Ծովուն Տիկինը [Fruen Fra Havet or The Lady from the Sea, 1888]

Publication Information: Bōstěn: “Hayrenik՛”i Dbaran, 1920

Translator: Hagop G. Khashmanean = Յակոբ Կ․ Խաշմանեան

Henrik Ibsen’s (1828-1906) plays utterly transformed the theatre throughout Europe and beyond from the 1870s onwards, tackling previously untouched topics and injecting psychological realism an

In this, the second part of our feature on vintage Armenian textbooks, grammars, and readers, we present 9 publications spanning from the early 1920s through 1950, published in Lebanon, Turkey, France, the U.S., and Argentina.

Title: Dziadzan = Ծիածան

Author: Hovhannes Kazanchean = Յովհաննէս Գազանճեան

Publication Information: G. Bolis: Kradun B. Balents‘, 1922 (2^nd printing); in Western Armenian

Physical Details: 104 p.; 18 cm.

Source: NAASR Mardigian Library, from the collection of Seta Buchter

Eudokia/Tokat-born literary critic and linguist Hovhannes Kazandjian (1870-1915) was the author of the textbooks Nor Kerakanutiwn ardi Hayeren Lezui (Նոր քերականութիւն արդի հայերէն լեզուի, New Grammar of Modern Armenian) and Dziadzan (Rainbow) for all grades. These textbooks were reprinted several times in Constantinople, and the Mardigian Library has copies of various editions of the publication. Kazandjian was arrested and killed in the early stages of the Armenian Genocide.