scholarly journals About Origin of Some Jewish Manuscripts (Fond 182 of the RNL Manuscript Department)

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 248-269
Author(s):  
Alina Lisitsyna ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Library ◽  
Soviet Time ◽  
National Languages

In the Soviet time, libraries only preserved the names of private and, occasionally, institutional collections. Standalone manuscripts or small sets of manuscripts would become part of the collections in national languages. The information concerning the origins of new arrivals was not considered valuable enough to keep record of. Such was the case of Fond 182 of the Manuscript Department of the Russian National Library, commonly referred to as the Schneerson Library. Close examination of the content, handwriting, binding, stickers and owners’ inscription may allow us to identify some of the manuscript’s former owners. Thus, the collection contains not only the manuscripts of the Schneerson family proper, but also those belonging to Zelig Persits, Yaakov Maze, Benyamin Epstein, Bentsion Ettlinger, and the Karaite national library “Karay Bitikligi”, as well as the materials – mostly fragments – that should have been ascribed to the Günzburg Collection and some “trophy” manuscripts that were brought over to the USSR after the WWII and due to the lack of qualified scholars, wound up in Fond 182.

scholarly journals Libraries’ potential for developing readers’ identities (the example of Ufa)

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-54
Author(s):  
Pavel V. Fadeev
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
Local History ◽  
National Language ◽  
National Library ◽  
Common Trend ◽  
Republic Of Bashkortostan ◽  
The Republic ◽  
National Languages

Events held by libraries under the guise of state national policy bear special meaning for the republic of Bashkortostan. Libraries are gradually transforming into centers where one can not only read literature, but also receive complementary services and spend their free time productively. The extent to which this idea is implemented in all of Bashkortostan’s libraries depends on funding. This article attempts to understand the influence of libraries on forming the identities of readers. The central Zeki Velidi Togan National Library, as well as district libraries numbers 23 and 4 served as the object for our research. The design of each of these libraries primarily serves national (Bashkortostani) identity, while possessing certain foreign elements (Ufa, Russian, Soviet, Bashkir). A common trend appears to be the stable abundance of books about Salavat Yulaev – one of the symbols of the republic. Compared to the others, the central library holds considerably more events than any district library. Most events held by the central library are aimed at developing and sustaining Bashkir identity. Bashkir language is used during many gatherings, while the primary audience of thematic evenings is comprised of Bashkirs (there tend to be less Tatars Потенциал библиотек в формировании идентичностей читателей (на примере Уфы) 53 № 4, Том 10, 2019 and Russians present at these events). Ufa, Tatar and religious identities are almost completely absent from the events conducted by the National library. District libraries work in several directions simultaneously: working with troubled youth, moral education, local history, fields such as aesthetics, ecology etc. Evens held by district libraries are more diverse and correlate with the holiday calendar. Both district libraries evaluated provide books in several languages, however, the bulk of those books are written in Russian. Meanwhile books in Bashkir and Tatar are in somewhat less demand, due to their irrelevance (they are mostly read by national language students and teachers, of which there are not too many), and a lack of popular literature written in national languages.

Transmission of Renaissance herbal images to China: the Beitang copy of Mattioli’s commentaries on Dioscorides and its annotations

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-253
Author(s):  
Wu Huiyi ◽  
Zheng Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
National Library ◽  
Materia Medica ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Northern Chinese ◽  
Jesuit Missionaries ◽  
Animal Names ◽  
National Library Of China ◽  
Made In

The Beitang Collection, heritage of a seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Jesuit library in Beijing now housed in the National Library of China, contains an incomplete copy of Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s commentary on an Italian edition of Pedanius Dioscorides's De materia medica (1568) bearing extensive annotations in Chinese. Two hundred odd plant and animal names in a northern Chinese patois were recorded alongside illustrations, creating a rare record of seventeenth-century Chinese folk knowledge and of Sino-Western interaction in the field of natural history. Based on close analysis of the annotations and other contemporary sources, we argue that the annotations were probably made in Beijing by one or more Chinese low-level literati and Jesuit missionaries during the first two decades of the seventeenth century. We also conclude that the annotations were most likely directed at a Chinese audience, to whom the Jesuits intended to illustrate European craftsmanship using Mattioli’s images. This document probably constitutes the earliest known evidence of Jesuits' attempts at transmitting the art of European natural history drawings to China.

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