Konstantin Mihailović of Ostrovica. Memoirs of a Janissary (Zapiski yanychara), 1978. In Russian.

Записки янычара. Написаны Константином Михайловичем из Островицы. / Академия наук СССР; Институт славяноведения и балканистики. (Серия: «Памятники средневековой истории народов Центральной и Восточной Европы»).
Москва : Издательство «Наука», 1978.
136 с. ; Немного увеличенный формат. Мягкая издательская обложка.
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Konstantin Mihailović of Ostrovica.
Memoirs of a Janissary. / Academy of Sciences of the USSR; Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies. (Series: "Monuments of Medieval History of the Peoples of Central and Eastern Europe").
Moscow : Nauka Publishing House, 1978.
136 pp. ; Slightly enlarged format. Original softcover. In Russian.

This 1978 edition is a critical academic publication of one of the most remarkable eyewitness accounts of the 15th-century Ottoman Empire. Memoirs of a Janissary, written by Konstantin Mihailović of Ostrovica—a Serbian soldier captured by the Turks who served in the Janissary corps before escaping to Christendom—offers a unique "internal-external" perspective on the rise of the Ottoman power. The text provides a deep dive into the internal logic of the Ottoman military and state machine, including the arrangement of the devshirme system, the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and the campaigns of Mehmed the Conqueror. Written originally in the late 15th century as a warning to European monarchs, the memoirs combine military history with vivid ethnographic observations and a plea for Christian unity against the burgeoning "Turkish threat."
Published by the Nauka house under the auspices of the Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies, this volume is part of the prestigious "Monuments of Medieval History" series. It features a rigorous scientific apparatus, including an extensive introductory essay and scholarly commentary that contextualizes Mihailović’s narrative within the broader scope of medieval Balkan and Turkish history. The translation into Russian captures the archaic spirit of the original while maintaining the precision required for historical research. For bibliophiles of medieval studies, historians of the Crusades, and collectors of academic primary sources, this 1978 Moscow edition is a vital acquisition, documenting the collision of two worlds through the eyes of a man who survived the front lines of history.