Writer, publicist, translator, and historian Israfil Suleyman oglu Mammadov (1927–2019), laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the field of science, worked for many years in Iravan as deputy editor and editor of the newspaper “Soviet Armenia”, as a lecturer at the Iravan Pedagogical Institute, and as Deputy Minister of Education of the Armenian SSR. In 1972, he defended his dissertation for the Candidate of Sciences degree in Armenian in Iravan on the topic “The History of the Azerbaijani Press in Armenia”. Israfil Mammadov also possessed a rich personal library collection.
      
Recently, Israfil Mammadov's family donated 33 books and journal titles to the Presidential Library of the Administrative Department of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The collection includes publications in Azerbaijani, Russian, and Armenian, mainly covering the fields of history, politics, and linguistics.

Among the donated books, “The Azerbaijani Book in Soviet Armenia, 1925–1985: A Bibliography”, published in Cyrillic script by the Iravan State Publishing House in 1985, stands out as particularly significant.

The book opens with a historical overview entitled “A Familiar Breath from Our World of Art”, written by Israfil Mammadov, Candidate of Historical Sciences. The overview provides detailed information about the historical past of the city of Iravan, its ethnic composition, cultural life, architectural monuments, mosques, caravanserais, streets, and squares.

Drawing on the accounts of travellers and researchers who visited Iravan both during the period of the Iravan Khanate and after the khanate was occupied by the Russian army—including Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Jean Chardin, Gemelli, James Morier, Robert Ker Porter, Henry Lynch, Dubois de Montpéreux, August von Haxthausen, Ivan Chopin, and Countess Uvarova—the author presents a concise account of the city’s historical past.

Israfil Mammadov then provides detailed information in the sections entitled “Books by Local Authors Published Outside Armenia”, “Books Translated from Other Languages”, and “Publication of Books in the Azerbaijani Language in Armenia” about books by Azerbaijani authors, as well as works translated from other languages and published by Azerbaijani authors. He also provides detailed information about publishing houses in Iravan that published books in the Azerbaijani language.
           
The bibliography compiled by researcher Sohbat Mammadov includes bibliographic descriptions of books and booklets published in the Azerbaijani language in Soviet Armenia between 1925 and 1985. It was compiled on the basis of the book collection of the State Book Chamber of the Armenian SSR and the catalogues of Azerbaijani books held at the A. Myasnikyan Republican State Library.

The bibliography provides information on the contents of the books and booklets, with the materials arranged chronologically and in alphabetical order. The title, author, and genre of each book and booklet are also translated into Russian. Owing to limitations in publishing capabilities, the authors’ names and titles of books and booklets published in the Arabic and Latin scripts are presented in the modern Azerbaijani alphabet.

At the end of the bibliography, an “Alphabetical Index of Individual Authors and Editors” is provided. A separate “Alphabetical Index of Books without Identified Authors” is also included.

The bibliography includes a section entitled “Azerbaijani Books in Armenia in the Pre-Revolutionary Period”, which provides a list of books published in Azerbaijani and Russian, along with information on their extent, format, and printing houses.

Finally, an “Alphabetical Index of Individual Authors” is provided at the end of the book.

The book “The Azerbaijani Book in Soviet Armenia, 1925–1985: A Bibliography”, donated to the Presidential Library collection, is a valuable bibliographic publication for researchers studying the history of Western Azerbaijan, bibliographers, and specialists researching the history of the press. 

The electronic version of “The Azerbaijani Book in Soviet Armenia, 1925–1985: A Bibliography” is available at www.preslib.az.