Personal library as a reflection of the life and work history of A.V. Vysheslavtsev

We analyze A.V. Vysheslavtsev life history and creativity, and consider the importance of his personal library for professional pursuits and artistic hobbies. It is shown that reading played an important role in the upbringing of aesthetic taste and love of the beautiful in the Vysheslavtsev family. The estate library of the family estate Volkhonshchina accumulated a huge number of publications in Russian and foreign languages. Great importance in replenishing the rare foreign books collection played A.V. Vysheslavtsev’s uncle, who bought literature in the course of his foreign trips. On the basis of biographical research, the circumstances of the appearance of “Essays with quill and pencil out of circumnavigation of the world” we reveal their artistic and scientific value. We study the reasons of A.V. Vysheslavtsev’s foreign travels, and give the review of the books bought abroad. The analysis of the thematic composition of the library shows the diversity of readers’ interests of its owners. There were books on the history of European, Byzantine and Russian art. Collected for several decades, this collection can act as one of the elements of knowledge transfer to the Russian province. On the basis of studying foreign books A.V. Vysheslavtsev built scientific activity, prepared a number of serious studies on the Western art history. The heritage of A.V. Vysheslavtsev, without a doubt, has important historical, cultural and local history significance, reveals the creative laboratory of one of the most famous art critics of Russia of the 19th century.

1. Soloviev M.P. Aleksey Vladimirovich Vysheslavtsev: Dlya blizkikh lyudey [Alexey Vladimirovich Vysheslavtsev: for Closest People]. St. Petersburg, M.M. Stasyulevich’s Typography, 1890. (In Russian).

2. Kozlova V.M. Tambovskaya oblastnaya kartinnaya galereya. Russkoe iskusstvo XVIII – nachala XX veka [Tambov Regional Art Gallery. Russian Art 18th – Early 20th Century]. Leningrad, RSFSR Artist Publ., 1976. (In Russian).

3. Sidorov A.A. Risunki russkikh masterov (vtoraya polovina XIX veka) [Drawings of Russian Masters (Second Half of the 19th Century)]. Moscow, Academy of Sciences of the USSR Publ., 1960. (In Russian).

4. Tuchkov I.I. Aleksey Vladimirovich Vysheslavtsev kak istorik iskusstva [Alexey Vladimirovich Vysheslavtsev as an art historian]. Obrazy Kavkaza. Muzeynyye raritety XIX veka [Images of the Caucasus. Museum Rarities of the 19th Century]. Moscow, Three Squares Publ., 2018, pp. 287-307. (In Russian).

5. Patrina L.N., Zhityn R.M. Knizhnye sobraniya dvoryanskikh bibliotek Tambovskoy gubernii kontsa XVIII – nachala XIX veka. Problema rekonstruktsii i analiza knizhnogo naslediya [Book collections of noble libraries of Tambov Governorate late 18th – early 20th century. The reconstruction problem and book heritage analysis]. Materialy Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii «Rumyantsevskiye chteniya – 2019» [Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Rumyantsev Readings – 2019”]. Moscow, 2019, pp. 277-280. (In Russian).

6. Vysheslavtsev A.V. Sutki na Malakhovom kurgane. 20 maya 1855 [Day and Night on the Malakoff Kurgan. May 20, 1855]. St. Petersburg, Imperial Academy of Sciences Typography, 1856. (In Russian).

7. Ivleva S.E. «Ocherki perom i karandashom iz krugosvetnogo plavaniya v 1857–1860-kh godakh» Alekseya Vysheslavtseva v Rossii i v Danii (k istorii illyustrirovannogo izdaniya 1860-kh godov) [“Essays with quill and pencil out of circumnavigation of the world in the 1857–1860” by Alexey Vysheslavtsev in Russia and Denmark (to the history of the illustrated edition of the 1860s)]. Sankt-Peterburg i strany Severnoy Evropy [St. Petersburg and the Northern Europe Countries], 2004, no. 5, pp. 326-334. (In Russian).

8. Stepanov D.A. Uchrezhdenie Russkogo obshchestva parokhodstva i torgovli (1856–1857) [Establishment of the Russian society of shipping and trade (1856–1857)]. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta – Bulletin of Chelyabinsk State University, 2011, no. 22 (237), pp. 30-38. (In Russian).

9. Vysheslavtsev A.V. Ocherki perom i karandashom iz krugosvetnogo plavaniya v 1857, 1858, 1859 i 1860 godakh [Essays with quill and pencil out of circumnavigation of the world in 1857, 1858, 1859 and 1860]. St. Petersburg, Naval Ministry Typography, 1862. (In Russian).

10. Vysheslavtsev A.V. Mezhdu khramov i razvalin [Between Temples and Ruins]. Moscow, (M. Katkov) University Typography, 1880. (In Russian).

11. Kondakov N.P. Istoriya vizantiyskogo iskusstva i ikonografii po miniatyuram grecheskikh rukopisey [History of Byzantine Art and Iconography from Miniatures of Greek Manuscripts]. Odessa, Ulrich and Schulze Typography, 1876. (In Russian).

12. Friken A.F. Rimskie katakomby i pamyatniki pervonachal'nogo khristianskogo iskusstva [Roman Catacombs and Monuments of Original Christian Art]. Moscow, K.T. Soldatenkov Publ., 1872–1885, vols. 1–4. (In Russian).

13. Muntz E. Histoire de l'art pendant la Renaissance. Paris, Librairie de L. Hachette et C-ie Publ., 1889, 744 p. (In French).

14. Bayet C. L’art Byzantin. Paris, A. Quantin, Imprimeur-Editeurs Publ., 1889, 320 p. (In French).

15. Blinova L.N. Russkie palomniki v Odesse na puti k svyatym mestam [Russian Pilgrims in Odessa on the Way to the Holy Places]. (In Russian). Available at: http://www.ippo.ru/old/history/ippo-palomnichestvo/ 4/odessa/5/index.html (accessed 18.06.2019).