Safvet beg Bašagić (1870 − 1934) was a significant writer, historian and linguist from Sarajevo. He was the director of the Sarajevo National Museum, and after several elections, held the posts of Vice-President and President of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He inherited the family library from his father, Ibrahim, and continued to systematically expand it. Over thirty years, he collected manuscripts and prints from across the Balkans, mainly the works of Yugoslavian authors. He wanted to gather and preserve an image of Yugoslavian-Muslim literary heritage. Besides the classic Islamic religious, scientific and fictional literature, there are also works by Serbs, Croats and Bosnians. UNESCO included the Bašagić collection in the Memory of the World Register in 1997.
In 1924, Bašagić sold most of his collection to the University Library of Bratislava, because he wanted it “to be kept safe”. The collection of manuscripts is comprised of 598 works from the 12th to 19th century, including: 393 Arabic, 117 Turkish and 88 Persian titles. The collection of prints consists of 496 works from 1729 to 1923, and includes 145 Arabic, 337 Turkish and 8 Persian titles. Besides regular works, the collection also includes many unique items, such as a copy of previously unknown studies by the influential philosopher al-Fārābī. Among the Turkish manuscripts, there is a valuable work on Alexander the Great by Ahmedī and a large Arabic-Turkish dictionary from 1558 by Ahterī. The unique work, Murādnāme, by the Bosnian author, Dervīș Pașa el-Mostarī, which was created by order of Sultan Murad III (1574 − 1595), is also very interesting. The print by Kātiba Çelebī, Tuhfet ül-kibār esfār il-bihār, is remarkable as well; it describes battles at sea and famous admirals. The book was printed in Istanbul, in the workshop of Ibrahim Müteferrika in 1729.
On the postage stamp, there are themes from Maʼrifetnāme (Science Book) a manuscript by the scholar and Sufi Saint, Ibrāhīm Hakkī (1705 − 1772). This encyclopaedic work is centred around the creation of the world, heaven, the paradise of angels, the Sun and Moon, the seas, geography, anatomy, faith and education. The final part is devoted to the good will of the Creator, morality and health. This manuscript from 1813 is characterised by its artistic illustrations, mainly from the fields of astronomy and geography, and is among those items most representative of the Bašagić collection. 
                                                                                                                                                                                            Klára Mészárosová