Peter P. Dubrovsky
| Peter P. Dubrovsky | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 9, 1754 Kiev, Russian Empire |
| Died | January 9, 1816 (aged 62) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
| Occupation | paleographer, diplomat |
| Known for | manuscript collector |
Peter Petrovich Dubrovsky Russian: Пётр Петрович Дубровский (born January 9 (?) 1754 in Kiev, died January 9, 1816 in Petersburg), was a Russian bibliophile, diplomat, paleographer, secretary of the Russian Embassy in France, collector of manuscripts and books. Throughout his life he collected about 2000 manuscripts. Between 1805 and 1812 he worked at the Imperial Public Library.
In 1772 Dubrovsky finished his studies at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv (Russian: Киево-Могилянская академия). In 1773 he served as a copyist in the Synod. Between 1780 and 1805 Dubrovsky worked in the Board of foreign affairs as a churchman at the Russian ambassadorial church in Paris and as a secretary-translator for embassies in France and Holland.
During the French Revolution he acquired manuscripts and documents, which were stolen from the public libraries in France. Most of them were stored at the Bastille, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and the monastic Library of Corbie Abbey. They were not safe because the Jacobin mobs plundered French cities.
In February 1800, Dubrovsky returned to Petersburg with a collection of 400 Western European medieval manuscripts, miniatures, and early books. Somehow he came into possession of 94 manuscripts from the East (in Greek, Persian, Arabian, Hebrew and 11 other languages), about 50 Slavic manuscripts. In England some proposals were made to Dubrovsky; he was offered a fabulous sum for his collection, but he flatly refused negotiations with foreigners, having declared that it was his sincere desire to transport the collection home.
In his collection there were also some runic books from the collection of Anne Queen of England (this collection has been lost). and the Saint Petersburg Bede, an Insular 8th-century manuscript of the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum of the English People written by Venerable Bede.
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