> And now that Bulgaria is in the European Union, will the Hermes-promoted Bulgar-Cyrillic alphabet become more entrenched there, and possibly make inroads elsewhere?

Nick -- just side note, I don't want to hijack your thread:

I don't think we are going to see any cultural 'improvements' (the near future)
Bulgaria -- the EU's poorest member -- is facing more acute problems: judicial reforms, labor market , structural reforms, and more, and more, and more.....

The EU is nice thing, but don't forget the real life. Or -- as you know -- the frosting doesn't make the cake.

EU membership will be a big boost to the Bulgarian economy, starting with the demand for translators. They're also redoing their roadsigns for the expected influx of tourists.
So get to work on your Bulgarian alternates for Clearview, Mr Montalbano.

http://lgi.osi.hu/documents.php?id=1244

A search on Flickr reveals that the localized forms are indeed used sometimes (when the font permitted ?) [pic. 1 & 2], but not everywhere [3 & 4]. There also mixed cases [5 & 6]. The handwritten examples don't tell much [7 & 8], but the current money bills show Bulgarian forms in use [9]. It's also interesting to note that the McDonalds logo in Varna [10] is different from the one in Moscow [11].

(Note: The 'be' [б] form referenced in this other thread, is used in Serbian not Bulgarian)

Looks like a real free-for-all, with many hybrids. The Bulgarian forms prominent in street signs, but not exclusively used. Nice research, Miguel.

> Hermes, in Bulgaria, is a quality outfit

Nick,

I assume you’re referring to HermesSOFT. Is your understanding of a "quality outfit" one that sells a renamed clone of ITC Eras, a renamed clone of Fritz Quadrata, a renamed clone of Univers or a renamed clone of Palatino?

;)

A.

I thought "Hermes" was Bulgarian for "Micro".

Is your understanding of a “quality outfit” one that sells a renamed clone of ITC Eras, a renamed clone of Fritz Quadrata, a renamed clone of Univers or a renamed clone of Palatino?

Are we talking about Bitstream or HermesSOFT?

If I'm not mistaken, all of these 'variations' are not localized Bulgarian variations, but just Cyrillic cursive/italic script. Both are seen in most of the Slavic countries, and I'm pretty sure you can find signs in cursive if you look around Moscow.

The Newseum website currently has 5 Bulgarian newspapers published in Sofia in its database. They all seem to be using fonts that employ the Bulgarian forms, except for the Pari. Here are their today's front pages in PDF:

Дневник (Dnevnik) -- PDF
24 Часа (24 Hours) -- PDF
Труд (Trud) -- PDF
Стандарт (Standart) -- PDF
Пари (Pari) -- PDF

The D that looks like a lowercase g, and the I that looks like a lowercase u, are indeed standard Cyrillic italic/cursive forms, found in Russian-language italic fonts. So is a T that looks like a lowercase m, or the P that looks like a lowercase n, or the G that looks like a backwards s.

However, the letter that looks like an eszet seems to be something new.

However, the letter that looks like an eszet seems to be something new.

I think you are referring to the в (v), which rises to ascender height in some Cyrillic cursive forms so that it looks like modern forms of the Greek beta without a descender. This form also shows up outside of Bulgaria.

Thanks for linking to the newspaper examples, Miguel. Most of them seem to be using a mix of different styles of Cyrillic typefaces—traditional, Bulgarian, and just standard Cyrillic cursive forms.

By standard Cyrillic cursive forms, I just mean that the forms used in the typical Cyrillic cursive have been adopted for the upright letters. Look at the Труд (Trud) example to see what I mean. Bulgarian forms go further and add ascenders on some of these letters, which I personally have a hard time liking. I get the need to break up the monotony of all the letters confined to the x height, but an ascender on the ю (yu) just seems illogical.