British Library Slavonic and East European Collections
The British Library
Slavonic and East European Section acquires material across
the spectrum of the humanities and social sciences. It is responsible
for obtaining and making available material published in the
countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and for material in
the languages of those countries published anywhere in the world.
This page provides an overview of the Ukrainian Collections,
illustrated by specific examples. |
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Copyright © 1997, The British
Library Board
Reproduced from Pateryk
(Kyievopecherska lavra, 1678)
[490.i.24]
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Contents
An overview of the Ukrainian
Collections | Catalogues, printed guides
and other resources | Ukrainian material
elsewhere in the British Library | Further
information
Collections
The exact size of the Ukrainian holdings is not known, since,
like other country/language holdings, they have no separate catalogue
and are dispersed within the rest of the collections. There are
approximately 15,600 titles in Ukrainian acquired since 1975.
In the following text, codes which appear in square brackets after
references (e.g. [C.109.t.4]) indicate British
Library shelfmarks.
Within the collection of Sir Joseph Banks, bequeathed to the British
Museum in 1810, is a book containing one of the earliest descriptions
of Ukraine: Description d'Ukrainie, qui sont plusieurs Prouinces
du Royaume de Pologne, contenues depuis les confins de la Moscouie,
iusques aux limites de la Transilvanie by la Sieur de Beauplan
(Rouen, Chez Iacques Cailloue, 1660) [980.f.6 and
also on microfilm: PBMICC 16511].
For the 16th and 17th centuries, the Library holds about a dozen
books printed in Ukraine, 6 printed in Kiev, 2 in Ostrog and 5 in
Lviv. They are mostly orthodox liturgical works and include two
copies of Ivan Fedorov's Ostrog/Ostrih Bible of 1581, one
of which, it is claimed by its donor Jerome Horsey, came from the
library of Ivan IV of Russia [G.12203]. Three of
the Lviv imprints were printed for the Assumption Brotherhood (later
the Stavropihiiske (Stauropigiana) Brotherhood). These include a
very fine Liturgical Gospels and Epistles printed in 1644
by Mikhailo Sliozka [C.109.t.4] and the Adelfotes
of 1591 [G.7469(2)], a manual of the "Greek-Slavonic"
language compiled by Arsenius, the first rector of the school of
the Assumption Brotherhood. Another educational work with Ukrainian
connections is the Leksikon Slavenorosky, printed in Kuteinsk
Monastery (Belarus) [628.d.2] in 1653, which was
compiled by Pamvo Berinda (Berynda) who also studied at the Brotherhood
School.
One of the most treasured works in the Ukrainian collections,
acquired in 1982, is Ivan Fedorov's Azbuka [C.104.dd.11(1)],
which was printed in Lviv in 1574. This was the first printed and
dated East Slavonic primer. Although it is a primer of the Church
Slavonic language, its imprint leaves no doubt as to the influence
of the Ukrainian language. The words used for "printed" and "year"
of publication are "vydrukovano" and "roku". This is an extremely
rare work - there is only one other recorded copy in the world which
is at Harvard University Library.
For the 18th century, the Library holds 20 works printed in Ukraine,
all liturgical, mainly from the Kievo-Pecherskaia Lavra. These are
all listed in professor Drage's catalogue Russian and Church
Slavonic books 1701-1800 in United Kingdom Libraries.
The Ukrainian Collections are strong in literary and linguistic
works by Ukrainian writers of the second half of the 19th century
including items such as the first edition of Kobzar by
Taras Shevchenko (St. Petersburg, 1840) [C.121.a.20].
Important material on the history of Ukraine and Crimea is covered
by a number of significant 19th-century works, including Arkhiv
IUgo-Zapadnoi Rossii [Ac.7870/3], published
by the Vremennaia Komissia dlia Razbora Drevnikh Aktov (1859-1911).
The collections contain good runs of 19th-century periodicals, notably
Kievskaia starina (1882-1906) [Cup.900.m.20]
and Hromada (published by Mykhailo Drahomanov in Geneva
from 1878) [P.P.3554.eia].
The collection is particularly rich in Ukrainian books published
at the turn of the century and in the first three decades of the
20th century, both inside and outside Ukraine.The British Library
holds complete runs of periodical publications from the Naukove
tovarystvo im. T. Shevchenka (Societas Scientarum Sevcenkiana);
Zapysky from 1892 onwards [Ac.762/11], Pamiatky
ukrains'ko-rus'koi movy i literatury from 1898-1930 (Ac.762),
and Literaturno-naukovyi vistnyk from 1898-1932 [Ac.762/4].
A noteworthy item held by the Library is the first Ukrainian edition
of George Orwell's Animal farm (with a preface written
specially for the Ukrainian edition by the author): George Orwell,
Kolhosp tvaryn, (translated by Ivan Cherniatyns'kyi), ([Germany,
American zone]: Prometei, [1947]) [12593.f.40].
Ukrainian émigré literature and political works have been acquired
wherever possible. Items such as Arka, an émigré literary
and art periodical published in Munich were acquired by the Library
(all issues for 1947-48) [P.P.4842.dnr]. Ukrainian
material published in the United Kingdom has been received on legal
deposit under the Copyright Act.
In the last three decades Ukrainian books, periodicals and newspapers
have been acquired systematically. The Library's intake has increased
steadily since the 1960s, when exchanges were established with Ukrainian
libraries.
Catalogues, printed guides and other
resources
Ukrainian material is listed in the printed volumes of the British
Library Retrospective Catalogue (for material acquired and catalogued
before 1975) and the Integrated Catalogue, which is accessible via the internet).
Pre-1975 material is in Cyrillic (with headings in transliteration),
however entries for post-1975 acquisitions are transliterated (for
detailed information on searching and transliteration, please see
our page Searching for Cyrillic items in
the catalogues of the British Library: guidelines and transliteration
tables).
Please note the following: in the British Library Retrospective
Catalogue, material published in Lviv is listed under the heading
Leopol; material from the important Ukrainian institution
of Stavropihiiske Bratstvo is listed under the heading Confraternitas
Stauropigiana; material from the Naukove tovarystvo im. T.
Shevchenka is listed under Societas Scientarum Sevcenkiana.
- A printed Guide to Ukrainian reference sources in the British
Library is available on request from the Curator
of Ukrainian Collections
- Olga Kerziouk, Ucrainica in the British Library: a preliminary
study (in: IV Mizhnarodnyi Konhres Ukraïnistiv, Literaturoznavstvo,
kn.2, Kyïv: Oberehy, 2000)
- Church Slavonic entries from the British Library General
Catalogue, [prepared by Brad Sabin Hill] (London: The British
Library, 1992) [2725.g.1675]
- C.L. Drage, Russian and Church Slavonic books 1701-1800
in United Kingdom libraries (London, 1984) [RAR094.30947]
and [2725.g.307] - Lists all 18th century holdings,
except for recent acquisitions
- Cyrillic books printed before 1701 in British and Irish
collections: a union catalogue. Compiled by R. Cleminson,
C. Thomas, D. Radoslavova, A. Voznesenskii (London: The British
Library, 2000) [HLR011.440947]
- Bibliotechnyi visnyk, issue 4/2001 - special issue
dedicated to the history and activities of the British Library
(Kyiv: Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine) [2719.k.1994]
- Integrated Catalogue
- Union
List of Slavonic and East European newspapers in British Libraries
- Ukrainian periodicals in the British
Library
- Ukrainian internet resources
- Jews in Ukraine: a select
bibliography of works in the British Library
- EastView: Russian/NIS Universal
Databases: Ukrainian periodicals (searchable database of newspapers
and magazines. Includes the Ukrainian Book Chamber's editions,
which list everything published in Ukraine with detailed bibliographic
description. Subscription service, "IP-Address Access" available
at the internet terminals in the British Library's Humanities
Reading Room, Business & IP Centre - Floor 2 Reading Room, the Newspaper
Reading Rooms in Colindale, as well as the Document
Supply Reading Room in Boston Spa)
Ukrainian material available elsewhere
in the British Library
Further information
Olga Kerziouk (Curator of Ukrainian
Collections)
Slavonic and East European Collections
The British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
United Kingdom
e-mail: slavonic@bl.uk
