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{{Short description|Book by Petar Beron}}
{{Infobox book
| name             = Primer with Various Instructions
| image            =  Beron Primer title page.png
| caption    = Title page of the first edition
| author           = [[Petar Beron]]
| title_orig       = Буквар с различни поучения
| country          = [[Austrian Empire]]
| language         = [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]
| subject          = Language, fables and religious tales, natural sciences
| genre            = [[encyclopedia]]
| pub_date         = 1824
| media_type       = book
| pages            = 140
| congress         = 
| preceded_by      = 
| followed_by      = 
}}
'''''Primer with Various Instructions''''' ({{lang-bg|Буквар с различни поучения}}, original spelling: БȢква̀рь съ разлѝчны поȢчѐніѧ, ''Bukvar s razlichni poucheniya)'', better known as the '''''Fish Primer''''' ({{lang-bg|Рибен буквар}}, ''Riben bukvar''), was a Bulgarian schoolbook, the first [[Primer (textbook)|primer]] (and first book) printed in [[modern Bulgarian]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Andreychin | first = Lyubomir | title = Из историята на нашето езиково строителство |trans-title=On the History of Our Language Building | url = http://www.promacedonia.org/la/la5_2.html | place = Sofia | year = 1986 |publisher=Narodna Prosveta }}</ref> It is considered by an author to be the first Bulgarian [[encyclopedia]].<ref name="outline">{{cite book|title=Bulgaria: historical and geographical outline|last=Todorov|first=Nikolai|year=1968|page=263|location=Sofia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXlpAAAAMAAJ&q=fish+primer+beron+encyclopedia+-april}}</ref>

The book was written and published by [[Petar Beron]] in 1824. It is one of the most significant secular works of the [[Bulgarian National Revival]]. It was the first secular publication in modern Bulgaria.<ref name="penandsword">{{cite book|title=The Pen and the Sword: Studies in Bulgarian history|last1=Clarke|first1=James F.|last2=Hupchick|first2=Dennis P.|publisher=East European Monographs|page=290|year=1988|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5xxpAAAAMAAJ&q=beron+primer|isbn=0880331496}}</ref>

== Background ==
The primer was a result of the increasing number of secular schools appearing in [[Ottoman Bulgaria]], as well as Beron's own impressions of [[Western education|Western European systems of education]].<ref name="Beron"/> Until the late 18th century, most schools in Bulgaria were attached to [[monasteries]] (so-called "Cell schools") and the curriculum virtually consisted of only a [[Book of Hours]], a [[psalter]] and the [[Bible]]. Students received their education in [[Old Church Slavonic]] or [[Greek language|Greek]], both of which were difficult to understand for those outside the clergy. Beron was aware that this type of education was inefficient, and modeled his ideas for the new Bulgarian schools along the [[monitorial system]] and education in [[natural sciences]]. The primer was designed as a children's encyclopedia.<ref name="outline"/> It was published in the [[Transylvania]]n city of Kronstadt in the [[Austrian Empire]] (now [[Brașov]], [[Romania]]).<ref name="Beron">{{cite journal|title=Рибният буквар&nbsp;– дело на Петър Берон, просветителя и реформатора на учебното дело в България|last=Argirova-Gerasimova|first=Mariya|publisher=[[Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]]}}</ref>

== Description ==
The primer consists of ten sections: ''Foreword'', ''Primer'', ''Prayers'', ''Good advice'', ''Smart responses'', ''Fables'', ''Various stories'', ''Physical tales'' and ''Arithmetic''. All sections from ''Primer'' to ''Smart responses'' contain basic knowledge on language, religion and rhetoric; ''Fables'' includes most of [[Aesop's Fables|Aesop's eponymous works]], and the remaining sections are a collection of famous events from ancient history, studies on plants and animals and mathematical science. Some of the animals are illustrated in a compendium section. The primer earned its nickname, ''Fish Primer'', since one of these illustrations, a whale, appeared on the back of the original edition.<ref name="penandsword"/><ref name=WDL1>{{cite web|title=Primer with Various Instructions|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/274|publisher=World Digital Library|accessdate=22 January 2013}}</ref> The nickname, however, was erroneous, since whales are mammals, not fish.

The book had an enormous impact on the National Revival and played a key role in laying the foundations of a modern, secular Bulgarian education.<ref name="Beron"/>

== References ==
{{reflist|colwidth=33em}}
{{commons category|Primer with Various Instructions}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.wdl.org/en/item/274/ Complete online version] by the [[World Digital Library]]

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Bulgarian-language encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Alphabet books]]
[[Category:1824 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Children's encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Books about Bulgaria]]
[[Category:19th-century encyclopedias]]
[[Category:Bulgarian books]]