This April marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and in our latest blog post, Library cataloguer Anna Gonzalez Fort delves into shelfmark H. Spanish Civil War to find some remarkable volumes acquired during the conflict in the 1930s.

The Spanish Civil War was fought from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939 between the Republicans, who were loyal to the established Spanish Republic, and the Nationalists, a rebel group led by General Francisco Franco. The Nationalists prevailed, and Franco ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from 1939 until his death in 1975.

The London Library holds a collection of books about this tragic episode in the recent history of Spain, which can be found under the shelfmarkH. Spanish Civil War. Many of the books were published and acquired by the Library while the conflict was going on, and some of them were published outside Spain, because there were very poor means for publishing them there, and also because they intended to attract international support for the Spanish Republic.

Of special interest are the books that include graphic materials, such as photographs taken during the conflict, showing the War fronts and the effects of the War on the Spanish cities and population. An example of this is the book entitled The Spanish People’s Fight for Liberty, a compilation of images from different photographic and press agencies, including Alliance Photo, Keystone Press Agency, Wide World Photos and Associated Press Photos, published by the Spanish Embassy in London in 1937. The images were taken at the beginning of the War and the selection pays special attention to the Republican side. Another interesting book is Guernica: Crimes Committed by Fascism (1937), a testimony of the aerial attack on the Basque town of Guernica on 26 April 1937, which is considered to be one of the first raids in the history of modern military aviation on a defenceless civilian population. The book includes several photographs of the complete destruction of the town caused by the Condor Legion bombings as well as the testimony of an eye witness.

On the other hand, the collection includes speeches and addresses by important figures of both sides of the conflict. For instance, the bookPalabras de Franco, published in Bilbao in 1937, collects a series of addresses made by the General in key moments of the first year of the War; and we can find an example of the Republican side in the bookFor the Independence of Spain, for Liberty, for the Republic: Union of all Spaniards!, the complete text of the report to the plenary session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Spain in 1938, by Dolores Ibárruri, “La Pasionaria”, the communist leader best known for her defence of the Second Spanish Republic and the famous slogan ¡No Pasarán! (“They Shall Not Pass”), pronounced in a speech during the Siege of Madrid in 1936.

Finally, we can also find some literary works about the War, such asPoes ías de Guerra (1937), a collection of poems that was published by the “Quinto Regimiento de Milicias Populares”, a famous military body of volunteers of the Second Spanish Republic. The Fifth Regiment of the People’s Militias was created as an initiative of the Spanish Communist Party and the Unified Socialist Youth, and it had a strong antifascist ideology. Some famous communist writers and poets were enlisted by or connected with the Regiment, for instance Rafael Alberti and Miguel Hernández, who wrote some of the poems in this anthology. Other examples of literature and the Civil War are the works by foreign authors that worked as war correspondents or fought as volunteers in the conflict, such as Arthur Koestler, Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell. Of the latter, the library holds the first edition of his acclaimed book Homage to Catalonia, published in April 1938, an account of his personal experiences during the War in Catalonia and Aragon from December 1936 until June 1937.

This collection in H. Spanish Civil War has not been fully transferred to the Library’s online catalogue yet. If you wish to help us accelerate the Retrospective Cataloguing Project, you can support us either by making a general donation or by contributing to the cataloguing of a specific collection of books. You can find more information on the Project on our website: www.londonlibrary.co.uk/retrospective-cataloguing 

In our latest blog post, Dunia García-Ontiveros, Head of Bibliographic Services at The London Library gives insight into the religious and political statements made by 16th Century Catholics and Protestants who disseminated their ideas and influence through printed manifestos. Examples are seen in some of the significant, rare volumes housed in The London Library. This blog is adapted from an article in a series commissioned by History Today on the treasures of the Library in 2011. (click on thumbnails for larger images. If using Internet Explorer images may not appear larger – we recommend you try an alternative browser to view in detail.)

The use of images in religious and political propaganda is not a 16th century invention but during the Reformation Catholics and Protestants alike made use of their printing presses to disseminate their ideas and these printed manifestos were sometimes accompanied by striking illustrations. The images aimed either to ennoble the author through heroic associations or to insult and ridicule the author’s opponents through irreverent caricatures.

The London Library holds several books with examples of both Catholic and Lutheran visual propaganda.

An example of Catholic Tudor propaganda can be found in Assertio septem sacramentorum aduersus Martin. Lutheru[m], a book written (or perhaps only commissioned) by Henry VIII and printed in London in 1521 in reply to Martin Luther’s On the Babylonian captivity of the Church. The title page of Henry’s book, where he defends the Seven Sacraments, depicts the legend tof Gaius Mutius ‘Scaevola’. According to legend, Mutius was a Roman hero from the 3rd century BC, who entered the camp of the besieging Etruscan king, Lars Porsenna, in order to murder him. The right-hand side of the illustration shows Mutius mistakenly killing the wrong man. The left depicts the moment when the captured Mutius is interrogated by Porsenna and shows the incompetent assasin placing his right hand in the fire to prove his courage, while telling the Etruscan king that 300 other men have sworn to die in defence of Rome. The legend says that Porsenna, impressed by this show of bravery, decided to abandon his campaign and to release Gaius Mutius who was thereafter known as ‘Scaevola’ (left handed).

Henry’s message to the Pope through this iconography was very clear. He was identifying with this legend to portray himself as an heroic defender of Rome in the hope of gaining favour with the Pontiff at a time when England was a lesser European power. He commissioned a special presentation copy to be given to Leo X who, after reading it, conferred the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ upon the English king.

Martin Luther’s reaction to this book was quite different to that of the Pope and the very next year he printed a reply in Wittenberg under the title Contra Henricum regem angliae, where he refers to Henry as a comic jester, a frivolous buffoon, a damnable and offensive worm and a Thomist swine. The look and layout of the title page is similar to that of Henry’s book but instead of having a narrative scene at the bottom it is flanked by two figures: an ugly jester or troubadour on the left blowing on a wind instrument and fat cleric with a pig’s head on the right.

Compared to Henry’s use of imagery, Lutheran propaganda printed in Wittenberg is much more direct, even crude. The chief illustrator of the German Reformation was Lucas Cranach the Elder, court artist in Wittenberg and close personal friend of Luther’s (facts which did not stop him from working for Catholic patrons as well as Protestant ones).

The Library holds a more extreme example of the contempt Luther felt for a figure and an institution which he saw as being thoroughly corrupt. His Wider das Bapstum zu Rom vom Teuffel gestifft, (Against the Papacy founded by the Devil) was printed 1545, only a year before the Reformer’s death. The title page depicts the Pope with ass’s ears sitting on a pyre erected in the mouth of Hell, represented by an enormous monster. The Pope, with hands held together in prayer is surrounded by demons who fly around him and hold the papal tiara above his head.

Another two savage depictions of the Pope are to be found inside the book. In the first we see him riding on a sow while holding out a hand filled with steaming excrement. The accompanying text reads: The Pope grants a council in Germany. Sow you have to let yourself be ridden, and [with] spurs on both sides. You want to have a council: for that, have my merdrum (a typo for merdum, as in the Latin merda). Next to this is another illustration of the Pope, this time shown as an ass playing the bagpipes in a luxurious canopied bed. The accompanying text reads: The Pope, a teacher of theology and master of the faith. The Pope alone can interpret scripture: and sweep out error, as the ass alone can pipe and strike the note correctly.

Henry VIII and the Pope were not the only subjects of Lutheran ‘cartoons’. In the second half of the 16th century theological differences created a growing conflict between Lutherans and Calvinists. Zacharias ‘Rivander’ Bachmann, a Lutheran clergyman, wrote Lupus excoriatus (the wolf stripped of its skin), which was printed in 1591. The title of the book alone leaves us in no doubt as to the opinion orthodox Lutherans had of Zwinglians and Calvinists. Inside the book we find an illustration of the ‘Calvinist wolves of discord’ dressed in monks’ habits and devouring a sheep labelled ‘concordia’. The sheep represents the Concordia Wittenbergensis, a failed attempt at bringing Lutherans and Zwinglians together in 1536. The caption below the illustration reads:Matth. 7.: Beware the false prophets coming in sheepskins to you, but inside they are rapacious wolves etc.

Looking at all these images together we see two very different styles, which is only to be expected considering the two very different purposes of the men who commissioned them. On the one hand we have Henry Tudor, the consummate politician, appropriating ancient legends to gain favour with Rome. To this end he used a subtle message that only an educated elite would have been able to decipher. Luther and his followers on the other hand, do not seek any material gain. Luther was only concerned with the correct interpretation of the Scriptures and with making religion more accessible to ordinary people. The only purpose of his visual propaganda was to expose the corruption he saw in his enemies. For this he used simple images of savage clarity that anyone would have been able to understand instantly.

The Library is the host venue for this year’s Rossica Translation Prize 2014, an annual award which promotes the best of Russian literary culture in the English-speaking world, rewarding and encouraging the translation of a broad range of authors, genres and periods. The judges have chosen from a shortlist of Russian literary writing, past and present, with a prize of £3000 awarded to the winning translation. The Rossica Young Translators Award winner will also be announced at the Library, a prize set up to encourage the next generation of aspiring translators. Claudia Ricci, London Library Russian Specialist, has written a blog on the fascinating story behind one of the Library’s most valuable Russian volumes from the early 20th century, one of over 13,000 held in the Library’s Hans and Marit Rausing Russian Collections.

Among the many little gems that lie undiscovered in The London Library collections there is one that holds a special secret unlikely to be unravelled. We can only attempt to shed some light on it and in thus doing we hope to bring back to life a forgotten page of Russian history.

I am referring to The London Library’s own copy of the original manuscript of one of Sergei Esenin’s most famous works, the poem “Pugachov”, a short drama in verse, which we own partly in manuscript (Images 1-5) and partly in typescript (Images 6-8), bound in one little unassuming volume. Another version of this manuscript is held by the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, but our version must be the latest, as it contains few corrections and matches word for word the final version as it was published in 1921-1922. Our manuscript bears the dates “March-August 1921” and several reliable sources, including the diary entries of the author’s dearest friend Anatoly Mariengof, confirm that Esenin had been reading extracts from his draft during those months. According to another friend, the poet Taras Machtet, on Aug. 30th Esenin announced that he had finished working on “Pugachov” and from Aug. 31st he started preparing the manuscript for publication .

Sergei Esenin (surname often spelt “Yesenin”) was a Russian lyrical poet born in the rural village of Konstantinovo (Ryazan province) in 1895 to a peasant family. After receiving a typical Russian Orthodox education, as was still customary in the Russian provinces at the time, and trying his hand at several jobs, including those of proof-reader and butcher’s assistant, he moved to Petrograd in 1915, where he met Alexander Blok, Nikolay Klyuev and Andrey Bely, and with their help he entered the literary circles of the capital. The following year he published his first collection of poems, Radunitsa (All Soul’s Day), which gave him great popularity, and started his collaboration with fellow poet Anatoly Mariengof. Together in 1918 they proceeded to move to civil war-torn Moscow, where they founded Imaginism, the literary movement, which had its own publishing house and whose exponents held poetry readings in the bohemian café-tavern Stoilo Pegasa.

Between December 1921 and January 1922, the drama in verse “Pugachov” was published by two separate independent publishers in Moscow, Imazhinisty, the movement’s own publishing house, and El’zevir (the date on the title page is given as 1922 in both), and by the end of the year he had given away signed copies of his work to family and friends. Esenin also signed a deal with the state publishing house Gosizdat in February 1922, but that edition never saw the light of day. His biographer Alla Marchenko points out that there were also plans to stage it in a Moscow theatre and Esenin had given the script to the theatrical producer and director Vsevolod Meyerkhold, but having read it, Meyerkhold stated that it was totally unsuitable for the stage, as it had “no action, no gestures, no setting to speak of”. It was at this time that Esenin’s second wife, Zinaida Reikh, became romantically involved with the theatre director. In the autumn of 1921, just as Zinaida was about to leave him for Meyerkhold, Esenin met the American dancer Isadora Duncan. She was 18 years his senior, spoke no Russian and at the time was living in Moscow on Prechistenka Street, where she was starting her new school of dance following an invitation from the Soviet authorities, for whom she had great admiration. The couple fell in love and were married on May 2nd1922. As soon as Sergei managed to receive his emigration papers, they left Russia for a long honeymoon, which would take them on a grand tour of Europe with stops in the major cities where Isadora was scheduled to give ballet performances. In Berlin, Esenin negotiated deals with various publishers for the publication of his poetic works. The rights of Pugachov were acquired by Russkoe Universal’noe Izdatel’stvo in mid-May, and their edition appeared in July of that year (The London Library has a copy of this edition bought shortly after its publication). This leads us to believe that our manuscript must have travelled with Sergei and Isadora to the German capital, but probably no further than that. The newly-wed couple moved on to Paris later and eventually arrived in the United States in October 1922. The manuscript was most likely left behind, perhaps forgotten by our poet, who was infatuated with his world-wide famous American wife and with the prospect of reaching the American shores.

The dramatic work Pugachov takes its name from the Russian peasant rebel Emelyan Pugachev, who led a Cossack insurrection in 1773-1774 during the reign of Catherine the Great and was later put to death in Moscow in 1775. Esenin focuses on the last weeks of the rebellion and Pugachev’s arrival in Yaitsk, where his supporters betrayed him to the Russian authorities. The work, which consists of a series of lyrical monologues, was criticised for lacking in scenic action and failing to be faithful to the historical events, but was praised for being “Intensely lyrical and rich in language” .

After the highlight of the European tour Sergei Esenin’s life took a turn for the worse, divorce awaited him and Isadora at their arrival in the States, followed by his return to the Soviet Union in August 1923 and increasingly frequent bouts of drinking. During his last years, Esenin went on to publish more poetry, to break up with Imaginism and Mariengof, to father a son with the poet Nadezhda Volpin (he already had three from previous relationships) and to marry one of Leo Tolstoy’s granddaughters, Sofiya Andreevna Tolstaya. He was found dead in his room at the Angleterre Hotel in Moscow in December 1925, presumably having taken his own life.

Meanwhile his manuscript of Pugachov must have remained in Germany, probably passing through various hands until, in 1934, it found its way into Charles Hagberg Wright’s hands. He was the Librarian of the London Library at the time, a polymath with a keen interest in Russian as well as German books. In the aftermath of the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War the established links with the Russian book trade were no doubt severed and Hagberg Wright would have had difficulties in travelling to Soviet Russia as he had done until 1917, so he resorted to buying most of his Russian titles from the émigré bookshops in Berlin and Paris. In the 1920s-1930s Esenin would have been practically unknown to the general public outside of Russia, but Hagberg Wright was a connoisseur of Russian Literature and the Library already possessed various editions of Esenin’s works at the time, including a four volume set of his Collected poems (1926-1927). Besides, Esenin had published some of his early work in journals associated with the Socialist Revolutionary Party (Es-Ery), an organisation that our then Librarian had been following quite closely judging by our collection of pamphlets acquired before 1917. We have no records of how much he paid for this now precious manuscript, or who he bought it from, but we assume that it must have been a purchase, because the library records all donations and gifts of books and this volume is not mentioned among them. The manuscript and the typescript were bound together in a red cover and the accession stamp on it is dated 22 Aug. 1934.

Since becoming aware of this gem, we have contacted various experts at the Moscow Literary Museum and the Russian Academy of Sciences, who have confirmed the authenticity of the manuscript from photographs posted to them. They have also been able to decypher an inscription on the verso of the last page, which records the name of Esenin’s native village (Konstantinovo), but also an address, which is likely to be in Moscow: Myasnitskaya 53-3. We appeal to anyone who can give us any clues or possible explanations as to who was living at that address at the time (summer 1921) or why Esenin may have needed to write it down in his own hand on the back of his manuscript.

Finally, one last appeal. We are aware that his youngest son, the poet and mathematician Alexander Esenin-Volpin, is alive somewhere in the United States. It would be a great honour if we could at least inform him of the existence of this manuscript, which is preserved for posterity in our library.

[1] Letopis’ zhizni tvorchestva S.A. Esenina . Edited by M.V. Skorokhovod and S.I. Subbotin 5 v. (Moscow: IMLI RA, 2003-2010)

[2] Marchenko, Alla. Put’ i besput’e (Moscow: Astrel’, 2012)

[3] McVay, Gordon. Esenin : a life (London: Hodder and Stoughton,  1976)

The Folklore collection at The London Library forms a substantial section in Science & Miscellaneous, with works from the 18th to the 21st century in English and many other languages. The universal subject of Folklore and its deeply rooted place in the cultural fabric of nationalities is reflected in the Library’s collections. About half of the section has been retrospectively catalogued and contains a wide range of works on different strands of folklore; traditional and popular beliefs, customs, legends, fairy tales and music.

Studies on King Arthur, the medieval and mythological figure can be found here, with works discussing the legend in its many guises; Merlin, the Holy Grail, King Arthur’s Knights and the Round Table.  Some interesting works that recently or soon to be retrospectively catalogued are: Arthur of Britain by E.K. Chambers (1927); La légende arthurienne: études et documents. Première partie, Les plus anciens textes by Edmond Faral (1929) and The Holy Grail, its legends and symbolism: an explanatory survey of their embodiment in romance literature and a critical study of the interpretations placed thereon by Arthur Edward Waite (1933). Interest on the legend is still as popular as ever, as recent acquisitions such as Worlds of Arthur: facts and fictions of the dark ages by Guy Halsall (2013) and The true history of Merlin the Magician by Anne Lawrence-Mathers (2012) suggest.

The major role of folklore collected and transcribed through oral tradition is seen in titles such as Tales of the fairies and of the ghost world’ collected from the oral tradition in South-west Munster by Jeremiah Curtin (1895) and Old Deccan days, or, Hindoo fairy legends current in southern India collected from oral tradition by M. Frere (1868).

Popular beliefs, traditions and tales are also included in works from abroad in the recently catalogued Curiosità popolari tradizionali series of books from different parts of Italy, and volumes in the series Les littératures populaires de toutes les nations include works from France, Greece, Turkey and China. Religious folklore is seen in Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish by J.E. Hanauer (1907).

The handed-down tradition of Folk music by unknown composers is seen in the folk songs of India, Greece, Serbia and Canada housed in the Library’s collections; Greek folk-songs from the Turkish provinces of Greece … Albania, Thessaly, (not yet wholly free,) and Macedonia: literal and metrical translations by Lucy M.J. Garnett (1885) are particularly note-worthy.

Fairy tales are a large part of the folklore section and probably the most well-known are Grimm’s fairy tales – Kinder- und Hausmärchen.  Both early and current editions of the tales, including criticism, can be found here and have now all been retrospectively catalogued.  In addition, some books on fairy tales from other parts of the world have also just been added such as: Welsh fairy-tales and other stories collected and edited by P.H. Emerson (1894); Chinese fairy tales told in English by Herbert A. Giles (1911) and Fairy folk tales of the Maori by James Cowan (1925).

The customs, superstitions and practices of subcultures are also explored. Sir James George Frazer’s famous work, The Golden Bough, a comparative study of mythology and religion (1890), includes such topics including a chapter on ‘Christmas and the mistletoe’, as does a more modern take on ‘superstition’, Old wives’ tales by Eric Maple (1981).

Other topics of interest found in the Library’s folklore collection retrospectively catalogued or soon to be, are books on moon mythology:Moon lore by Timothy Harley (1885); plant lore: La mythologie des plantes, ou, Les légendes du règne végétal by Angelo de Gubernatis (1878-1882) and The mystic mandrake by C.J.S. Thompson (1934); animal mythology: Un-natural history, or, Myths of ancient science: being a collection of curious tracts on the basilisk, unicorn, phoenix, behemoth or leviathan, dragon, giant spider, tarantula, chameleons, satyrs, homines caudati, &c. now first translated from the Latin, and edited, with notes and illustrations, by Edmund Goldsmid (1886); and werewolves: The werewolf by Montague Summers (1933).

The enduring popularity of Folklore influence is seen in the rise of contemporary fiction writing in this genre (notable in the Harry Potter series where mandrakes, unicorns, basilisks, dragons, phoenixes, giant spiders and werewolves feature), and is reflected in recent Library acquisitions Mythic thinking in twentieth-century Britain: meaning for modernity by Matthew Sterenberg (2013), The white devil: the werewolf in European culture by Matthew Beresford (2013) and The rise of the vampire by Erik Butler (2013).

Toni Amodei  (Library Cataloguer)

Images:

Picture 1: Title-page and frontispiece from Old Deccan days, or, Hindoo fairy legends, current in southern India / collected from oral tradition by M. Frere (1868).

Picture 2: One of the volumes from the series Curiosità popolari tradizionali.

Picture 3: Illustration from German popular stories / with illustrations after the original designs of George Cruikshank ; edited by Edgar Taylor (1868).

Picture 4: Title-page and frontispiece from Fairy folk tales of the Maoriby James Cowan (1925).

Picture 5: Title-page and frontispiece from The mystic mandrake by C.J.S. Thompson (1934).

Picture 6: Title-page from Un-natural history, or, Myths of ancient science now first translated from the Latin, and edited, with notes and illustrations, by Edmund Goldsmid (1886).

Picture 7:  Illustration from The werewolf by Montague Summers (1933).

Anna Vlasova, London Library Retrospective Cataloguer, this month presents an adaptation of an article recently featured in Solanus, the international journal for the study of the printed and written word in Russia and East-Central Europe, revealing twenty-six fascinating and significant 18th century publications in the Märit and Hans Rausing Russian collections of the London Library. (click on each image for large version).  Explore more on the Märit and Hans Rausing Russian collections on the London Library website http://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/

I would like to review some of the most revealing provenances of these publications. Rodoslovnaia kniga kniazei i dvorian rossiiskikh i vyiezzhikh (1787), V. Tatishchev’s Istoriia rossiiskaia (1768-1848) and A. Bogdanov’s Istoricheskoe, geograficheskoe i topograficheskoe opisanie Sanktpeterburga (1779) were owned by count Sergei Sobolevskii and the Lindsay family before being purchased by the London Library at Hodgson auctions in 1930. Sergei Sobolevskii was a 19th century Russian bibliophile and poet, whom Alexander Pushkin considered a close friend. After Sobolevskii’s death, his 25,000-volume collection was sold to Leipzig bookdealer List&Francke (it was Sobolevskii’s worst nightmare – he dreaded the dispersion of his collection and, in fact, refused several lucrative offers from bookselling firms during his lifetime). There is reason to believe that after Sobolewskii’s auction these three books came into the famousBibliotheca Lindesiana, most of which was eventually dispersed among national and university libraries.

John Frederick Baddeley’s ownership marks can be found on J. Fischer’s Sibirskaia istoriia (1774), G.F. Müller’s Sammlung russischer Geschichte (1732-1764) and P. Pallas’s Tagebuch einer Reise die im Jahr 1781 (1797). John Frederick Baddeley (1854-1940), a British traveller, scholar, correspondent for the Standard and an acquaintance of Hagberg Wright, lived in Russia for a number of years and made donations of Russian books on anthropology, history and topography to the London Library throughout the early 20th century. John Baddeley was a prolific annotator and extensive marginalia can be found in many books that he donated. Before being purchased by Baddeley, Fischer’sSibirskaia istoriia belonged to the Kusheleff-Bezborodko family, which came to an end with the death of Grigorii Aleksandrovich Kushelev-Bezborodko in 1870, when their library came into the possession of a family friend, count Alexei Ivanovich Musin-Pushkin. Eventually, in 1912, the Kushelev-Bezborodko library was bought by a St. Petersburg bookseller Nikolai Solov’ev from whom Sibirskaia istoriia may have been acquired by Baddeley, as we find a pencil inscription ‘St.Petersburg, 1913’ in his hand inside this book’s left board.

The twenty-volume Drevniaia rossiiskaia vivliofika (1788-1791) and its eleven volume continuation Prodolzhenie drevnei rossiiskoĭ vivliofiki(1786-1801) were purchased by the London Library in 1931 following its practice of filling gaps in the collections of older books. Although it is not known who the Library purchased these volumes from, there is some evidence relating to their previous whereabouts. Drevniaia rossiiskaia vivliofika was part of the Library of the Central Pedagogical Museum established in 1864 as the Pedagogical Museum and renamed the Central Pedagogical Museum in 1918. The ink stamp on the flyleaf indicates that these volumes also passed through the Russian State Book Fund. Ex-libris found in Prodolzhenie drevnei rossiiskoĭ vivliofiki indicates that these volumes once belonged to professor of law Fedor Nikolaevich Panov (1834 – 1915) and a pink label of a Russian bookseller Vasilii Klochkov (1861 – 1915) suggests that they was once sold in his shop in St. Petersburg.

Provenance evidence found in some of the remaining books provides fascinating insights into their previous whereabouts, but does not uncover how they came into the London Library. Some noteworthy examples are: F. Soimonov’s Opisanie Kaspiiskago moria (1763), F. Efremov’s Stranstvovanie nadvornago sovietnika Efremova (1794) and P. Rychkov’s Vvedenie k Astrakhanskoi topografii (1774) that seem to have belonged to Robert Michell (1837-1911?), Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; Tsarstvennoi lietopisets (1772) that was at some time part of the collections of the Royal Asiatic Society and P. Pallas’sSamlungen historischer nachrichten uber die mongolishen volkerschaften (1776-1801) that was once part of what now is State and University Library Bremen.

Full image details:

1. Sobolevski’s notes in Vasilii Tatishchev’s Istoriia rossiiskaia, (Napechatana pri Imperatorskom Moskovskom universitetie: Moskva, 1768) reveal the previous owner of this work – German historian August Schlözer
2. Sobolevskii and Bibliotheca Lindesiana ex-libris inside the left board of Andrei Bogdanov’s Istoricheskoe, geograficheskoe i topograficheskoe opisanie Sanktpeterburga ([Vasiliĭ Ruban]: Sanktpeterburg, 1779)
3. Title page of Johann Eberhard Fischer‘s Sibirskaia istoriia (pri Imperatorskoĭ Akademīi nauk: V Sanktpeterburgie, 1774) with Alexander Kusheleff-Bezborodko library stamp
4. Kusheleff-Bezborodko bookplate and John F. Baddeley inscription in Fischer’s Sibirskaia istoriia
5. John Baddeley’s inscription in Peter Pallas’s Tagebuch einer Reise die im Jahr 1781 von der Granzfestung Mosdok nach dem Caucasus (Johann Zacharias Logan: St.Petersburg, 1797) and Hiersemann note, indicating the volume was acquired from a Leipzig bookseller Karl Hiersemann
6. Library of the Central Pedagogical Museum bookplate inside the left board of the 2nd edition of Nikolai Novikov’s Drevniaia rossiiskaia vivliofika (V tipografīi Kompanīi Tipograficheskoĭ: Moskva, 1788-1791)
7. Russian State Book Fund stamp on the flyleaf of Drevniaia rossiiskaia vivliofika
8. Boobplate of F. N. Panov inside the left board of Nikolai Novikov’s Prodolzhenie drevnei rossiiskoĭ vivliofiki (pri Imperatorskoĭ Akademīi nauk: V Sanktpeterburgie, 1786-1801)
9. Pink label of a St. Petersburg bookseller Vasilii Klochkov inside the right board of Prodolzhenie drevnei rossiiskoĭ vivliofiki
10. Robert Michell’s bookplate inside the left board of Fedor Soimonov’s Opisanīe Kaspiiskago moria i chinennykh na onom rossiiskikh zavoevanii, iako chastʹ istorīi Gosudaria Imperatora Petra Velikago (Pri Imperatorskoĭ Akademii nauk: V Sanktpeterburgie, 1763)
11. Filipp Sergeevich Efremov. Stranstvovanie nadvornago sovietnika Efremova v Bukharii, Khivie, Persii i Indii, i vozvrashchenie ottuda chrez Angliiu v Rossiiu (Pech. na izhd. P.B. i prod. po Nevsk. perspektivie u Anichk. mostu v domie Grafa D.A. Zubova: V Sanktpeterburgie, 1794) with Robert Michell’s inscription above the title
12. Petr Ivanovich Rychkov. Vvedenie k Astrakhanskoi topografii (Napechatana pri Imperatorskom Moskovskom universitetie: Moskva, 1774) with Robert Michell’s inscription above the title
13. Royal Asiatic Society stamp on title page verso of Tsarstvennoĭ lietopisets soderzhashchei Rossiiskuiu istoriiu ot 6622/1114 godu … do 6980/1472 godu (Pri Imperatorskoi Akademii nauk: V Sanktpeterburgie 1772)
14. Bremisches museum stamp and the London Library accession stamp on the title page verso of Peter Pallas’s Samlungen historischer nachrichten uber die mongolishen volkerschaften (Kaiserl. Akademie die Wissenschaften: St.Petersburg, 1776-1801)