The Russian Section (R, Sm)
On an international scale, this section contains one of the largest world collections of Russian literature of the 19th century and the early 20th century, the Soviet period, as well as the literature of the Russian diaspora. Because of the uniqueness of the collection, it has drawn the attention of the highest number of readers. In terms of its origin, the Russian section consists of three parts: 1) the collection of Russian literature, systematically developed by the staff of the Slavonic Library; 2) the collection of Russian literature of the 18‒19th centuries created by the bookseller and publisher A. F. Smirdin from Saint Petersburg and purchased by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1932; 3) the collection of books, magazines and newspapers of the Russian Historical Archives Abroad, which was incorporated into the Slavonic Library at the end of the 1940s.
Besides unique historical manuscripts and rare early printed books, the collection contains items from the period of Peter the Great. It comprises incomplete series of the first Russian dailies (Sanktpeterburgskie vedomosti and Moskovskie vedomosti), satirical journals that were published by Nikolai I. Novikov, and literature dealing with the social movement at the time of Stepan Razin and Emelian Pugachev and with the revolutionary movements of the 19 and 20th centuries. The collections in this section provide the original sources, annals, deeds and documents published in various editions, anthologies and magazines. The collection also includes works published by the Liberal Economic Society (Volnoe ekonomicheskoe obshchestvo) from 1765.
An exceptionally high number of items are works of Russian historians from the first modern Russian historian Vasilii N. Tatishchev until the present day. Among historians of the 18th century, it is worth mentioning the representatives of the first Russian Historical School Mikhail V. Lomonosov, Vasilii K. Trediakovskii, Mikhail M. Shcherbatov, but also historians of non-Russian origin dealing with Russian history – Gerhard Friedrich Müller and August Ludwig von Schlözer. The first official Russian historiographer, Nikolai M. Karamzin, is connected with the turn of the 19th century. Concerning historians of the 19th century focused on Russian history, there are numerous works by Mikhail P. Pogodin, Nikolai A. Polevoi, Sergei M. Solovyov and Vasilii O. Kliuchevskii. The collection contains also historical journals and anthologies, including e.g. a complete edition of Chtenia v Imperatorskom obshchestve istorii i drevnostei rossiiskikh pri Moskovskom universitete (1845‒1918).
Concerning authors of foreign literature on Russia from the 16th–18th centuries, one must mention mainly Sigmund von Herberstein, Adam Olearius and Johann George Korb.
Important sources for literary science and linguistics include e.g. Sovremennik, founded by Pushkin, Otechestvennye zapiski (since 1839), Zhurnal Ministerstva Narodnogo Prosvechenia (1834‒1918), which published scientific works and offprints of journal articles by almost all of the most famous Russian scholars, or Biblioteka dlia chtenia (1834–1865), which came out through the care of A. F. Smirdin. From the literary scientists of the 19th century, one should mention at least Aleksander N. Pypin and Aleksander N. Veselovskii, from linguists Aleksander A. Potebnia, Aleksei I. Sobolevskii, and from the beginning of the 20th century mainly Aleksei A. Shakhmatov.
The collection further contains essential writings on art and the first editions of works by Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoi, Turgenev and other important representatives of Russian literature. In terms of the number of editions, Aleksander S. Pushkin and Lev N. Tolstoi (each of them with more than one thousand volumes) are the most abundantly represented authors in the Slavonic Library in general (after Leninist works). From the later period, practically all essential works of Russian literature are represented, both from the area of the former Soviet Union and from emigration.
Among works on Russian philosophy, the names of the revolutionary democrats of the 19th century are the most frequent, including in the first place Aleksander I. Gertsen, from the turn of the 20th century Vladimir S. Soloviov and Vasilii V. Rozanov, and from the generation expelled from Soviet Russia after 1917 Nikolai A. Berďaev and Nikolai O. Losskii.
Concerning authors of bibliographical sources, one should mention in the first place a founding figure in his field, Vasilii S. Sopikov with his fundamental work Opyt rossiiskoi bibliografii, published in 1813‒1821; the no less important bibliographical work by Vladimir I. Mezhov Russkaia istoricheskaia bibliografiia comes from the end of the 19th century.
The collections of books, magazines and newspapers of Russian interwar émigrés from all continents are unique in the world for their size.
