XI International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia
10th-14th July 2023
Ekaterina V. Derlich-Gerasimova (Санкт-Петербургская академия художеств им. Ильи Репина, St Petersburg, Russia), "A 'Key' for the reconstruction of Catherin the Great's Library"
One can say without exaggeration that by the 1790s, the Russian Empress Catherine II possessed one of the best libraries in Europe. The originality of her personal library, which harmoniously complemented the luxurious Hermitage collections of art and other objects, derived from its focus: there was nothing accidental in its development. Each part of the library had practical value and was associated with a real person or project that held meaning for both the Russian autocrat and the fate of Russia as a whole. For the first time since Peter the Great, Catherine elevated book collecting to the level of State activity.
The current paper briefly summarizes the results of the author’s long-term research toward the practical reconstruction of the unique library of Catherine the Great. The basis for this work was the interdisciplinary approach to the study of materials at the crossroads of history and bibliology, the new discipline of “book archeology,” which became widespread in Russia in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
The primary result of the author’s research has been the creation of a "key" for the reconstruction of Catherine the Great’s personal library.
The research was conducted at the following depositories: the Russian National Library (NLR), the Russian State Library (RSL), the Hermitage Library, Rossi Library (Pavlovsk), the New York Public library (NYPL), the Houghton and Law libraries of Harvard University, The National library of Finland and others. These locations reflect the geography of the Imperial libraries’ dispersion as well as the far-ranging geography of the research.
