In 1937, one hundred years after the untimely death of Alexander Pushkin, the works of Russia's greatest poet were brought together in a single collection. Now, the collection numbers about 7,000 items.
They include editions printed in the poet's lifetime: Ruslan and Liudmila (1820), The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (1827) with four engravings by Stepan Galaktionov, the novel Eugene Onegin (published in installments 1825-32 and again in 1837 in a miniature edition produced at the print shop of the Department for the Production of State Papers) and Poltava. The publisher's dust-jacket still survives on this last work. On the front, set in a frame, are the words "Poltava, a poem by Alexander Pushkin, St Petersburg, 1829"; on the back the printer's vignette and the text "On sale at all bookshops here in St Petersburg for 10 roubles, with a further charge of 1 rouble if sent to other towns."
The Pushkin collection has many books with beautiful illustrations by well-known artists such as Alexander Benois (The Queen of Spades and The Bronze Horseman), Vladimir Favorsky (The House in Kolomna and Boris Godunov) and Nikolai Kuzmin (Eugene Onegin and Count Nulin).
Pushkin Collection in the Digital Library
Russian Books Collections
Russian Books. Brief Summary
Collections