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[ARCHITECTURE OF LIBRARIES] Arkhitektura i stroitel'stvo bibliotechnykh zdaniy [i.e. Architecture and Construction of Library Buildings]

Pashchenko, F.

Item #2559

Moscow: Izd-vo Akad. arkhitektury SSSR, 1941. 296 pp.: ill., schemes. 18x26.1 cm. In original publisher’s quarter cloth. Tear of the spine, rubbed boards. Otherwise in a very good condition.

Scarce. First edition. 1 of 3,000 copies. Edited by N. Maksimov.
An intriguing Soviet edition on the architecture and construction of libraries, written in 1941 by the Soviet library scientist Fedor Pashchenko (1907–1980), just months before the outbreak of World War II.
The October Revolution of 1917 radically transformed the Soviet approach to libraries. Unlike the Tsarist regime, which often dismissed them as sources of “illegal literature,” the Communists prioritized the organization of book depositories, making libraries, reading rooms, and publishing activities accountable to the Party. A 1934 law formalized the management and organization of libraries, fueling rapid expansion: by 1940, the USSR had roughly 250,000 libraries holding over 450 million books.
Amid this rapid growth, the architecture and construction of book depositories became a matter of major importance. Pashchenko’s edition represents one of the most comprehensive Soviet studies on the subject, offering a vivid record of the pre-war state of the State Public Library of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in Leningrad and other library buildings.
The book draws extensively on materials collected by the All-Russian Academy of Arts in 1934 and on collaborations with leading libraries in the United States, England, France, and Germany. It is organized into four main sections, beginning with a detailed review of library architecture and construction both in the USSR and abroad. This section includes numerous early black-and-white illustrations of prominent institutions such as the Library of Congress, Columbia University, the New York Public Library, Yale University Library, and Cambridge University Library, along with their construction schemes from the first half of the 20th century. It also provides information on operational aspects such as traffic flow, book circulation, and offers recommendations for the effective organization of library spaces and their integration into city plans.
The following sections elaborate upon the history of the book depositories and technical specifications for the design of book depositories, as well as construction peculiarities of different components of libraries (auditorium for reading, book lending department).

The last section of the book features summary tables of architectural design codes for library buildings and comprises information on fire safety measures, basic principles of heating and ventilation, as well as methods of natural and artificial lighting of buildings (allocation of windows, lamps, etc.). Importantly, the author provides average values of illumination of the surface of book shelves and illumination standards for reading rooms of libraries of the USSR.

The edition is supplemented with numerous black and white illustrations and design projects dated with the early 20th century and showing libraries all over the world. This material is particularly important as many of the libraries were subject to major modifications over the course of time.

Fedor Pashchenko studied at the All-Russian Academy of Arts from 1926 to 1931. Two years later, he joined the Research Institute of Architecture, where he focused on designing library buildings. Over the course of his career, Pashchenko designed and oversaw the construction of 39 buildings in the field of library science and related areas.

Worldcat shows 3 copies of the edition at University of Pennsylvania Libraries, New York Public Library System, and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Price: $1,200.00