Manuscript Books in the Nobility Libraries of the Urals in the 18th Century

The article discusses the phenomenon of the late manuscript book as part of the three largest libraries of the Ural industrial noblemen of the 18th century. Based on new sources (property inventories, statements, and other documentary materials of the preserved manuscripts unique to the region), the reasons for the existence of manuscript books in the noble environment of the Urals are considered. The author examines the composition of the books, determines their thematic sections, original and translated literature, and compares the manuscript book composition of libraries of different owners and representatives of different generations of the Ural industrialists. The author concludes that the latter had increased readership demands and lacked the necessary printed publications, which was one of the reasons for the distribution of manuscript books in the Ural province. The manuscript collections had distinguishing features and books unusual for typical nobility libraries, which can be explained by the transitive type of the Ural industrial nobility: they did not break their “tribal” ties with the democratic environment from which they emerged. Being noble only in the first or second generation, they strove to conform to the noble fashion for enlightenment, spared no means to complete their libraries, filling the shortage of printed publications with orders for translations and manuscript copies of books. The introduction of new sources into scientific discourse will give a new impetus to the study of the culturally and historically significant and yet insufficiently studied phenomenon of the late manuscript book in Russia and in the Urals.

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