West-European books in Bessarabia: ways of distribution and government oversight (1812-1862)

In addressing the issue of the circulation of West-European books in Bessarabia we analyzed especially archival sources, mainly the Fund 2 - The Office of the Governor of Bessarabia, of the National Archive of Republic of Moldova, which contains relevant information on ways of distribution of West-European literature and governmental measures adopted in order to prevent the public access to the works which violated the Russian law of censorship. The cases we review in the article prove the fact that French, German or English literature was insufficiently distributed in the Russian Empire, and that's why Romanian Principalities, or Hapsburg Empire were an attractive source of purchasing it. From the analysis of the titles filled in the customs-blanks that were sent to Censorship Committee for Foreign Books in Sankt Petersburg, we noticed that the most West-European books reaching Bessarabia were literary and encyclopedic writings that were brought for the purpose of recreational reading and/ or the completing of personal libraries. But there were also cases when West-European books were brought for scientific and professional purposes. In conclusion, we can say that West-European books circulated in Bessarabia due to predilection of local society for the French and German literature. Of course in addition to these arguments, it is to be reminded that southern Bessarabia was colonized by Germans, Swiss, Polish, Bulgarians, etc., something which definitely generated greater demand for this kind of literature. Being a border province Bessarabia had multiple ways of penetrations of western writings, either by terrestrial ways, from the Habsburg Empire or Romanian Principalities, or by sea - from the rest of Europe. Also very close to Bessarabia there was situated the city port of Odessa, a cosmopolitan center of the Russian Empire's international trade on the Black Sea. However, we shall mention that the Russian government control, meant to prevent the intrusion of ?harmful ideas", limited to a large extent the circulation of West-European books in Bessarabia.