The Russian historian, manuscript specialist and Slavonic mediaevalist Anatoly Turilov has earned a classic reputation in the field of research into mediaeval Slavonic manuscripts and Slavonic literatures. Born in Yaroslavl’ in 1951, Turilov graduated from the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, specialising in the study of primary sources (1973). He was a doctoral student at the Institute of Slavonic and Balkan Studies (1973–1976). Turilov worked as a senior librarian at the Manuscript Department of the Lenin Library (now the Russian State Library) in Moscow (1977–1979). In 1980 he successfully defended his dissertation on the topic of „Болгарские и сербские источники по средневековой истории Балкан в русской книжности конца ХІV– первой четверти ХVІ вв.“ This continued to be a leading topic throughout his academic career. Turilov worked as a research associate and a senior research associate at the Archaeographic Commission of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, today the Russian Academy of Sciences. Turilov currently holds the position of research associate at the Institute of Slavonic Studies.