The History of Ex-Libris as the History of the Country (Browsing Through the Pages of the Catalogue of the Murmansk Regional Scientific Library)

In June 2023 in Murmansk at the All-Russian Library Congress: 27th Annual Conference of the Russian Library Association Murmansk State Regional Universal Scientific Library (MSRUSL) presented a new printed catalogue of book marks from the collection of rare books. The catalogue includes more than 400 Russian owner’s marks of the 19th — the first half of the 20th century, identified in the course of the research activities of the MSRUSL to study the history of rare editions. These are artistic (armorial, plot, monogram) and typographic ex-libris, applied to editions in the form of paper labels, stamp impressions, congeal embossing, super-ex-libris embossed on the spines of bindings, as well as handwritten inscriptions of owners on bookplates. Each mark included in the catalogue has an image and a detailed description. The bibliographic descriptions of books and magazines with book marks of 200 owners of private, public and departmental libraries will help to reconstruct disparate book collections, determine their composition and subject matter, and identify the reading interests of the former owners. The catalogue also provides brief biographical information about the owners and executors (authors) of the book marks with an indication of the sources used.

Auxiliary indexes of library owners, their initials and abbreviations, book marks, executors of ex-libris, authors and titles of books, titles of periodicals and continuing editions allow you to quickly find the information you need. The list of used sources, which completes the catalogue, contains full bibliographic descriptions of printed publications and electronic resources.

During 2023, specialists of the MSRUSL repeatedly made presentations on the book marks included in the edition at all-Russian conferences. In 2024 the library continues to open the pages of the printed catalogue: in the year of the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the blockade, books from the personal libraries of the besieged city residents deserve special attention. This article describes the ownership marks (stamps, inscriptions) on the blockade books belonging to M.N. Duvernois, A.N. Korkunova, A.B. Sakharov, S.I. Seleshnikov. Biographical information about the former owners of the books is given, the history of the appearance of the editions in the collection of the MSRUSL is revealed.

1. Kuznetsova E.Yu., Sosipatrova Yu.V. (eds.) Knizhnye znaki v fonde redkikh knig Murmanskoi gosudarstvennoi oblastnoi universal’noi nauchnoi biblioteki: katalog [Bookmarks in the Collection of Rare Books of Murmansk State Regional Universal Scientific Library: catalogue]. Murmansk, RUSMA (IP Glukhov A.B.) Publ., 2023, 226 p.

2. Bogomolov S.I. Rossiiskii knizhnyi znak, 1700—1918 [Russian Bookmark, 1700—1918]. Moscow, Minuvshee Publ., 2010, 959 p.

3. Trushina I.A. Shaping the Country’s Cultural Sovereignty: Murmansk Hosted the All-Russian Library Congress, Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science], 2023, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 357—369. DOI: 10.25281/0869-608X-2023-72-4-357-369 (in Russ.).

4. Kuznetsova E.Yu. Ex-Libris Martens Brothers: On the Pages of the New Printed Catalogue, Rossiiskii ehkslibrisnyi zhurnal [Russian Bookplate Journal], 2023, no. 35, pp. 54—61 (in Russ.).

5. Kuznetsova E.Yu. Bookmarks of Personal Libraries on the Editions of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries: On the Pages of the New Printed Catalogue of the Murmansk State Regional Universal Scientific Library, Vserossiiskaya nauchno-prakticheskaya konferentsiya “Ehkslibrisy kak informatsionnyi resurs dlya izucheniya knizhnoi kul’turu”: materialy konferentsii: 15—17 noyabrya 2023 g. [All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “Ex-Libris as an Information Resource for the Study of Book Culture”: Proceedings: November 15—17, 2023]. Moscow, MSK Publ., 2023, pp. 160—168 (in Russ.).

6. Malakhova Z.N., Khodov S.B. et al. Biblioteki blokadnogo Leningrada sbornik statei [Libraries in Besieged Leningrad: collected articles]. St. Petersburg, 2021, 686 p.

7. Vakhtina P.L., Svichenskaya M.K. (eds.) Publichnaya biblioteka v gody voiny, 1941—1945: dnevniki, vospominaniya, pis’ma, dokumenty [Public Library During the War, 1941—1945: Diaries, Memoirs, Letters, Documents]. St. Petersburg, 2005, 576 p.

8. Ozeretskovsky N. (ed.) Svod Zakonov ugolovnykh (Sv. Zak., t. XV, izd. 1885 g.), dopolnennyi po vsem Prodolzheniyam i pozdneishim uzakoneniyam do 15 dekabrya 1912 g. [Code of Criminal Laws (Code of Laws, vol. 15, 1885), Supplemented by All Continuations and Later Decrees up to December 15, 1912]. St. Petersburg, Izdanie Yuridicheskogo Knizhnogo Magazina I.I. Zubkova, pod Firmoyu “Zakonovedenie” Publ., 1913, 759 p.

9. Vierordt O. Diagnostik der Inneren Krankheiten auf Grund der Heutigen Untersuchungsmethoden. St. Petersburg, Tipografiya Ya. Trei Publ., 1905, 675 p. (in Russ.).

10. Kovalzon V.M. A Forgotten Founder of Biochemistry and Somnology, Priroda [Nature], 2012, no. 5, pp. 85—89 (in Russ.).

11. Korkunova A.N. Kratkii kurs bakteriologii primenitel’no k programme dlya sester miloserdiya: (prochten A.N. Korkunovoi po sleduyushchim rukovodstvam: 1) Meditsinskaya mikrobiologiya pod red. Tarasevicha. 2) Lektsii prof. Zabolotnogo v ZH.M.I.Z. 3) Kon. Bakterii) [A Brief Course of Bacteriology in Relation to the Program for Nurses of Charity: (read by A.N. Korkunova on the Following Manuals: 1) Medical Microbiology Edited by Tarasevich. 2) Lectures by Prof. Zabolotny in the Women’s Medical Institute. 3) Bacteria)]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiya V. Kirshbauma Publ., 1914, 16 p.

12. Korkunova A.N. On Kidney Changes in Chronic Pyrogallol Poisoning, Russkii vrach [Russian Physician], 1914, no. 41, pp. 1326—1329 (in Russ.).

13. Korkunova A.N. Case of Infections with Dwarf Chainworm (Taenia Aegyptica B. s. nana S.), Russkii vrach [Russian Physician], 1914, no. 52, pp. 1616—1617 (in Russ.).

14. Solovyov S.M. Zapiski Sergeya Mikhailovicha Solov’eva: s portretami: moi zapiski dlya detei moikh, a esli mozhno, i dlya drugikh [Records by Sergey Mikhailovich Solovyov: With Portraits: My Notes for My Children and, if It Is Possible, for Others]. Petrograd, “Prometei” N.N. Mikhailova Publ., 1915, 174 p.

15. Trudy Leningradskogo obshchestva ehkslibrisistov [Proceedings of the Leningrad Society of Ex-Librists]. Leningrad, Krasnaya Nov’ Publ., 1924, issue 1, 24 p.

16. Arago F. Popular Lectures on Astronomy. St. Petersburg, Tovarishchestvo “Obshchestvennaya pol’za” Publ., 1861, vol. 4, 631 p. (in Russ.).

17. Seleshnikov S.I. Istoriya kalendarya i khronologiya [History of the Calendar and Chronology]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1970, 223 p.

18. Seleshnikov S.I. Aleksandr Andreevich Chikin, Zemlya i Vselennaya [Earth and Universe], 1966, no. 4, pp. 79—82 (in Russ.).