The Year of Literature in Russia-2015: The exhibition “West European picture book of the XVII-XIX centuries from the collection of the Scientific Library of the Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum”

From May 22, 2015 in the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum on the Upper Volga embankment is opened an exhibition of rare and valuable books from the Western Foundation of the museum library.

The exhibition is timed to the Year of Literature in Russia. The delegation included about 20 monuments of printing and graphic arts; some of them, such as rare prints from the album "The Art Gallery of Turin" of the XIX century are represented in the museum exhibition for the first time.

The exhibition includes such interesting editions of the early XVIII century as two volumes of the Bible, released in 1712, by known South German publisher Christopher Weigel (1654-1725). These books, equipped with numerous engravings, show the direction characteristic of European book art in modern times.

The exhibits include remarkable examples of French art book. The exhibited publications clearly demonstrate the success of the French school of book design, which in the XVII-XIX centuries has been a leading in Europe.

Many publications, offered to the audience, come from noble library collections, were in the family estate, in particular, of the renowned names Sheremetev - Castle Yurino on the Volga. Books from the Sheremetev Library show cultural preferences, tastes and aspirations of the Russian nobility in the XVIII-XIX centuries.

The composition of the library collection of valuable museum also includes books from the collection of "Nizhny Novgorod Count Arakcheev Cadet Corps", which in 1917 was stationed in Yurino. A rich library of this institution included a lot of reference books, encyclopedias and specialized dictionaries. Some of them can be seen at the exhibition.