The imperial collection / Album of Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna, Queen of the Hellenes: A literary almanac or a book of memory? (A copy of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich)

The article discusses the prospects of studying the grand-ducal albums, now stored in the Russian State Library, that once belonged to the Palace libraries, personal collections of people of the House of Romanov, gifts to the closest circle of the Romanovs. At the first stage, the research task is seen in the description of two grand-ducal albums published almost simultaneously, with an interval of a year, in 1885 and 1886, stored in the specialized funds of the Russian State Library. One of them belonged to Grand Duchess-Martyr Anastasia, the entries and autographs made in it date back to 1912-1917. The other album was part of the personal library of Sovereign Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich and was given to him by its compiler and close relative, the Greek Queen Olga (1851-1926) on his eighteenth birthday. The genre of calendar-almanac came to Russia from Western Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. The genre changed in Russia. It is an independent object of research for historical and philological sciences. The article describes in detail one of the first copies of the calendar-almanac From Day to Day, presented by Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna to her beloved nephew, Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich in August 1886. The copy is kept in the Russian State Library and is included in the Imperial Collection, based on the sources received from the Imperial House of Romanov. The described source was compiled personally by Queen Olga. The source has not been studied before and is little known to researchers. The article analyzes the complex compositional system of one of the first copies of From Day to Day from the personal library of Emperor Nicholas II. The multi-level reading system of the literary almanac allows considering it as a “multi-level artifact” - an important factual source mentioning names, dates, and events. The relevance of understanding the grand-ducal albums is dictated by the commemorations, which include: the 100th anniversary of the Great Exodus, the 170th anniversary of the birth of Queen of the Hellenes Olga Konstantinovna, and the 120th anniversary of the birthday of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (05.06.1901), the royal owner of the same calendar-almanac From Day to Day retaining 114 of the autographs of the people from the inner circle of the royal family. The history of the records accompanying each of the eight surviving copies of the 1886 edition of the State Printing House reflects the attitudes of two eras, specific events in different periods of the life of Queen Olga. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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