Description

Original wrappers. 4to. (27 x 19 cm). In French. 235 p. A fine copy. First and only edition of this protocol text of the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano (Peace treaty of San-Stefano) signed between the Russian and Ottoman empires at the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. It was signed at San Stefano, then a village west of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), on 3 March [O.S. 19 February] 1878 by Count Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev and Aleksandr Nelidov on behalf of the Russian Empire and by Foreign Minister Saffet Pasha and Ambassador to Germany Sadullah Bey on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. Starting with the documents "Bases d'Armistice, signees an Andrinople le 19/31 Janvier 1878, entre la Russia et la Turquie" [i.e. Armistice bases, signed in Adrianople on January 19/31, 1878, between Russia and Turkey] and "Preliminaires de Paix conclus a San-Stefano, le 19 Fevrier / 3 MArs 1878" [i.e. Preliminaries of Peace concluded at San-Stefano, February 19 / March 3, 1878], with the treaty protocol text containing 50 articles in its entirety, provided for the establishment of an autonomous Principality of Bulgaria following almost 500 years of Ottoman rule in the Bulgarian lands. Bulgarians celebrate the day the treaty was signed, 3 March [O.S. 19 February] 1878, as Liberation Day. OCLC: 320195160, 962446088.