The beryllium content of about 3000 samples (coal, coaly shales, partings, coal lithotypes, and isolated coalified woods) from 16 Bulgarian coal deposits was determined by atomic emission spectrography. Mean Be concentrations in coal show great variability: from 0.9 to 35 ppm for the deposits studied. There was no clear-cut relationship between Be content and rank. The following mean and confidence interval Be values were measured: lignites, 2.6 +/- 0.8 ppm; sub-bituminous coals, 8.2 +/- 3.3 ppm; bituminous coals, 3.0 +/- 1.2 ppm; and anthracites, 19 +/- 9.0 ppm. The Be contents in coal and coaly shales for all deposits correlated positively suggesting a common source of the element. Many samples of the coal lithotypes vitrain and xylain proved to be richer in Be than the hosting whole coal samples as compared on ash basis. Up to tenfold increase in Be levels was routinely recorded in fusain. The ash of all isolated coalified woods was found to contain 1.1 to 50 times higher Be content relative to its global median value for coal inclusions. Indirect evidence shows that Be occurs in both organic and inorganic forms. Beryllium is predominantly organically bound in deposits with enhanced Be content, whereas the inorganic form prevails in deposits whose Be concentration approximates Clarke values. The enrichment in Be exceeding the coal Clarke value 2.4 to 14.5 times in some of the Bulgarian deposits is attributed to subsynchronous at the time of coal deposition hydrothermal and volcanic activity. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.