Personal Library Research Articles

AN UNKNOWN HISTORY OF PORTUGAL (c 1570) IN WILLIAM CECIL’S LIBRARY: COMMISSIONING AND WRITING HISTORY DURING THE ELIZABETHAN ERA

The Society of Antiquaries of London holds, under ms 86, an unconventional manuscript described in its catalogue as ‘brief notes on the Kings of Portugal’. The manuscript is in a mid-sixteenth-century hand and has personal annotations by William Cecil (1520–98), better known as Lord Burghley. It recounts the history of Portugal by reigns and belonged to Cecil’s personal library. Until now, no other extant example of a history of Portugal written in English in the sixteenth century was known. This article publishes the first transcription of this unique document, while analysing its contents and explaining its importance. The first section will discuss the history of the manuscript itself, explaining its owners, its likely date of composition and the problems relating to authorship. The second part will deal with the raft of reasons why we believe William Cecil ordered its composition. The third section will detail the major contents of the manuscript, discussing its most interesting details. Finally, the conclusion will reflect on why this manuscript is important for British history.

Theories and models on the mode of action of homeopathic remedies

Background: As of today, no systematic review of published theoretical approaches to understand the mode of action of homeopathic remedies has been presented. References to possible theoretical models, therefore, remain speculative and arbitrary. The need to accelerate theory building for scientific and political reasons is widely recognized. Methods: Following scientific standards, we searched Medline, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, PhilPapers, the Gemeinsamer Verbundkatalog (GVK), swisscovery, CAMBase, several webOPACs (University Witten/Herdecke, IGM Bosch Stiftung, HBH, EBH) and personal libraries of the authors for original studies. All identified references were screened in duplicate, and eligibility was determined according to pre-set criteria. The references included have undergone systematic data extraction and bibliographic examination. The findings will be presented in two parts: the first providing a quantitative overview, and the second offering a qualitative evaluation. The manuscript for the quantitative analysis and bibliographic examination is currently being prepared and expected to be published in the coming months. This phase identifies theories and models on the mode of action of homeopathic remedies across various disciplines. A deeper qualitative analysis will follow in a subsequent publication. Results: Database searches resulted in several thousand unique references, of which less than 2000 were found eligible for title and abstract screening. Full-text analysis was performed on 495 publications, of which 217 were included. Besides bibliographical data, we extracted the scientific frameworks within which the theories are embedded and the aspects of homeopathy they aim to explain. Specific trends and connections could be identified. Conclusions: This systematic literature review provides a thorough overview of theories and models on the mode of action of homeopathic preparations discussed in scientific literature over the past 200 years. These findings will guide future theory building and development, identifying trends and connections within the existing body of knowledge.

Smuggling, stealing, selling, shooting and safe-guarding a Huguenot library in Dublin, 1707–2024

This article examines the important personal library of the Huguenot refugee Élie Bouhéreau (1643–1719). The collection entered Marsh’s Library in Dublin in 1707 and remains in the Reading Room in which it was originally placed. Visitors to Marsh’s Library have often been told that the collection survives intact in its original form on the shelves. However, around 10 per cent of the initial donation of 2,057 volumes has been lost through theft, war damage, and a sale of ‘duplicates’ in 1833. This article discusses what is missing from Bouhéreau’s library and what these lost items tell us about the nature and scope of the original collection. It concludes with a discussion of the most pressing current threat to these books: climate change.

BOOK REVIEW: Unpacking the Personal Library: The Public and Private Life of Books

Jason Camlot and J. A. Weingarten, eds., Unpacking the Personal Library: The Public and Private Life of Books, Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2022, 288 p., $89.99 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1771125680

My Own Private Library: A Peek Inside the Personal Library of a Librarian

My Own Private Library: A Peek Inside the Personal Library of a Librarian

Development of a Hyperspectral Imaging Protocol for Painting Applications at the University of Seville

In the last decade, the hyperspectral imaging (HSI) method allowed performing non-invasive analysis in the field of cultural heritage. However, a considerable limitation was given by redundant and time-consuming features, with the necessary application of statistical algorithms and image-processing tools to extract relevant information. In this study, the Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (CNA) and the Group of Interdisciplinary Physics (GFI) of the School of Engineering (ETSI) of the University of Seville tested the application of three different hyperspectral cameras in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR) range for the investigation of an ancient painting. A reference-based procedure was realised to build a starting personal library and to evaluate the best working conditions for non-invasive and non-destructive characterisation with data treatment using the commercially available software Evince® and Specim IQ® to apply, respectively, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) model functions and the classification method. The evaluation of the protocol was tested by acquiring complementary information by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Ultraviolet Luminescence (UVL) imaging, and Infrared Reflectography (IRR). This exploration established a simplified protocol to analyse the large collection of paintings of the Archbishop’s Palace and the Cathedral of Seville.

Samuel Wiener’s “Book” Letters to Baron D.G. Günzburg

The article is a publication of two letters from Samuel Wiener, a librarian of the Asian Museum in St. Petersburg in the late 19th century, to the baron David Goratsievich Günzburg, a collector and Orientalist of Jewish origin. The letters were written in Hebrew in 1897–98 and are housed in the Günzburg’s archive at the National Library of Russia. Through the commented translation of the letters into Russian, the article analyzes the subject matter and the level of interaction of Jewish intellectuals in that time: renowned scholars are mentioned (C. Salemann, D. Chwolson, O. Lemm, etc.), books purchased by the baron, in Hebrew and other languages, a problem of delivering these books to St. Petersburg is highlighted. In addition, the letters turn out to be a vivid example of relationship between the scholars, as well as a source of information on the acquisition of personal libraries in the Russian Empire: S. Wiener described in detail what the collectors were “hunting” for and how they competed with each other.

Identification of organic contaminants in water and related matrices using untargeted liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry screening with MS/MS libraries

Nontargeted and suspect screening with liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) has become an indispensable tool for quality assessment in the aquatic environment – complementary to targeted analysis of organic (micro)contaminants. An LC-HRMS method is presented, suitable for the analysis of a wide variety of water related matrices: surface water, groundwater, wastewater, sediment and sludge, including extracts from passive samplers and on-site solid phase enrichment, while focusing on the data processing aspect of the method. A field study is included to demonstrate the practical application and versatility of the whole process. HRMS/MS data were recorded following LC separation in both (ESI) positive and negative ionization modes using data dependent as well as data independent acquisition. Two vendor (Agilent's Personal Compound Database and Library and from National Institute of Standards and Technology) and one open (MassBank/EU) tandem mass spectral libraries were utilized for the identification of compounds via mass spectral match. The development of a novel software tool for parsing, grouping and reduction of MS/MS features in data files converted to mascot generic format (MGF) helped to substantially decrease the amount of time and effort needed for MS library search. While applying the method, in the course of the entire field study, 18771 detections (from 870 individual compounds) in total were recorded in 275 samples, resulting in 68.3 identified compounds per sample, on average. Among the top ten most frequently detected contaminants across all samples and sample types were pharmaceutical compounds carbamazepine, 4-acetamidoantipyrine, 4-formylaminoantipyrine, tramadol, lamotrigine and phenazone and industrial contaminants toluene-2-sulfonamide, tolytriazole, tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate and benzotriazole. Exploratory data analysis methods and tools enabled us to discover organic pollutant occurrence patterns within the comprehensive sets of qualitative data collected from various projects between the years 2018–2023. The results may be used as valuable inputs for future water quality monitoring programs.

Ownership Book Inserts in the Personal Library System of E. S. Shurygin, Intellectual of the Sixties

Ownership Book Inserts in the Personal Library System of E. S. Shurygin, Intellectual of the Sixties

Circulation of books, manuscripts, and ideas between Hungary and Italy. Cultural transfers in the environment of György Klimo, Bishop of Pécs (1751-1777)

The period between 1750 and 1800 witnessed a significant transformation in the modernization of Hungarian culture and literature. The members of the ecclesiastical elite, who had completed their studies at the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum in Rome, played a pivotal role in this process; they emerged as key figures in the Catholic renewal upon their return to Hungary following their studies in Rome. Their contributions extended beyond the revitalization of the Hungarian Catholic Church and religious life, encompassing the reconstruction of bishoprics, the establishment of educational institutions and libraries, and the publication and dissemination of both religious and secular literary works. This dissemination of knowledge was also closely intertwined with the influential court in Vienna. On the one hand, the rich heritage of ancient Rome played a crucial role in reshaping the baroque tradition. High-ranking clerics began to take a keen interest in the historical context of their immediate surroundings, initiating local excavations and conducting research in the Vatican Archives. On the other hand, they were greatly influenced by the vibrant culture of contemporary Rome, including Catholic reform efforts, the patronage of the Roman aristocracy, and the volumes of recent Italian literature. This paper explores the cultural influence of Bishop György Klimo of Pécs through an analysis of his correspondence with members of the ecclesiastical aristocracy in Rome and Vienna. Notably, Klimo made significant contributions to the spreading of Ludovico Antonio Muratori’s ideas in Hungary. He also played a pioneering role in disseminating knowledge by being the first among his contemporaries to open his personal library to the public. Furthermore, he commissioned research at the Vatican to compile a comprehensive history of his diocese. By examining Klimo’s endeavors, we gain valuable insights into the transformative influence of Roman culture on the Baroque tradition in Hungary. Moreover, the analysis sheds light on the distinct and organic development of the Italian line within Hungarian culture.

The Personal Library of Nil Sergeevich Lykoshin (1860–1922), the Military Governor of Samarkand Region

The article deals with little-studied issues related to the formation and existence of Russian personal libraries in Turkestan region from the final third of the 19th to the early of 20th century. Its purpose is to identify the main characteristic features of the “Russian personal libraries” of the Turkestan region on the example of N.S. Lykoshin’s personal library. The main research methods are that of historical and book analysis and the modeling. The relevance of the study is due to the urgent need to fill the historiographical gap in the study of Russian personal libraries of the Turkestan region during the period under study. The article presents the biography of N.S. Lykoshin, as well as the history of formation, thematic content and the degree of study of his book collection. This practically unexplored aspect of Russian book culture is considered in a biographical context in order to determine how the range of interests of the owner influenced the main motives of book collecting and the thematic composition of the N.S. Lykoshin book collection. The paper draws conclusions about the importance of N.S. Lykoshin’s personal library as a valuable historical and cultural source for the study of Russian book culture in the region. It has the definite characteristic features peculiar to the Russian personal libraries of the Turkestan region: typology, thematic and specific composition of documents, features of the of publication design, etc.

The books of V. Biržiška library at the library of the Kaunas A. Sniečkus politechnic institute

Vaclovas Biržiška (1884-1956) is a famous Lithuanian bibliographer and researcher of the press. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the collection of books from Biržiška's personal library is given in the article. There are 1,480 publications in this collection. 1,072 books are intended for personal purposes. There are books on bibliography, history, pedagogy, and natural science. The collection also includes fiction by Lithuanian, Russian, Western European, American, and Scandinavian writers. The collection is divided into four parts according to language: Lithuanian (495 copies), Russian (520 copies), Polish (304 copies), and other foreign languages (161 copies). The books are marked by Biržiška's personal ex-libris, designed by P. Galaunė and V. Kosciuška.

Pavel Petrovich Shibanov as a Supplier of Books for the Libraries of the Imperial Family (Late 19th — Early 20th Century)

On the basis of letters from the collection No. 342 of the Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library (RSL) the co-operation of the famous Russian antiquarian book dealer of the late 19th — early 20th century P.P. Shibanov with the members of the House of Romanov in the field of formation of their personal libraries is studied. The study was carried out with the aim of obtaining reliable information about the editions offered to complete the personal libraries of the Imperial House. On the basis of previously unexplored sources the assortment of P.P. Shibanov’s booksellers, presented for purchase to the members of the Imperial Family, is revealed. The letters from the Shibanov collection of the RSL were received by the bookseller from high-ranking officials of the courts of the grand dukes and grand duchesses, and in some cases directly from members of the dynasty. The material gives an idea of the spheres of intellectual predilections of the Romanovs, of their interest in rare and ancient editions, among which were books of the 17th—18th centuries. The prices for books indicated in the letters are of no small importance. Among the information about the booksellers’ assortment offered to the Romanovs we should mention the books that for one reason or another did not interest the members of the dynasty during the preliminary acquaintance and were returned to the bookseller.In the course of the research, the drafts of P.P. Shibanov’s letters to the Moscow Governor-General, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, were revealed, and the exchange of telegrams with the Pushkin enthusiast, Prince Oleg Konstantinovich of Imperial Blood, was analyzed.Most of the letters were received from the court offices of the Grand Dukes Nikolai Mikhailovich (a famous historian), Konstantin Konstantinovich and Pyotr Nikolayevich (through the court office of the latter the sending of books to his wife, Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaevna, for familiarization was discussed).The letters we have identified cover mainly the late 1890s — early 1900s; the latest are a telegram from Prince Oleg Konstantinovich of Imperial Blood, received by P.P. Shibanov in 1913, and a letter from the court office of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich in 1915.The studied letters reveal the book assortment offered by P.P. Shibanov to the members of the Imperial Family and the book preferences of the Romanovs, but do not indicate whether these books were purchased by them.

The personal library of the poet Jovaras

The personal library of the poet Jovaras

Targeted screening and profiling of massive components of colistimethate sodium by two-dimensional-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based on self-constructed compound database

In-depth study of the components of polymyxins is the key to controlling the quality of this class of antibiotics. Similarities and variations of components present significant analytical challenges. A two-dimensional (2D) liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric (LC-MS) method was established for screening and comprehensive profiling of compositions of the antibiotic colistimethate sodium (CMS). A high concentration of phosphate buffer mobile phase was used in the first-dimensional LC system to get the components well separated. For efficient and high-accuracy screening of CMS, a targeted method based on a self-constructed high resolution mass spectrum database of CMS components was established. The database was built based on the commercial MassHunter Personal Compound Database and Library (PCDL) software and its accuracy of the compound matching result was verified with 6 known components before being applied to genuine sample screening. On this basis, the unknown peaks in the CMS chromatograms were deduced and assigned. The molecular formula, group composition and origins of a total of 99 compounds, of which the combined area percentage accounted for more than 95% of CMS components, were deduced by this 2D-LC-MS method combined with the MassHunter PCDL. This profiling method was highly efficient and could distinguish hundreds of components within 3 h, providing reliable results for quality control of this kind of complex drugs.

Implementation of Blockchain Technology in UKTS Library: Challenges, Obstacles and Opportunities

Blockchain is a technology based on cryptography which uses the principle of distributed ledgers (distributed ledgers) distribution) provides a variety of advantages, especially in security matters. Use of distributed ledgers as the basis of blockchain technology turns out to be very similar to that concept is very familiar among libraries, namely LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Save). This is the meeting point between blockchain technology and libraries. Starting from here, possibilities open up for libraries to implement blockchain technology. Various potential applications of blockchain technology for libraries include: procurement and maintenance of library materials, innovation in circulation services, cataloging, guaranteed protection of personal data and library membership cards, e-book publishing, support for scientific publications and digital rights management, management special collections, research support, financial literacy and UKTS library analysis. However, on the other hand, there are also challenges and obstacles that accompany efforts to implement blockchain technology in UKTS libraries, including: limited knowledge of blockchain technology, challenges in being able to choose the right blockchain, the large costs that must be incurred by libraries starting from implementation costs, maintenance costs to the costs of developing the blockchain system itself, and the last and quite sensitive issue is that there are still some people in scientific circles who think that the issue of personal data security in the blockchain system is not completely safe.

Melzer and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Anna Seghers’s GDR novel Die Entscheidung (1959)

Abstract This article is about German-Jewish author Anna Seghers (1900–1983), who spent half of her productive life in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Though Seghers is known for her works from the 1930s and 1940s such as The Seventh Cross (1942), about a prisoner who escapes from a concentration camp, little has been published about her writings under communism, after she returned from fourteen years of exile, having survived National Socialism while active in the resistance. Her mother and aunt were murdered in the Shoah, and Seghers ostensibly discontinued addressing the National Socialist German past once the GDR was founded (in 1949). However, as this article demonstrates, her ‘socialist realist’ novel, Die Entscheidung (1959), complicates this seeming erasure of Seghers's Jewish identity, which can be seen not only in response to the increasing antisemitism in eastern Europe during the Cold War, but also attests to her actual and continuous—albeit ‘hidden’—engagement with the Jewish culture and history of her childhood and youth. Through the autobiographical character Herbert Melzer, it becomes possible to identify secret references and allusions to the Dead Sea Scrolls, first discovered in Qumran in 1947–1953—the same time at which Seghers set the novel. While she was confronted with surveillance, travel restrictions, and censorship, Seghers maintained her own personal exploration of Judaica, as evidenced by her published letters and the contents of her personal library (now the Anna Seghers Archive). This article argues that Seghers persisted in retaining and expressing her original Jewish self-identification through fiction, even in this, her seemingly most ‘socialist realist’ novel.

Personal Libraries in Russia: Research Results

The study of personal libraries is important for understanding socio-cultural processes that cannot be assessed by examining other historical events, phenomena and facts. The article deals with the monograph by O.N. Ilyina “Personal Libraries in Russia: Terminology and Historiography” (St. Petersburg, 2022), published in the series “The Book in Russia in the 19th — early 20th Century” by the Russian National Library and the winner of the All-Russian competition of scientific works on library science, bibliography and book studies in the nomination “The best scientific work in the field of library science” in 2023. The structure of the historical and book studies edition, the content of the chapters and the peculiarities of the author’s approach to the coverage of historiography, as well as the stages of the formation of terminology for the study of personal libraries in the domestic humanitarian knowledge in the second half of the 18th — early 21st century are characterized. The emphasis is made on the artificiality of the division of periods in the study of personal libraries in 1917, noted by O.N. Ilyina, because up to the end of the 1920s, book historians, whose professional career began before the October events of 1917, continued to carry out active research activities. This idea is confirmed by contemporary works devoted to the life and work of book historians and bibliographers born in the second half of the 19th century. Special attention is paid to the terminology for describing the history of book collections as a whole (and the collections within them), as well as book marks and marginalia in individual copies. A number of remarks on the design of the reference apparatus of the edition and the rubrication of the text are made, which, however, do not prevent interested readers. The quality, relevance and scientific novelty of the monograph are noted.

УЧИТЕЛЬСТВО КАК ЦЕННОСТЬ: НЕ РАСТЕРЯТЬ ДОВЕРИЕ (О ПРЕПОДАВАНИИ РУССКОГО ЯЗЫКА)

The article proposes to consider moral qualifications in the context of the teaching profession, as this profession perfectly illustrates an example of the highest moral integrity and professionalism. The teacher profession, especially a teacher of Russian language and literature, requires not only formal skills and teaching responsibilities, but it is also necessary to possess a set of moral qualities. Illustrative materials include data from a comprehensive survey conducted among students of general secondary education institutions in the Republic of Belarus, ranking their interest in Russian language lessons at school. The concept of “moral qualifications” of a teacher is introduced, along with one form of work involving the labeling and description of the values of teaching in the literary club “Value Stories of Teaching”. This club offers thematic fields for discussing works about teachers, childhood/youth, and school. The main goal of this work is to create a personal value library of peace, conscience, and kindness.

Archival documents as a source of bibliographic reconstruction of Orenburg Theological Seminary Library

The author describes the bibliographic reconstruction of the library collection of Orenburg Theological Seminary suppressed in 1919 after the October Revolution. The problems of library collection reconstruction has been studied since the early 20-th century; however, with mainly the personal libraries of individual historical figures or families in the focus. Many methods of reconstruction have been developed. Their analysis examination demonstrates that the reconstruction in these cases is based on continuous looking through the collection in search of bookplates (ex libris), covers, book marks or other tags, or on searching and examining old inventories, library syllabi, and catalogs. However, when the major part of the collection is not preserved within other institutions, and the catalogs, syllabi and inventories do not exist anymore, these methods do not work. To reconstruct the library collection of Orenburg Theological Seminary with the lion’s share lost, the archival documents became almost exclusively the source of information on the library collection, namely teaching and educational reports, administration’s logbooks, bills, etc.