Bookvica

[THE RUMYANTSEV MUSEUM] Gosudarstvennyi Rumyantsevsky muzei: Putevoditel': 1. Biblioteka [i.e. The State Rumyantsev Museum. Guidebook: V.1. Library]

Moscow: Izdatel'stvo L.D. Frenkel', 1923. Item #159

237, [3] pp.: ill. 19,5x14 cm. In original printed wrappers. Book is separated in two parts, lacks small pieces of the spine, faded Soviet bookshop's stamps on the back cover.

1 of 3000 copies. First edition.
The Rumyantsev Museum was Moscow's first public museum. It evolved from the personal art collection and library of Count Nikolay Rumyantsev (1754–1826), the last of his family.
One year after this guidebook was published museum was shut down by the Soviet government, and the museum's collection of manuscripts and incunabula was reorganized as the Lenin Library (now the Russian State Library).
The books includes: Outline of the history of the Rumyantsev Museum and its transfer to Moscow, Nikolai Rumyantsev's activity as educator and philanthropist, Features of Rumyantsev's collections as part of the Museum, History of the library, its content and organization, manuscript department (the separate chapter with a lot of details). Lists of incunable editions (Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland), Aldines, and manuscripts starting with famous The Archangelsk Gospel, the fourth oldest Eastern Slavic manuscript (1092). Great account of how Rumyantsev library was forming - from whose collections books came from, how they were maintained and described. It's also interesting to see through description and photos of the Rumyantsev Museum before it ceased to exist.

Price: $750.00