Destinies of editions about the Russian-Japanese War in the collections of pre-revolutionary military libraries

The relevance of the topic is due to the great role of military-historical literature and libraries as its repositories in forming the historical memory ofthe people, which is important for ensuring the spiritual security of the country. The article is the first to examine publications on the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905 from the book collection of the “House of Officers of the Novosibirsk Garrison” of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, got from other military libraries. The purpose of the article is to identify the fate of military libraries. Research tasks are: 1) to calculate the number of publications on the Russian-Japanese War in the book collection of the “House of Officers...”; 2)to reconstruct their repertoire; 3) to determine libraries which collections they were originally included in. The study methodologically bases on historic, objective, systematic principles, localization of historical facts. Methods used are that of source studying, comparative and statistical. The work is done on a wide representative source base, constituted from pre-revolutionary publications of the “Houses of Officers...,” periodicals, regulatory and legal documents of the military department. 21 catalogs of officer libraries were analyzed, confirming the presence of issues on the Russian-Japanese War in them. As a result of the study, 92 pre-revolutionary works in 100 copies dedicated to the Russian-Japanese War were revealed in the library of the House of Officers. For 66 of them in 71 copies the former ownership of 18 military libraries was established. Their repertoire was reconstructed. The results show that the First World War, which destroyed the personnel of the Russian army, became an involuntary cause of the ruin of ­military libraries, having left them without supervision in the places of the previous quartering of troops and deprived them of officers - enthusiasts of ­librarianship. The revolutions of 1917, radical transformations of Soviet power and the Civil War completed the ruin of the tsarist army military libraries, which ceased to exist as independent book collections. The study has expanded the understanding of the state role in military-historical works’ dissemination and military libraries’ collections replenishment.

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2. Military bibliography. Voina i Mir, 1906, 1: 174–185. (In Russ.).

3. Bibliography of the Russian-Japanese War of 1904– 1905. Voina i Mir, 1906, 3: 545–549. (In Russ.).

4. Petrov N. Ya. (comp.) Katalog biblioteki shtaba voisk Gvardii i Peterburgskogo voennogo okruga [Catalog of the library of the headquarters of the troops of the Guard and St. Petersburg Military District]. [S. l.], 1911. 642 p. (In Russ.).

5. Sistematicheskii katalog knig biblioteki shtaba Moskovskogo voennogo okruga: k 1-mu yanvarya 1907 g. [Systematic book catalog of the library of the headquarters of Moscow Military District: by January 1, 1907]. Moscow, Tip. shtaba Mosk. voen. okr., 1906. II, 142 p. (In Russ.).

6. Katalog biblioteki ofitserskogo sobraniya leib-gvardii Gusarskogo Ego Velichestva polka [Library catalog of the officer meeting of the Life Guards Hussar His Majesty Regiment]. Tszarskoe Selo, Tszarskosel. tsent. tip., 1908. 112 p. (In Russ.).

7. Katalog knig polkovoj biblioteki 95-go pexotnogo Krasnoyarskogo polka [Book catalog of the regimental library of the 95th Infantry Krasnoyarsk Regiment]. Yur’ev, Pechatnya i tip. K. Mattisena, 1910. II, 46 p. (In Russ.).

8. Tymchishin (comp.) Katalog knig biblioteki 107-go pekhotnogo Troitskogo polka [Book catalog of the library of the 107th Troitsky Infantry Regiment]. Vilna, Rus. pochin, 1909. VI, 166 p. (In Russ.).

9. Katalog biblioteki 130-go pekhotnogo Khersonskogo Ego Imperatorskogo Vysochestva velikogo knyazya Andreya Vladimirovicha polka [Library catalog of the 130th Kherson Infantry of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich Regiment]. Kiev, Tip. T-va I. N. Kushnerev i K°, 1910. VIII, 135 p. (In Russ.).

10. Katalog knig biblioteki 1-go ulanskogo SanktPeterburgskogo general-fel’dmarshala knyazya Menshikova polka [Book catalog of the library of the 1st Lancer St. Petersburg Field Marshal Prince Menshikov Regiment]. Rzhev, Tip. A. T. Ivanova, 1909. 78 p. (In Russ.).

11. Katalog biblioteki shtaba Priamurskogo voennogo okruga: sostavlen k 28-mu fevralya 1911 g. [Library catalog of the headquarters of the Amur Military District: compiled by February 28, 1911]. Khabarovsk, Tip. shtaba Priamur. voen. okr., 1911. I, 140 p. (In Russ.).

12. Katalog knig polkovoi biblioteki ofitserskogo sobraniya 27-go Vostochno-Sibirskogo strelkovogo polka [Book catalog of the regimental library of the officer collection of the 27th East Siberian Rifle Regiment]. Irkutsk, Gubern. tip., 1910. 86 p. (In Russ.).

13. Katalog biblioteki 124-go Voronezhskogo polka [Library catalog of the 124th Voronezh Regiment.]. Kharkov, Elektr. tipo-litogr. S. A. Shmerkovicha, 1910. 55 p. (In Russ.).

14. Sistematicheskii katalog knig polkovoi biblioteki 157- go Imeretinskogo polka [Book systematic catalog of the regimental library of the 157th Imeretin Regiment]. Ufa, Tipo-litogr. Ya. M. Ginzburga, 1911. 136 p. (In Russ.).

15. Katalog ofitserskoi biblioteki 8-go Strelkovogo polka [Catalog of the officer library of the 8th Rifle Regiment]. Petrakov, Tip. Panskago, 1912. 93 p. (In Russ.).

16. Sistematicheskii katalog knig ofitserskoi biblioteki 1-i grenaderskoi general-fel’dmarshala grafa Bryusa artilleriiskoi brigady [Book systematic catalog of the officer library of the 1st Grenadier Field Marshal Count Bruce Artillery Brigade]. [S. l.], Tip. i perepletnaya Sh. Khorozhanskogo, 1915. 72 p. (In Russ.).

17. The Military Historical Commission for the description of the Russian-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Voennaya entsiklopediya. Petersburg, 1911, 6: 511–512. (In Russ.).

18. Russko-Yaponskaya voina 1904–1905 gg. T. 1. Sobytiya na Dal’nem Vostoke, predshestvovavshie voine, i podgotovka k etoi voine. Rabota Voenno-istoricheskoi komissii po opisaniyu Russko-Yaponskoi voiny [The Russian-Japanese War of 1904– 1905. Vol. 1. Events at the Far East preceded the war, and preparation for this war. The Military Historical Commission activity to describe the Russian-Japanese War.]. Saint Petersburg, Tip. A. S. Suvorina, 1910. VII, 857 p. (In Russ.).

19. Katalog biblioteki 17-go pekhotnogo Arkhangelogorodskogo polka [Library catalog of the 17th Infantry Arkhangelsk Regiment.]. Zhitomir, Tip. I perepletnaya Sh. Khorozhanskogo, 1913. 156 p. (In Russ.).

20. Katalog biblioteki 5-go dragunskogo Kargopol’skogo polka [Library catalog of the 5th Dragoon Kargopol Regiment]. Kazan, Tipo-litogr. Okr. shtaba, 1914. 40 p. (In Russ.).

21. Katalog knig ofitserskoi biblioteki 57-go pekhotnogo Modlinskogo general-ad’yutanta Kornilova polka [Book catalog of the officer’s library of the 57th Modlinsky Infantry Adjutant General Kornilov Regiment]. Kherson, Poryadok, 1912. 173 p. (In Russ.).

22. Katalog knig biblioteki ofitserskogo sobraniya 28-go pekhotnogo Polotskogo polka [Book catalog of the library of the officer meeting of the 28th Polotsk Infantry Regiment]. Tambov, N. I. Berdonosov i S–n’, 1914. 176 p. (In Russ.).

23. Katalog knig biblioteki ofitserskogo sobraniya 128-go pekhotnogo Starooskol’skogo polka. 1913 goda [Book catalog of the library of the officer collection of the 128th Infantry Starooskol Regiment. 1913]. Izyaslavl, Tip. Z. A. Trakhtenberga, 1913. 61 p. (In Russ.).

24. Kuropatkin Aleksei Nikolaevich. Voennaya entsiklopediya. Petersburg, 1911, 14: 416. (In Russ.).

25. [A. K–“] Yapono-russkaya voina. Sochinenie generala ot infanterii germanskoi sluzhby F. Lignitsa. Izvlecheniya iz I chasti. Vyp. 19 [Japanese-Russian War. Work by F. Lignits, the infantry general of the German service. Extracts from part I. Iss. 19]. Saint Petersburg, Tip. Trenke i Fyusno, 1909. IV, 56 p. (In Russ.).

26. Melekh E. I. (comp.) Katalog biblioteki Vilenskogo voennogo sobraniya [Library catalog of Vilnius Military Assembly]. 2nd ed. Vilna, Tip. A. G. Syrkina, 1908. XXXVII, 625 p. (In Russ.).

27. Katalog ofitserskoi biblioteki 190-go pekhotnogo Ochakovskogo polka [Catalog of the officer library of the 190th Ochakov Infantry Regiment.]. Ufa, Pechat’, 1912. 112 p. (In Russ.).

28. Dopolnenie k katalogu biblioteki 121-go pekhotnogo Penzenskogo polka [Addition to the library catalog of the 121st Penza Infantry Regiment]. Kharkov, Tip. M. G. Kovaleva, 1911. 16 p. (In Russ.).

29. Ergol’sky A. I. Libraries in military units. Voennyi sbornik, 1912, 9: 89–96. (In Russ.).

30. Kersnovsky A. A. Istoriya russkoi armii. T. 3 [History of the Russian army. Vol. 3]. Moscow, Golos, 1994. 352 p. (In Russ.).