Society and Book Culture: Rare books go on display in Irkutsk to celebrate 170th anniversary of a Siberian patriot - Nikolai Yadrintsev

On March 22 2012 Molchanov-Sibirsky Irkutsk Regional Library, Historical and Cultural Heritage Department, opened a book exhibition “We’ve drained the cup…” in commemoration of 170th anniversary of an outstanding researcher of Siberia, public figure, publicist, scholar, writer, ethnographer and archaeologist Nikolai Yadrintsev (1842-1894).

Nikolai Yadrintsev had spent much of his time travelling to Siberia and Mongolia. The result of those travels was the publication of a new work entitled “Siberian non-Russians, their mode of life and the current state” (St. Petersburg, 1881), which is on show within the exhibit. The book contains ethnographic and statistical studies along with tables and it is imbued with a humane feeling toward native peoples of Siberia.

Of great cultural and historical value is a book authored by Nikolai Yadrintsev in German “Sibirien”, which came out in 1886 in Jena (Germany). It turns the reader’s attention to geography, ethnography and history of Siberia. The book is peculiar for keeping splendid prints of German etchers which show different peoples who had inhabited Siberia, its natural and architectural landscapes, as well as a skillful portrait of Nikolai Yadrintsev on the front page.