Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847-1909) and His Library

The Soviet government's sales abroad of nationalized Russian bool collections during the 1920s and 1930s are set by the authors into the larger context of the sales of fine and decorative arts in this period. In 1931, the New York Public Library purchased the bulk of the private library of Grand Duke Vladmir Alexandrovich (1847–1909), uncle of the last Tsar. This was the Library's single largest acquisition of Russian books and photographic materials of an Imperial family provenance. The article provides examples of the diversity of materials bearing the ex-libris of the Grand Duke, and characterizes the collection as the serious working library of a person intimately involved in the artistic, cultural, and political life of the Russian Empire. In conclusion, the authors express the hope that the present article will encourage research on other Imperial collections and book materials sold to the West during the early decades of Soviet power.