Рукописи и ксилографы на восточных языках в научной библиотеке им. М. Горького СПбГУ

Ŷ 11 Ŷ EDITOR’S PREFACE Ŷ Russia’s active foreign policy in Asia required both scholars and practical spe- cialists. The Oriental Department at St. Petersburg University was established in 1855 during the course of the Crimean War (the “Eastern War” as it was officially called). This timing testified to the increased position of Oriental studies on a na- tional scale. At that time the best scholars in Oriental studies — not only of the Russian capital but the whole country — came together in the Oriental Department. After being moved to St. Petersburg from Kazan the Library continued to be sup- plied with books in Asian languages including those which had not been studied at the University before. The breadth of the Library’s collection reflected the general scene of nineteenth century Russia’s foreign connections. For example, the collec- tion of books in the now almost defunct Manchu language was one of the largest while the first six books in Japanese were by chance received by the Library as recently as 1871. A highly tailored approach was not widespread in Russia’s pre-revolutionary Oriental studies. This can be explained by the fact that the object of study — being traditional Asian cultures —were, as a whole, multilingual. Every language occupied a certain place in the religious and social life and this fact was reflected by the tradi- tion of Asian book culture. Accordingly almost all Russian scholars collected books written in more than one Asian language. In the nineteenth century books in Asian languages were inventoried rather ac- curately. Even registers recording the transference of the books from Kazan Uni- versity to St. Petersburg University (with their prices given) have survived. There also exist detailed inventories dated 1892. Thus the origin of almost every manuscript or woodblock print which entered the St. Petersburg University Library can be traced. In the twentieth century the books suffered mostly from a devastating flood in 1924. While the important Russian scholar, V. P. Vassiliev, is widely regarded as having a skeptical outlook and as not being easily inclined to praise, in the mid-nineteenth century he spoke about the St. Petersburg University collections as “our marvelous library”. More recently, however, it has gradually lost its former fame and scholars’ interest. Consequently this book is addressed not only to scholars in Oriental studies around the world but also to amateur enthusiasts of Oriental culture. It is also di- rected to representatives of different peoples of Russia and the CIS with the aim of attracting their attention to this treasury of the spiritual force of the Orient captured on paper. This book is written by a group of scholars who, in a direct manner, study the book tradition of the Orient. The chapters of the book were written by: “Arabic manuscripts” by Milana Yu. Ilyushina; “Persian manuscripts” by Ekaterina I. Fein; “Turkic manuscripts” by Tursun I. Sultanov; “Chinese manuscripts and woodblock prints” by Vladimir L. Uspensky and Dmitrii I. Mayatskiy on the basis of an earlier published article by academician V. P. Vassiliev; “Japanese manuscripts and woodblock prints” by Maria V. Toropygina;