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Simeon J. Bolan

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Simeon Joachimovich Bolan (April 23, 1896- February 16, 1972) was a Russian-born book dealer in New York, specializing in Russian-language books.

Biography

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Bolan was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States around 1915, where he became a naturalized citizen.[1] He began his career as a book dealer in 1926, buying books from individual book dealers as well as Russian organizations like Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga (International Book) and Amtorg.[2] He established a relationship with Harvard University, selling 8000 books to their library between 1928 and 1938.[2]

Bolan and the book dealer Israel Perlstein were the two main suppliers of Russian books to the Library of Congress from the late 1920s to the 1930s.[3] Bolan's sales to the Library were primarily illustrative materials ("chertezhi i risunki"), from imperial collections.[4] While working for Perlstein in 1941, Bolan sold 10,000 books to the collector Paul M. Fekula.[5] He also was the main supplier of Russian books to the collector Bayard L. Kilgour Jr., whose collection was later donated to the Houghton Library at Harvard.[6]

Around 1946, he worked as an employee of H.P. Kraus, producing catalogs of Russian books at Kraus’ office on 16 East 46th St.[7] Bolan was the subject of an FBI investigation in 1957, following his request to visit the Soviet Union.[2] Following his retirement from the rare book trade, he joined Columbia University Libraries in October 1947 as Russian Bibliographer and Searcher. He later served as the first Slavic and Eastern European Librarian at the University until 1956.[8] At Columbia, Bolan traded materials with a Russian library, exchanging four letters by Lenin, as well as papers by Maxim Gorky, in exchange for 15,000 Russian-language periodicals.[9] Grigory Aleksinsky claimed that Bolan attempted to purchase some of Lenin's papers in Aleksinsky's possession for $20,000.[10] Around 1956, Bolan returned to the book dealing business, establishing the Slavia Book Company at 115 University Place.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Karlowich, Robert A. (1986). "The Russian Book Trade in the United States". In Choldin, Marianna Tax (ed.). Books, Libraries and Information in Slavic and East European Studies: Proceedings of the Second International Conference of Slavic Librarians and Information Specialists. Russica Publishers. p. 72. ISBN 9780898301076.
  2. ^ a b c Tarsis, Irina (2007). "Cultural Record Keepers: Simeon J. Bolan, Dealer in Russian Books". Libraries & the Cultural Record. 42 (2): 192–95. doi:10.1353/lac.2007.0017. ISSN 2166-3033 – via Project MUSE.
  3. ^ Leich, Harold M. (2011). "Librarians of Congress and the Russian Collections of the Library from the 19th Century to the Present Day". Solanus. 22: 148.
  4. ^ Leich, Harold M. (2009). "'The Czar's Library': Books from Russian Imperial Palaces at the Library of Congress". In Odom, Anne (ed.). Treasures into Tractors: the Selling of Russia's Cultural Heritage, 1918-1938. Washington D.C.: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. p. 345.
  5. ^ Semyonova, Natalya; Iljine, Nicolas V., eds. (2013). Selling Russia's treasures : the Soviet trade in nationalized art, 1917-1938. Abbeville Press. p. 250. ISBN 9780789211545.
  6. ^ Stoddard, Roger E. (2002). A Library-Keeper's Business. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press. p. 330. ISBN 1584560738.
  7. ^ Kasinec, Edward (2006). "Russian Imperial and Elite Provenance Books: Their Afterlife in Post World War II New York". Solanus. 20: 38.
  8. ^ Davis, Robert H. (2022-04-03). "The Allworths and Central Asian Library Resources at Columbia and Beyond: A Note". Slavic & East European Information Resources. 23 (1–2): 228–239. doi:10.1080/15228886.2021.1985715. ISSN 1522-8886.
  9. ^ "COLUMBIA MAKES SOVIET BOOK DEAL: University Gives Up Lenin Letters in Return for Rare Bibliographical Items Basis for Exchange Other Articles Listed 15,000 Items Involved". The New York Times. June 7, 1956. p. 9.
  10. ^ Grimsted, Patricia Kennedy (2003). "Russian Attitudes Towards Archival Rossica Abroad: Cultural Reintegration or Political Agenda?". In Chebotarev, Tanya; Ingersoll, Jared S. (eds.). Russian and East European books and manuscripts in the United States : Proceedings of a conference in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Bakhmeteff Archive of Russian and East European History and Culture. The Haworth Information Press. p. 112. ISBN 0789024047.
  11. ^ "Personnel". College and Research Libraries. 17 (6): 513. November 1956.
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