From the Notebooks of Jovan Cvijić - Selected Pages and Interpretations

The publication that is before the reader, entitled From the Notebooks of Jovan Cvijić – Selected Pages and Interpretations, is the result of cooperation between the Belgrade City Museum and the Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijić” SASA. It has been prepared with a deep awareness of the importance of Jovan Cvijić’s scientific research work and with the idea to present to the academic and general audiences less familiar details related to the research of Jovan Cvijić, data collecting and the preparation of visual materials, through a carefully organised and thoughtfully and professionally written book. The primary task required a meticulous and thorough work on the analysis of extensive historical and archival material, fact-finding and data selection. Valuable data were then arranged so as to best reflect the field research of the great Serbian scientist. The texts accompanying the corresponding original pages from Cvijić’s notebooks are written in a concise and structurally equable manner, in order to present selected details about his scientific work and indicate his views and opinions. Furthermore, each text also bears the personal signature of the author, expressed through the interpretation of the selected manuscripts. At the beginning of the publication, the Museum of Jovan Cvijić is presented, along with the Legacy containing 42 of his notebooks registered in the inventory. The historical and geographical context of the notebooks is subsequently analysed in a separate text, followed by an overview of the dominant issues therein elaborated. The latter part of the publication contains a number of shorter texts from different areas of Cvijić’s scientific work, from the exploration of karst, glaciation, fluvial relief to anthropogeography and ethnographical studies. The texts often contain transcribed segments, with the intention of literally translating Cvijić’s words, as well as providing a direct testimony of his scientific work and private and social life. In terms of their contents, the texts are intended for the professional audience, but in general they are also understandable to the average educated reader. Finally, references appearing in individual texts are merged into the common list of references given in the last part of the publication.Special issues, no. 9