CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE MATERIALS

ABOUT GENNADII V. YUDIN’S COLLECTION (1840-1912)

AT THE U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

 

Compiled by Dr. John V. Richardson Jr.

UCLA Professor of Information Studies

jrichard@ucla.edu

Version: 23 June 2011

 

 

Yudin GPO Bookplate 

Figure 1.  GPO Bookplate, 1928

 

In 1906, G.V. Yudin, the wealthy Krasnoyarsk businessman, distiller, and bibliophile, sold to the Library of Congress (during Herbert Putnam’s term as Librarian when the library owned less than 600 Russian items) roughly 80,000 volumes on “Russian history, bibliography [numbering at least 680 volumes][1], and literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries” which had been assembled over twenty years and which shipped in more than 500 crates under the supervision of A.V. Babine starting on 6 February and arriving in Washington, DC by 6 April 1907 (click link  for more details about his life http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/babine/bhome.html).  And, see appendix for the original Russian and an English translation of agreement (courtesy of Harold Leich).

 

 “In the words of President Theodore Roosevelt, the Yudin collection ‘will give the Library of Congress preeminence in this particular field, not only in the United States, but as far as I know in the world generally outside of Russia; and this in a field not yet developed at all in America.’ ”[2]

 

According to OCLC’s WorldCat record number 23702843, these materials were “absorbed into its general collections, forming the cornerstone of its Russian-language resources, while the inventory is housed in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.”

 

The following items were compiled via online searches of Archive of Americana (including the US Congressional Serial Set), WorldCat, Library Literature (since 1984), and Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) and Google’s Uncle Sam (www.google.com/ig/usgov) as well as a manual search of Cannons’ Bibliography (1920); an additional search of Google Books (http://books.google.com) using the bounded phrases “Gennadii Iudin” or “Gennadii Yudin” or “Gennadi Yudin,” will reveal at least six more titles in addition to these eighteen references:

 

 

Alexis V. Babine, The Yudin Library, Krasnoyarsk (Eastern Siberia).  Washington, DC: Press of Judd and Detweiler, 1905 (online). 

·         Inspected collection in autumn 1903; 40 pages, 41 pages of illustrations.

 

“The Library of Congress,” Library Journal 32 (no. 1, January 1907): 41-42.

·         Putnam mentions that Yudin’s business interests are in mining.

 

“Yudin Russian Collection,” In Report of the Librarian of Congress, 1907, pages 20-24.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1907. (Serial Set 5363)

·         Page 20, paid only a third of what collector spent in over thirty years amassing collection; page 21, especially strong in Siberica; pages 22-23, translations of letters from Yudin to Putnam, 26 January/8 February 1904 and 10/23 August 1906; illustrations: portrait of Yudin (between page 20 and 21) as well as “building at Krasnoiarsk in which Yudin library was stored” (between page 22 and 23)

 

Traveling Expenses, etc., Library of Congress. Letter from the Librarian of Congress, submitting a statement of the travel of officers and employees during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908. Washington, DC: GPO, 1908. (Serial Set 5558)

·         Herbert Putnam to Boston, MA between 13-18 March 1908 for “Yudin collection book plate”

 

Annual report of the Public Printer for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1909.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1909. (Serial Set 5644)

·         Pages 40, 50, and 208: $1.00 for the re/engraving of Yudin book plate

 

“Future of Russia: Collection of Russian Books in the Library of Congress,” Outlook 97 (11 March 1911): 538-539.

 

“Yudin Collection of Russian Books in the Library of Congress,” Library Journal 42 (1917): 545-546.

 

“Russian Books in the Library of Congress,” Public Libraries 23 (1918): 178-179.

 

Library of Congress. Report of the Librarian of Congress for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1924. Washington, DC: GPO, 1924.  (Serial Set 8507)

·         Mention of the “unbound arrears of the Yudin collection” on page 126

 

Dmitri D. Tuneeff, G.V. Yudin: Biographical Sketch in Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Yudin Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1931.  14 leaves.

 

Archibald MacLeish, A Slavic Center for the Library of Congress.  [New York: American Russian Institute,] 1944; reprinted from the American Review of the Soviet Union, November 1944.  4pp.

 

Sergius Yakobson, "An Autobiography of Gennadii Vasil'evich Yudin," Library of Congress Quarterly Journal 3 (no. 2, February 1946): 13-15

 

Catalog of the G.V. Yudin Library.  Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1960s.  Thirteen 16 mm. microfilm reels.

 

Paul L. Horecky, “The Slavic and East European Resources and Facilities of the Library of Congress,” Slavic Review 23 (No. 2, June 1964): 309-327.

 

Maurice Friedberg, “Soviet Russia's Bibliophiles and Their Foes: A Review Article,”

Slavic Review 35 (No. 4, December 1976): 699-714.

 

David H. Kraus, “Yudin Collection Offers a Treasure Trove,” Library of Congress Information Bulletin 51 (1 June 1992): 239.

 

Harold M. Leich. “‘So Ample a Collection, So Well Balanced:’ The Yudin Collection at the Library of Congress,” Slavic & East European Information Resources 9 (no. 2, Mid-2008): 127-142 (online).

 

Barbara L. Dash, “A Visionary Acquisition: The Yudin Collection at the Library of Congress,” Slavic & East European Information Resources 9 (no. 2, 2008): 92-114 (online).

 

 

Research Questions Answered:

 

1)      What were the original terms regarding LC’s acquisition of this collection? See appendix.

2)      If LC encountered duplications in the Yudin collection, what happened to these titles?

3)      Did LC have an explicit policy of adding additional Russian titles to this initial collection with or without Yudin bookplates? Yes, with plates.

  Yudin Collection

Figure 2.  Book Plate for “Yudin Collection”

 

 

 

Appendix 1:

Английский текст контракта между Библиотекой Конгресса США и Г.В. Юдиным.  Оригинал находится в Архиве Библиотеки Конгресса (Отдел рукописей).

 

 

            This agreement, made this 3d day of November A.D. 1906 N.S.

between the Library of Congress at Washington, D.C., U.S.A., hereafter mentioned

as the Library, and G. V. Yudin, of Krasnoiarsk, Russia, witnessed:

            That the said Library agrees to buy one half of the collection of

books and pamphlets (the total numbering about 81.000 volumes) owned

by the said Yudin and as exhibited to the Library’s representative in August

of this year at Krasnoiarsk; provided the said collection shall reach the port

of Hamburg, Germany, substantially intact.  The Library will pay for the half of

the collection the sum of fifty thousand (50.000) rubles; the said sum to be

payable on receipt of the collection at Washington.  The Library expects to take

the remaining half of the collection at a like sum which will be paid on July

1st next succeeding the date of receipt of the collection at Washington.  The

Library will pay in addition all charges of packing, invoice, transportation,

and insurance en route.  The Library will take out a policy of [illegible]

in the sum of one hundred thousand (100.000) rubles which [illegible]

ensure to the benefit of the said Yudin in case of loss between Krasnoiarsk

and Hamburg from causes covered by it; but it is understood that the

causes of loss covered by it over this part of the route are only derailment

or fire; and it is expressly agreed that losses between Krasnoiarsk and

Hamburg from any other cause, whether partial or total, must be borne by the

said Yudin:  a total loss to effect a complete cancellation of this agreement –

a partial loss to reduce the purchase price pro rata.

            It is further understood that certain manuscripts relating to

Alaska and selected by the Library’s representative, and the slip catalogue of

the collection now in possession of the said Yudin, will be included in the collection, and

that the said Yudin will lend to the said Library all receipted bills relating to the

collection if this should be necessary in order to present evidence before insur-

ance company, -- which bills the Library agrees to return when the necessity

for them shall have passed.

 

                                                            The Library of Congress

                                                                        By Alexis V. Babine, its agent

                                                            Gennadius V. Yudin

 

Appendix 2: Русский текст контракта между Библиотекой Конгресса США и Г.В. Юдиным.  Оригинал находится в Архиве Библиотеки Конгресса (Отдел рукописей). 

 

            СЕЙ ДОГОВОР, заключенный 3 сего ноябра 1906 года Н.С.

между Библиотекою Конгресса в Вашингтоне, в Округе Колумбия,

С.-А.С.Ш., называемой ниже Библиотекою, и Г. В. Юдиным, из Крас-

ноярска (Россия), свидетельствует:

            что названная Библиотека договаривается купить половину

собрания книг и брошюр (в своем полном составе содержащаго

около 81.000 томов), принадлежащаго названному Юдину и в том

виде, в каком оно было показано представителю Библиотеки в

августе сего года в Красноярске, с условием, что названное

собрание достигнет порта Гамбурга, в Германии, в полной

целости.  Библиотека оплатит за половину собрания сумму в

50.000 рублей, каковая сумма подлежит уплате по получении

собрания в Вашингтоне.  Библиотека ожидает взять остающуюся

половину собрания за такую же сумму, - каковая будет уплачена

1 июля ближайшаго следующаго за днем получения собрания в

Вашингтоне.  Библиотека заплатит кроме того все расходы по

укладке, сдаче, перевозке и страхованию в пути.   Библиотека

застрахует собрание в 100.000 рублей, каковая сумма пойдет

в пользу названнаго Юдина в случае потери между Красноярском

и Гамбургом от причин, предусмотренных страховкой, но под-

разумевается, что причинами потери, предусмотренной страховкой

в этой части пути, считаются только крушение и пожар, и спе-

циально заявляется сим договором, что потеря между Краснояр-

ском и Гамбургом от какой либо другой причины, частичная

или полная, падает на названнаго Юдина:  полная потеря будет

иметь последствием полную отмену настоящаго договора, - а

частичная потеря пропорционально уменьшит плату за собрание.

            Кроме того подразумевается, что известныя рукописи, отно-

сящиеся к Аляске и отобранныя представителем Библиотеки, и

карточный каталог собрания, имеющийся у названнаго Юдина,

включаются в собрание, и что названный Юдин одолжит назван-

ной Библиотеке все счета, относящиеся к собранию, если это

окажется необходимым для того, чтобы представить доказательства

страховому обществу, каковые счета Библиотека договаривается

возвратить по миновании в них надобности.

            Подлинник сего договора на английском языке подписан:

 

                                                The Library of Congress

                                                            By Alexis V. Babine, its agent

 

                                                Gennadius V. Yudin

 

 

 

 

 

 

R;tw


[1] Library of Congress. Report of the Librarian of Congress and Report of the Superintendent of the Library Building and Grounds for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917 (Washington, DC: GPO, 1917), p. 101 (SS 7428)