National Library of Serbia
The National Library of Serbia is the national library of Serbia, located in the capital city of Belgrade. It is the biggest library, and oldest institution in Serbia, one that was completely destroyed many times over in the last two centuries.
National Library of Serbia
A photograph of the former library building, bombed on 6 April 1941 on the order of Adolf Hitler himself. Around 500.000 volumes and all collections of the library were destroyed in one of the largest book bonfires in European history.
Gligorije "Gliša" Vozarević was a prominent Serbian publisher, bookbinder and editor. He was the first in Serbia to begin selling books inexpensive enough to make them accessible to a wider readership, while at the same time developing a standard method to pay authors. He began by purchasing the most modern press on the market, moving the equipment into a printing and bookbinding house, and opening a bookstore in the center of Belgrade in 1827. It was here that the first public library in the city of Belgrade was established in 1832. He maintained strong connections with the country's literary elite and played a key role in the development of Serbian literature in the early 19th century. Vozarević published the best-known works by Dositej, Vuk, Sarajlija, and Miloš Svetić as well as seminal textbooks on science and history.
Aesop's Fables published by Vozarević in 1838