Open AccessFrench books of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, or “bibliothèque de cabinet” of Regent Anna Leopoldovna?
Author(s) -
Natalia Speranskaya
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
vivlīoḟika
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2333-1658
DOI - 10.21900/j.vivliofika.v7.570
Subject(s) - regent , cabinet (room) , reign , emperor , art , ancient history , history , art history , law , visual arts , political science , biology , ecology , politics
In 1745, some six hundred volumes of French books were transferred from the Summer Palace, in St.
Petersburg, to the Academy of Sciences, and in 1750 returned to the court. Here, we show that three
inventories of these books have been preserved to this day, two of which contain an indication that they
had belonged to Anna Leopoldovna (in 1740-41, regent during the reign of her underage son, Emperor
Ioann Antonovich), and were later donated by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to Ivan Ivanovitch Shuvalov.
Thus, the books described in these catalogs are not the library of Elizabeth Petrovna, as was previously
assumed, but that of Anna Leopoldovna.