Hugo Šojaus asmeninės bibliotekos knygos Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių bibliotekoje

Abstract

Hugo Scheu (1845–1937), a cultural activist and the owner of an estate in Heydekrug (now Šilutė), gathered copious art collections, was interested in Lithuanian studies and had a valuable personal library. However, his valuable collections of artworks and publications in Lithuanian studies were scattered after the storms of World War II – some were destroyed, others found their way into memory institutions. There is still a dearth of comprehensive research for a reconstruction of Scheu’s personal library. There are no special historiographic works concerning its history. Furthermore, there is not enough information to fully envisage this once valuable library or to figure out how and when its books came to the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Some of the books formerly owned by Hugo Scheu were distributed among institutions, others dispersed or destroyed. It is presently known that eighteen publications previously owned by Scheu are held in the Šilutė Museum, one in the Šiauliai County Povilas Višinskis Library, others in the Wroblewski Library. The present article aims to analyze Sheu’s books now kept in the Wroblewski Library based on press publications related to the landowner’s library. The article for the first time describes the heritage of Hugo Sheu’s personal library kept in the Wroblewski Library. At least fifteen publications previously owned by Sheu were identified in the course of the research. All of them have ownership marks (stamps). De visu examination of Sheu’s publications kept in the Wroblewski Library revealed that the landowner had five different types of ownership-confirming stamps. The personal library of Hugo Sheu is established to have been diverse in subjects – it included publications in ethnography, history, natural sciences and other disciplines. Keywords: Hugo Sheu; personal library; bibliophilic heritage; history of personal libraries; book culture; Lithuanian studies; Lithuania Minor; Šilutė; The Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.