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[EXTREMELY RARE SAMARKAND IMPRINT] Spravochnik i Adres-Kalendar Samarkandskoi Oblasti na 1901/ Izd. Samarkandskogo Oblastnogo Statisticheskogo Komiteta [i.e. Directory and Address Book of the Samarkand Province for 1901: in two parts/ Publication of the Statistical Committee of the Samarkand Province]

Item #918

Samarkand: Typ. “Tovarishchestvo”, [1901].Ca. 16,5x12,5 cm. Two parts in
one. [32 - ads], [6], 102; [2], v, [3], 137, [24 - ads] pp. Original publisher’s illustrated wrappers. Pre-revolutionary Russian ink stamp “Price 30 cop.”
on the front wrapper. Soviet library stamp on verso of the title page and
on p. 17 in part 1. Wrappers slightly soiled, with minor tears, but overall
a very good copy of this rare book in its original state.
Very rare Russian provincial imprint with only one paper copy
found in Worldcat (the “Directory… for 1902” in University and State
Library of Saxony-Anhalt). A beautiful copy preserved in the original
publisher’s illustrated wrappers. This is the official directory and address
book of the Samarkand Province of the Russian Empire – a former part
of the Khanate of Bukhara which has been annexed during the Russian
advance to Central Asia in the 1860s and joined the Imperial Turkestan
General Governorship in 1887. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and
the formation of the USSR the Samarkand province became a part of
the Uzbek SSR and after 1991 – of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The “Directory” was compiled by the Statistical Committee of
the Samarkand Province (1887-1919) - the official government centre
of statistical and ethnographic studies in the region. The Committee
published the “Spavochnaya Knizhka” [Reference Book] of the
Samarkand Province in 1893-1907; since 1896 its part titled “Directory
and Adress Book” started being issued separately, and its publication
continued until the beginning of WW1 in 1914. Apart from these two
serial editions, the Statistical Committee issued several separate works
on the region, including a pocket Russian-Uzbek dictionary, a list of
towns and villages in the province, an overview of local wineries etc.,
and in 1896 opened the “Samarkand Museum of nature, archaeology,
and ethnography” (modern-day Samarkand Museum of History and Art
of the Uzbek People). The Committee’s Secretary Mikhail Virsky, who
prepared all address books and directories for publication, served as a
collegiate councillor (“kollezhsky sovietnik”) under the direct command
of the military governor of the Samarkand Province Viktor Medinsky
(1837-1908).
The book consists of two parts: the “Directory” (part III of the
serial publication since 1896) with the general information about
the province (geography, administration, districts, population, Russian
settlers, agriculture, cotton industries, livestock, fincance, real estate,
public health, education, courts etc.), and the “Adress Book” (part VII of
the serial publication since 1893) containing the names and addresses
of all government officials (in Samarkand and four provincial districts),
societies and public organizations, hospitals, clinics and doctors, post offices, railway stations, forestries, charities, libraries, shops, artisans,
photo studios, bookshops, bazaars and even “Merchant karavan-sarais
in the native part of Samarkand.” The first 32 and the last 24 pages
are occupies with numerous ads from local businesses. Overall an
important reference book on the history of Samarkand and its environs
in the early 20th century.

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