“In Memory of Tatoe”: Who Owned the Album from the Collection of N.P. Smirnov-Sokolsky

Abstract

The article describes a little-known source — the literary almanac of 1886 “From day to day”, which includes 365 quotations from various works of M.Yu. Lermontov. Compiled by the Greek Queen Olga (nee Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna, granddaughter of Nicholas I), it had a limited printing and was intended for gifts to especially close people on memorable dates as a diary album for recordings. The history of the existence of each surviving copies of this rare edition is worthy of close study, so long as it gives the opportunity to verify a number of facts important for the native culture. This is a multi-level artifact containing autographs of famous people, reflecting a significant array of events, dates, names and poetic images. The article describes for the first time a copy from the library of the famous bibliophile N.P. Smirnov-Sokolsky, in which most of the inscripts belong to representatives of the House of Romanov and their aristocratic entourage (some of the personalities are established for the first time). For this purpose different data have been used with the help and by means of archival and bibliographic heuristics, as well as historical genealogy.