The autograph of Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev as a part of the collection of the Department of Manuscripts and Book Monuments of the Research Library of Tomsk State University

The study of biographies of outstanding scientists and the reconstruction of the history of their families are increasingly attracting modern researchers. It is well known that the fate of the famous chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev is connected with Tomsk and Tomsk University; this is evidenced, among other things, by an article dedicated to him in the Electronic Encyclopedia of Tomsk State University. Recently, when describing the collection of publications of the Cyrillic seal, stored in the Department of Manuscripts and Book Monuments of the Research Library of Tomsk State University, an autograph of his father, Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev, was discovered. Ivan Mendeleev's autograph is on the pages of the edition of the Bible (Moscow, 1790). This is the ninth edition of the text of the famous Elizabethan Bible, which was first published in 1751 and has been reprinted many times since. The copy of the Bible edition in question (B-1153) is very well-preserved. There is a record of interest on the pages of B-1153. It is located on pages 119 and 120 rev., in the lower field, under the text of the menology. The text of the entry tells about the birth and death of the Kapustins' first daughter, Maria. The Kapustin family is well known: during the period indicated in the record they lived in Omsk, later moved to Tomsk. Vyacheslav Yuryevich Sofronov, a Tobolsk scientist and writer, studied the history of the Mendeleev family, including collecting and analyzing their family correspondence. In particular, he published the chronicle of the Mendeleev family. He kindly provided samples of Ivan Mendeleev's handwriting for comparison. Thanks to this, it was possible to establish that the entries in the fields of B-1153 are indeed an autograph. Thus, as a result of the study of a copy of the edition of the Bible (Moscow, 1790), stored in the Department of Manuscripts and Book Monuments of the Research Library of Tomsk State University, it was found that the autograph of Ivan Pavlovich Mendeleev, the father of the great chemist, is located in the margins of the copy. It is shown that the autograph appeared on the pages of the book, most likely, during Ivan Mendeleev's visit to his daughter, Ekaterina Kapustina, who at that time lived with her husband, Yakov Kapustin, in Omsk. The parents' visit was connected with the birth and sudden death of the Kapustins' first daughter, Maria. Assumptions have been made about exactly how the autographed book ended up in the funds of the Research Library of Tomsk State University. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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