Embedded Files
Bookplate Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
Provenance Note
This copy of Plauti Comoediae Viginti (Antwerp: Christophe Plantin, 1576) bears a distinctive printed ex libris associated with Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (1847–1909), son of Emperor Alexander II and a prominent member of the Romanov dynasty. The circular seal-like design incorporates his initials and title in Cyrillic: "В.К. ВЛАДИМИР АЛЕКСАНДРОВИЧ" (Velikii Kniaz' Vladimir Alexandrovich), and was used to mark volumes from his personal library.
Books from the Grand Duke’s collection were confiscated by Soviet authorities after the Russian Revolution and redistributed to state institutions. Many were subsequently classified as “duplicates” and sold abroad via state export agencies during the First Five-Year Plan (1928–1932), to acquire hard currency. This particular book was later part of the Slavyanka Factory Library, as evidenced by a Soviet-era ex libris stamped "ЗАВОДСКАЯ БИБЛИОТЕКА. СЛАВЯНКА. №34".
The volume thus illustrates a remarkable transnational trajectory—from Renaissance Antwerp, through imperial Russia and Soviet Ukraine, to a private collection in the Netherlands—bearing witness to shifting regimes of knowledge, ownership, and cultural value.
Google Sites
Report abuse