Some Remarks on the History of the D. H. Bibikov - E. A. Lvov Book Collection

The goal of the article is to characterize the main stages of the formation and subsequent existence of a private collection Bibikov - E. A. Lvov (part of which is now in the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine), to identify its characteristic features, and to find out the role of D. H. Bibikov, E. A. Lvov and Z. D. Cassini in the formation of this book collection. To complete the study historical, logical, comparative and biographical research methods were used. The formation of book collections is one of the topical issues that should be explored in order to properly assess the intellectual potential of society in different eras. It will make possible to understand the professional and personal preferences of the usually wealthy owners of private collections who have exerted some influence on the socio-political and economic life of the country; in the view of the author of this article, the history of D. H. Bibikov Library is a striking example. For the first time the attention was focused on the personalities of prince E. A. Lvov (1831-1878) in the context of the creation of the corresponding Library. The author has established that to date, the topic of completing the private collection of D. H. Bibikov was regarded by researchers as dominated one, and they did not suggest any periodization of the history of origin and subsequent existence of the collection. For the first time, a thorough analysis of the historiographical work on the topic has been carried out. The author proposes to replace the commonly used scientific term «Library of D. H. Bibikov» on «Library of D. H. Bibikov - E. A. Lvov»; it is not just a name change, but, in fact, a new interpretation of the phenomenon. For the first time, the original periodization of the history of the formation and subsequent existence of the Bibikov Collection was proposed. On the basis of the available exlibrises, it can be stated that, at different times, Lvov and V. O. Cordt were involved in this case. Much damage to the collection was caused by the voluntary actions and German invaders (World War II). Today, once a whole collection has been scattered between the institutions (V.Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and M. Maksimovich Scientific Library of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv), and some have been lost.