Turkish Folk Proverbs (Ata sözleri ve özlü sözler) / compiled by Y. Kerimof and B. Şişmanoğlu. Sofia: Narodna Prosveta, 1960. In Turkish.

Ata sözleri ve özlü sözler / derleyenler Yusuf Kerimof ve Beytullah Şişmanoğlu ; redaktör Sabahattin Bayramof. İkinci baskı.
Sofya : Narodna Prosveta Devlet Neşriyatevi (Dırjaven poligrafiçeski kombinat "Dimitır Blagoev"), 1960. 138 sayfa ; 17 cm.
Sert kapak. Tiraj 5 000.
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Ata sözleri ve özlü sözler [Proverbs and Concise Sayings] / compiled by Yusuf Kerimof and Beytullah Şişmanoğlu ; editor Sabahattin Bayramof. Second edition.
Sofia : Narodna Prosveta, 1960. 138 pages ; 17 cm.
Hardcover (paper-covered boards). Print run of 5,000 copies.
Binding poor. Text block good: sewing remains tight, pages clean with even age-toning.

"Ata sözleri ve özlü sözler" is a comprehensive collection of over 4,000 Turkish proverbs, idioms, and folk sayings compiled specifically for the Turkish minority living in Bulgaria during the communist regime. Published by the state publishing house "Narodna Prosveta" in Sofia, this volume represents a critical effort to codify the rich oral traditions and linguistic heritage of the Balkan Turks. Following the rapid sell-out of the 1955 first edition, this significantly expanded second edition almost doubled the content, adding over 2,000 new proverbs gathered through ongoing ethnographic fieldwork. The publication of Turkish-language cultural materials in Bulgaria during the Cold War was heavily regulated, serving to accommodate the minority's linguistic needs while tightly integrating them into the state's ideological framework. Consequently, early diaspora imprints like this one are exceptionally scarce on the international market, as they were printed in small numbers (a print run of just 5,000 copies) for local circulation and were subject to the high attrition rates typical of heavily used reference books in rural communities. Despite the loss of its outer spine covering, the firm text block of this copy preserves an invaluable primary source for Turcologists, linguists studying Balkan Turkish dialects, and historians of the Turkish diaspora, capturing the authentic worldview of the community before the severe assimilation campaigns of later decades.