Original 1912 printing of the 1911 contract P.08 style Bulgarian Luger Instruction Manual M1911

Bulgaria had the misfortune to be involved in four wars of the early twentieth century, being on the losing side of three out of four of those wars, winning the first Balkans War of 1912 war of independence from the Ottoman empire only to lose its gains in the second Balkans War of 1913 with WW1 and WW2, again on the losing side, being the result of an unfortunate alignment or choice of partners. In those four wars the service pistol of choice was the German P.08 or designated the M.11 by the Bulgarians with 10,000 being ordered, in two batches, from DWM in 1911. This weapon was the official sidearm used by the Bulgarian army from 1911 through 1942 and beyond. A limited amount of instruction manuals for the M.11 were published in 1912 by the Bulgarian Ministry of War and reprints in 1929 and 1939.

The only known published examples of the extremely rare Model 1911 or M.11 Bulgarian Luger instruction manual, the original 1912 first Bulgarian Ministry of War printing and the 1929 and 1939 original Bulgarian Ministry of War reprints are pictured in The Borchardt & Luger Automatic Pistols, a.k.a. TBLAP by Görtz/Sturgess, ©2010 & 2011, Volume 1, Chapter 5 – Instruction Manuals, page 390, pictured in Fig. 5-65 with a text caption description. The two green cover manuals, dated 1929 and 1939 are part of the Land of Borchardt Collection since 2004, while the 1912 dated manual to the left is currently part of the Bob Adams Collection. The oversaturated yellow appearance of the 1912 dated M1911 manual cover is incorrect, being a publishing issue or over color enhanced by the author, as the pictured 1912 manual cover, originally provided to the Land of Borchardt for an earlier 2005 article is tanner in appearance. The green cover 1929 and 1939 Bulgarian M1911 instruction manual original Bulgarian Ministry of War reprints are first pictured and discussed in a March 2005 article in the Land of Borchardt web site. Additionally, the three Bulgarian manuals in TBLAP figure 5-65 pictured are not proportionally correct with all three manuals being approximately the same height with the exception of the 1912 manual being slightly wider.

The TBLAP Fig. 5-65 of which the Fig. 5.65 has been modified to include another heretofore unknown 1928 Bulgarian manual, not pictured or mentioned in the text caption which states that the first 1912 dated tan cover instruction manual is a first, unillustrated edition version. Not having the manual in hand, apparently the author determined that the 1912 manual was unillustrated, based possibly on information obtained from the manual owner. There was no information at the time to suggest that the manual was printed with or without illustrations or drawings, or were simply missing without personally examining the manual contents. Additionally, if there were drawings of any form, identified or associated with the 1912 manual they would have been pictured or at least mentioned in TBLAP.

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This question of drawings has been resolved with the Land of Borchardt acquisition of the second known published example of the extremely rare 1912 printing of the Bulgarian Luger instruction manual for the Bulgarian P.08 style Luger or M1911. The front and rear cover shows some loss, mostly to the edges, with some tears and severe fading of the original green color and moderate foxing to the front and rear cover page. The printer cutting of the lower and right side edges of all the pages in the manual are rough and uneven, sometimes at odd angles and many of the individual pages are of different lengths and widths, typical of poor printing, as pictured in this example.  This manual was located in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2013 and, as stated shows much use and wear, yet except for the cover is in fair condition, despite the use of poor quality paper and the flaws mentioned, is complete and totally intact, miraculously with four of the original five Plates issued with the manual.

Additionally, with the thin paper used in conjunction with the letter-offset printing process, the opposite side text/figure outline or silhouette of text pages in the document can be clearly seen. The subject manual is all text, with no integral illustrations, but with four of five separate, large original period fold-out drawings, identified on each sheet in Cyrillic as “plates” I through IV, interestingly, not referred to in the manual. The four folded, detached Plates are different from similar, period German commercial new model grip safety Luger instruction manual fold-outs, of which the German illustrations are letterpress applied line drawings, attached to rear of the manuals via glued tabs. Curiously, the plate labels of plate I and II are of a different font size and style than the labels of plates III and IV, possibly involving different printers, although more likely, differences attributed to simply not being printed at the same time.

The fold-out drawings are of varying sizes of length and width, although all four drawings, when folded, are of basically the same 5½-inch x 4¼-inch dimensions, conveniently fitting into the 6¼-inch x 4¾-inch manual, probably being stored in the rear part of the manual. The drawings themselves were made not by the letterpress process, but were actually ink stamped or roller press applied on the pages, a less expensive process. Due to the very thin and apparently porous nature of the paper, the back side shows the ink “bleed-though” silhouettes quite clearly.

Although the 1911 Bulgarian contract with DWM called for 10,000 Lugers, albeit in two separate deliveries, it is not known how many manuals were printed, usually a lot less, mostly for officers. The fact that the subject manual, currently 108 years old and only the second of two known, published examples, the subject Land of Borchardt example only, with four of five independent fold-out drawings managed to survive two Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, World War One, World War Two, and Communism is witness to its low survival rate, making it an extremely rare and collectible manual. It is interesting to note that the manual has been rebound, early on, using string, is additional testimony to its long and hard use. Also extremely rare and fortunate is the fact that the original drawings or Plates I through IV stayed with the manual through all the ensuing years to present times.

The manual is similar to the 1909 printed German manual for the P.08, in as much as both are text only and rather lengthy with the 1909 German P.08 manual having 81 pages of unillustrated text and no fold-out drawings or Tafels and the 1912 Bulgarian manual having an incredible 112 pages of unillustrated text, however, as mentioned above with four inserted, original issue fold-out drawings, similar to those in the German new model instruction manuals. Pictured are both manuals side-by-side with the 1909 German manual dimensions of 6-inches x 4¼-inches and the slightly larger 1912 Bulgarian manual dimensions of 6¼-inches x 4¾-inches. Also Also pictured is the 1909 German manual with one of the first contract delivery P.08s.

It is apparent that the much of the component Luger parts, old and new model, pictured in the original 1912 Bulgarian Plates I through IV featured herein, came from the German language new model instruction manuals, were also used to illustrate the figures found in the 1929 and 1939 Bulgarian Ministry of War instruction manual reprints. Example 1 and Example 2.

Pictured are the four Plates found inserted in the subject 1912 printed manual:

Листъ I. Leaves, sheets or Plate I.  of parts or illustrations 4ър.1 through 4ър.38.

Листъ II. Leaves, sheets or Plate II. of parts or illustrations 4ър.39 through 4ър.49.

Листъ III. Leaves, sheets or Plate III. of parts or illustrations 4ър.50 through 4ър.52.

Листъ IV. Leaves, sheets or Plate IV. of parts or illustrations 4ър.53 through 4ър.58.

The text only manual as stated earlier, interestingly, does not have any illustrations like the German language 1906 new model instruction manuals because the author or printer decided to incorporate all the illustrations from the German manual and possibly more, totally in the four Plates. Curiously, the four Plates, inserted in the manual, which are identified in the upper left-hand corner as Листъ I. through Листъ IV. as mentioned earlier, are not referenced or mentioned in the manual, however, every individual part or illustration contained in the four drawings or plates are identified with a different number, examples being 4ър. 1 or 4ър. 2, etc., which corresponds with the same number in the manual. In reading the manual, to locate a part or illustration described, the reader has to examine each plate to locate the part or illustration noted.  Coincidently, this is the only advantage of the fold-out drawings being detached from the manual, which could be easier to use. Pictured is one such example of the same part (кутия-Receiver) and part number identified on page 57 and on Листъ I.

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Since the acquisition of this manual another, albeit, poorer condition manual has been identified, except with five, fold-out drawings.  Identified as plates Листъ I through V. Plate V pictures a standing Bulgarian soldier and another on horseback, both dimensioned. With the identification of Plate V leaves the possibility, although unlikely, of additional drawings. All five of the drawings of the second manual, in the upper left corner exhibit several small holes suggesting the drawings were somehow attached, probably at the rear of the manual. Interestingly the four, fold-out drawings of the subject manual do not have these holes.

Листъ V. Leaves, sheets or Plate V. of parts or illustrations 4ър.xx through 4ър.xx. Due to the low-resolution picture of Plate V the figure numbers are unidentifiable.

Even If the contents of the 1912 manual cover pictured in TBLAP were examined, it would not have been noted that all five original manual issue drawings or (Листъ) plates I through V are not referenced in the manual, however, without knowing of, or aware of the existence of the separate, independent fold-out drawings or “plates”, compounded with the difficulty of the Cyrillic language, one would have no reason, without drawings, to be looking for manual references to corresponding drawing identification numbers, located in the upper right corner of the subject drawings.

Undoubtedly, based on the above information it is now clear that the common manual/drawing identification references, of all four drawings, possibly five, were part of the instruction manual, but only as folded inserts, not attachments, based on their completely rectangular dimensions, stored in the back of the manual.

The manual cover and inside first page text information is accurately described by the seller with the following exception of the reference to the four sheets, described above, which in fact are not specifically mentioned by name in the manual: The manual measures 6½ (6¼) -inches x 5 (4¾) -inches and has 112 numbered pages of text in the Bulgarian Cyrillic language. The cover says in substance; Ministry of War (Artillery inspection). #1; Description and Repair of the Pistol Parabellum Model 1911; Instruction for action and shooting with the pistol. Sofia, Printing House "Military Journal" 1912. Inside of page states; Order of the War Minister, Approval of General Nikiforov, Minister of War-Nikifor Nikiforov, (1855-1935) Lt. General, 1912. This manual has the very rare four large numbered sheets that are referred to throughout the manual.

The M1911 Bulgarian Luger, the subject of the manual, suffered the ravages of also serving in four wars and although not uncommon, they are seldom found in good, original condition and finish. In the 1976 publication titled: Luger Tips, Volume 1, © 1976 by Michael Reese II on page 30 states that: Many of the 1908 have been reblued. It is rumored that these reblued jobs came from Russia for import sales in the U.S. In 1965 I visited the Interarms warehouse in Virginia and saw barrels of Bulgarian parts that were reblued with the DWM and Bulgarian crests ground off. Interarms was selling these through retail outlets for $49.95.

Pictured with the subject manual is a near mint M11 Bulgarian Luger, serial number 847 that originally escaped the fate described above. This same Luger is mentioned, by serial number in the 1959 publication titled: Luger Variations, ©1958 by the late Harry Jones on page 121.  Pictured also is an unopened box of 1942 dated Bulgarian packaged 9mm ammunition for the M11.

The entire M11 Bulgarian instruction manual is paginated herein for Luger collectors that may be interested and particularly to those few Luger collectors that speak Bulgarian.^[1]

Also featured in this article is a heretofore unidentified 1928 dated M1911 Luger instruction manual with a photograph likeness of the M1911 Bulgarian Luger on the cover and intro page. The manual dimensions are 6-inches x 4½-inches and has thirty pages of text and another thirty pages of charts and tables. On the cover is the Bulgarian Army military publisher, Sofia, Bulgaria. Rather than an instruction manual for the operation and maintenance of the gun, this manual deals with all aspects of training with the subject pistol for both practice and combat training. The manual indicates that training is for Cadets, Soldiers, Corporals, and ranking personnel. Pictured are two representative pages.

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There is the possibility of the existence of yet an earlier manual, for the M1900 Old Model Bulgarian Luger as evidenced by loose pages, one dated 1903 and another dated 1905, submitted to the Jan Still Luger Forum in August 2020.

Also pictured are the chamber crests of five Bulgarian Lugers in the collection being: M1900 Bulgarian Luger 20027, M1906 Bulgarian Luger 861, M1906 Bulgarian 9 m/m rebarreled Luger 1172, M1911 Bulgarian P08 Luger 847 and a 1970s cased Commemorative Luger 120 von 250B.

Additional period Bulgarian related pictures included are:

1. 1915 dated presentation silver pocket watch with a very fancy Bulgarian Rampant Lion Coat of Arms affixed to the rear of the watch, all encased in a leather lined, sturdy brass case with a very stylized emblem and 104 on the cover. The rear of the brass case is etched with the 1915 date and No 144,
2. A rare 1940-43 WW2 photograph of Bulgarian Aviators serving the 3rd Reich along with an equally rare Royal Bulgarian Aviator’s Dress dagger,
3. A WW2 Bulgarian Soldier’s military pass,
4. A Czar Boris III hand engraved Dress dagger,
5. Two cased Bulgarian presentation medals,
6. Multiple uncased Bulgarian presentation medals,
7. WW2 1942 dated, unopened box of Bulgarian 9mm ammunition.
8. Communist Era Bulgarian Dagger With Chain Hanger.