The Library of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov: an Experience of Reconstruction Based on a Printed Catalog

Abstract

This study aims to recreate the existence picture of the personal library of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov (1850—1918) in the Turkestan region, using the only known source — “The Catalog of Books Donated to the Turkestan Public Library by His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich”. “The Catalog...” was published in 1906 in Tashkent. It includes 1289 entries (books, documents and periodicals) in nine European languages. The reconstruction of the content of N.K. Romanov’s personal library with the help of “The Catalog...” allows to shed some light on the owner’s personal traits and helps to introduce new sources about the repertoire of Russian grand ducal libraries into scientific circulation. Historical and bibliological analysis, as well as “De Visu” study of library and archival collections, allows to consider little-studied issues related to the personal library of Grand Duke N.K. Romanov. The article identifies rare books and reveals the features of each copy. The bookplate found on some publications (“KN” monogram) belonged to Grand Duke Konstantin, Nikolai Konstantinovich’s father. N.K. Romanov’s personal library was universal: it contains publications on philosophy, history, geography, law, pedagogy, economics, mathematics, natural sciences, agriculture, technology, medicine, naval sciences, art history, as well as fiction, educational and reference literature. Chronologically, the collection includes publications of the 16th—19th centuries. It held unique materials on the study of the Turkestan region by Russian and foreign researchers. A bibliographic search made it possible to identify the vast majority of the lost books. However, there is not enough information about how each publication was collected. Further research work shall result in publication of an updated catalog of N.K. Romanov’s personal library stored in the Alisher Navoi National Library of Uzbekistan.