{{more footnotes|date=August 2016}} [[File:Samokov-bust-Konstantin-Fotinov.jpg|thumb|right|200px]] '''Konstantin Georgiev Fotinov''' ({{langx|bg|Константин Георгиев Фотинов}}; c. 1790 – 29 November 1858) was a [[Bulgaria]]n writer, translator and enlightenment figure of the [[Bulgarian National Revival]] period. The publisher of the first Bulgarian-language [[magazine]], he is regarded as the founder of the Bulgarian press.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Wiener |first= Leo |author-link= Leo Wiener |title= America's Share in the Regeneration of Bulgaria (1840-1859) |url= https://archive.org/details/jstor-2918140/page/n3 |journal= Modern Language Notes |volume= 13 |issue= 2 |date= February 1898 |pages= 38–39 |jstor=2918140 |doi= 10.2307/2918140 |via= Internet Archive |accessdate= January 4, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Crampton |first= R. J. |author-link= Richard J. Crampton |title= A Concise History of Bulgaria |year= 2005|edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |place=Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo |page= 63}}</ref>
Fotinov was born in the town of [[Samokov]] around 1790 to the family of a small-time merchant from [[Plovdiv]].<ref>{{cite book |last=MacDermott |first= Mercia |author-link= Mercia MacDermott |title= A History of Bulgaria 1395–1885 |place= New York |publisher= Frederick A. Praeger |year= 1962 |accessdate= 18 June 2021 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbulgari00macd |url-access= registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.36048/page/138/mode/2up 138] |via= [[Internet Archive]] }}</ref> He studied at a local monastical school before continuing his education in Plovdiv in [[Thrace]] and in [[Ayvalık|Kydonies]] in [[Anatolia]]; he was tutored by the [[Greeks|Greek]] humanist [[Theophilos Kairis]]. He worked on [[Bible translations into Bulgarian|a translation of the Bible into Bulgarian]] for the [[British and Foreign Bible Society|BFBS]], but they did not approve it. From 1828 on, Fotinov worked as a teacher and man of letters. He founded a private mixed Hellenic-Bulgarian school in [[İzmir]] ([[Smyrna]]) and employed the [[Bell-Lancaster method]]. The school's programme included Bulgarian, Greek and [[French language|French]] classes. It had around 200 pupils from all around the Bulgarian lands.
Fotinov was the editor and publisher of the first Bulgarian magazine, ''Lyuboslovie'' ("[[philology]]", "love of words"), which he issued in Smyrna from 1844 to 1846.<ref>{{cite book |last=Riggs |first=Elias |author-link= Elias Riggs |title= Notes on the Grammar of the Bulgarian Language |date=1844 |place= Smyrna |url= https://archive.org/stream/notesongrammarof00rigg#page/n9/mode/2up |accessdate= 1 September 2018}}</ref> The magazine was richly illustrated and included articles on [[history]], [[geography]], [[religion]], [[morale]], [[medicine]], [[hygiene]], ansd [[language]].{{cn|date=December 2023}} Fotinov also published a [[Modern Greek grammar|Greek grammar]] book (1838) and a Bulgarian [[phrasebook]] (1845) and translated a geographic book from Greek to Bulgarian (1843). It was Fotinov that first addressed the issue of [[female education]] in the Bulgarian press.
From 1852 on, Fotinov worked on a [[Slavic translations of the Bible#Bulgarian|Bulgarian translation]] of the [[Bible]]. He managed to translate the [[Old Testament]]: the [[Book of Psalms]] was published in Smyrna in 1855 and the [[Book of Genesis]] was issued in [[Istanbul]] ([[Tsarigrad]]) in 1857.<ref>{{cite book |title= Reminiscences for My Children by Elias Riggs, Missionary of the A.B.C.F.M. in Greece and Turkey (not published) |page= 17 |year= 1891 |url= http://www.dlir.org/archive/items/show/11472 |via= Digital Library for International Research |accessdate= 1 September 2018 |archive-date= 21 September 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160921001026/http://www.dlir.org/archive/items/show/11472 |url-status= dead }}</ref>
== Notes == {{Reflist}}
==References== * {{cite book |title=Електронно издание "История на България" |language=Bulgarian |last=Бакалов |first=Георги |author2=Милен Куманов |publisher=Труд, Сирма |location=София |year=2003 |isbn=954528613X |chapter=ФОТИНОВ, Константин Георгиев (ок. 1790-29.XI.1858)}} * {{cite web|url=http://liternet.bg/publish7/gkonstantinov/kfotinov.htm#1|title=Константин Фотинов|last=Константинов|first=Георги|date=2003|publisher=LiterNet|language=Bulgarian|accessdate=2008-10-05}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fotinov, Konstantin}} [[Category:Bulgarian male writers]] [[Category:Bulgarian journalists]] [[Category:Bulgarian publishers (people)]] [[Category:1790s births]] [[Category:1858 deaths]] [[Category:People from Samokov]] [[Category:Translators of the Bible into Bulgarian]] [[Category:19th-century Bulgarian people]] [[Category:19th-century translators]]