Senn, Alfred Erich

Nicholas Rubakin: A Life for Books

Newtonville: Oriental Research Partners, 1977.

Item #34922

Hardcover, Dust Jacket, 79 pp.

Nicholas A. Rubakin, the noted bibliographer and popular writer, was born on July 1, 1862, in Oranienbaum, Russia, and he died on November 23, 1946, in Lausanne, Switzerland. His father, Alexander Yosifovich Rubakin, came from a long line of Old Believer merchants, who had originated in Pskov. His mother, Lidya Terentievna, nee Tikhonov, also came from a merchant family of Old Believers.
Alexander Yosifovich wanted both his sons, Nicholas and Michael, to become merchants, but Lidya Terentievna insisted on their higher education. Michael eventually became a factory inspector and, much in contrast to Nicholas, a bon vivant. Nicholas, on the other hand, inherited his mother's love of books, and he chose to make books his life.
Nicholas Rubakin liked to refer to himself as a skromnyi knizhnyi cherviak, a humble book worm, but he came further into the world than such a modest sobriquet would indicate. For him, books and people were inseparable.

Price: $25.00