Dostoyevsky’s First Bibliographer

ABSTRACT

The article is devoted to the bibliographical work carried out by Anna Dostoevskaia, wife of novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky. She became the first bibliographer of his literary work by compiling and publishing Bibliograficheskii ukazatel’ sochinenii F. M. Dostoevskogo [Bibliographical index of the works of F. M. Dostoyevsky] in 1906. The article draws from Dostoevskaia’s memoirs and archival resources, exploring the history of the bibliographical index, the textual challenges in the process of its compilation, and its enduring importance in Dostoyevsky studies. Dostoevskaia persevered until the end of her life (1918) to compile a second part to the index, but it remains unfinished. In 1929 the Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum was restructured and its collections scattered to various libraries and archives in Russia and beyond. Today researchers are working to restore a digital version of Dostoevkaia’s Bibliographical Index and to reconstruct the Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum virtually.

KEYWORDS:

• Anna Dostoevskaya
• archival resources in Russia
• Bibliographical Index
• bibliography
• Dostoevskaia
• Dostoyevskaya
• Fedor Dostoevskii
• Feodor Dostoevsky
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• history of Russian literature
• International Dostoevsky Society
• manuscripts
• Petrozavodsk State University
• textual studies
• virtual Dostoevsky Memorial Museum

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science under the program Novye istochnikovedcheskie i tekstologicheskie issledovaniia russkoi slovesnosti XIX-XX vekov [Innovative research on textual studies in 19th–20th centuries], no. 34.1126.

Notes

1. Editor’s notes: Transliterations in this article have been edited to conform to those used by the Library of Congress. The library applies the system posted on its page ALA-LC Romanization Tables, http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html, except for proper names that are well-known in English by other transliterations. One of those proper names is Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Anna Dostoevskaia is less well-known; hence the library simply follows the transliteration table for her name. Names of organizations and titles of publications that contain his name are cited in this article the way that the organization or publication uses them, e.g., Dostoevsky Studies, International Dostoevsky Society. The result is inconsistent, but I hope it will be less confusing for readers than the alternatives. Translations from Russian sources are by the present author.

2. The index is published in two editions: (1) A. G. Dostoevskaia, Bibliograficheskii ukazatel’ sochinenii i proizvedenii iskusstva, otnosiashchikhsia k zhizni i deiatel’nosti F. M. Dostoevskogo, sobrannykh v Muzeie pamiati F. M. Dostoevskago v Moskovskom Istoricheskom muzeie imeni Imperatora Aleksandra III, 1846–1903 [Bibliographical index of the works and essays on the life and art of F. M. Dostoyevsky, compiled in the Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum in the Emperor Alexander III Moscow Historical Museum, 1846–1903] (St. Petersburg, Russia, Printing House of P. F. Panteleev, 1906), 392 pp.; and (2) A. G. Dostoevskaia, Muzei pamiati F. M. Dostoevskago, 1846–1903 [The Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum, 1846–1903] (St. Petersburg, Russia, Printing House of P. F. Panteleev, 1906), 394 pp.

3. L. P. Grossman, “A. G. Dostoevskaia i ee ‘Vospominaniia’” [A. G. Dostoevskaia and her “Reminiscences”], in Vospominaniia [Reminiscences], by A. G. Dostoevskaia, edited by L. P. Grossman (Moscow; Leningrad, Russia: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1925), 12.

4. S. V. Belov, Zhena pisatelia: Posledniaia liubov’ F. M. Dostoevskogo [The writer’s wife: the last love of Dostoyevsky] (Мoscow, Russia: Sovetskaia Rossiia, 1986), 190.

5. A. G. Dostoevskaia, “Vospominaniia, 1911–1916” [Reminiscences], collection 93, section 3, box 1, storage unit 1, 792 leaves, Nauchno-issledovatel’skii otdel rukopisei, Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka [Research Department of Manuscripts, Russian National Library].

6. A. G. Dostoevskaia, “Vospominaniia, 1911–1916,” leaves 783–784.

7. A. G. Dostoevskaia, “Vospominaniia, 1911–1916,” leaf 769.

8. A. G. Dostoevskaia, “Materialy, otnosiashchiesia k ustroistvu Muzeia imeni F. M. Dostoevskogo” [Materials related to the formation of the Dostoyevsky Memorial Museum], collection 93, section 3, box 5, storage unit 14, 69 leaves, Nauchno-issledovatel’skii otdel rukopisei, Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka [Research Department of Manuscripts, Russian National Library].

9. A. G. Dostoevskaia, “Katalog Muzeia F. M. Dostoevskogo v Moskve” [Catalog of the Dostoevsky Memorial Museum in Moscow], 1905–1906, collection 93, section 3, box 3, storage unit 3, leaf 88, Nauchno-issledovatel’skii otdel rukopisei, Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka [Research Department of Manuscripts, Russian National Library].

10. B. N. Tikhomirov, “Zagadka ischeznuvshikh rukopisei ‘Brat’ev Karamazovykh’: fakty i gipotezy [The mystery of the missing manuscripts of The Brothers Karamazov: facts and hypotheses], in Roman F. M. Dostoevskogo “Brat’ia Karamazovy”: sovremennoe sostoianie izucheniia [F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov: current status of research], ed. T. A. Kasatkina, 765–796 (Moscow, Russia: Nauka, 2007, http://dostoevskiy.niv.ru/dostoevskiy/kritika/sbornik-bratya-karamazovy/tihomirov-sankt-peterburg.htm.

11. V. P. Leonov, “O lichnosti i masterstve bibliografa” [About the personality and skill of the bibliographer], Mir bibliografii, 2008, no. 1: 2.

12. K. N. Derunov, “Zhiznennye zadachi bibliografii: Itogi i uroki proshlogo russkoi bibliografii za 200 let” [Life tasks of bibliography: results and lessons from Russian bibliography of the last 200 years], in Izbrannoe: Trudy po bibliotekovedeniiu i bibliografii [Selections: works on library science and bibliography] (Moscow, Russia: Kniga, 1972), 10–11.

13. A. G. Dostoevskaia, “Vospominaniia, 1911–1916,” leaf 784.

14. For those with access to Hathi Trust, there is an electronic version here: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x000902384;view=1up;seq=7

15. A. G. Dostoevskaia, “Vospominaniia, 1911–1916,” leaf 769.

16. E. V. Tarle to A. G. Dostoevskaia, collection 93, section 2, box 9, storage unit 42, leaf 15, Nauchno-issledovatel’skii otdel rukopisei, Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka [Research Department of Manuscripts, Russian National Library].

17. K. P. Pobedonostsev to A. G. Dostoevskaia, collection 93, section 2, box 7, storage unit 98, leaf 20, Nauchno-issledovatel’skii otdel rukopisei, Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka [Research Department of Manuscripts, Russian National Library].

18. S. N. Bulgakov to A. G. Dostoevskaia, collection 93, section 2, box 1, storage unit 120, leaf 17 recto and verso, Nauchno-issledovatel’skii otdel rukopisei, Rossiiskaia gosudarstvennaia biblioteka [Research Department of Manuscripts, Russian National Library].

19. L. P. Grossman, “Sputnitsa Dostoevskogo” [Dostoyevsky’s life companion], Teatral’noe obozrenie [Theatrical review], 1921, no. 5: 5.

20. A. G. Dostoevskaia, “Vospominaniia, 1911–1916,” leaves 785–786.

21. Horst-Jürgen Gerigk, “Nemetskoiazychnoe dostoevskovedenie mezhdu 1971 i 2011 godov: Obzor literaturnykh iavlenii” [German Dostoyevsky studies between 1971 and 2011: overview of literary phenomena], Dostoevskii: Materialy i issledovaniia. [Dostoyevsky: materials and research] 20 (2013):87, http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Fy6M5WVTXCQ%3d&tabid=10527

22. Dostoevsky Studies, vols. 1–9 (1980–1988) are available online from the University of Toronto: http://sites.utoronto.ca/tsq/DS/issues.shtml. See the website of the Dostoevsky Society, http://dostoevsky.org/English/publications.html, for information on how to obtain other volumes.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science under the program Novye istochnikovedcheskie i tekstologicheskie issledovaniia russkoi slovesnosti XIX-XX vekov [Innovative research on textual studies in 19th–20th centuries], no. 34.1126.