The Romanovs: Their Empire, Their Books.
The Political, Religious, Cultural, and Social Life of Russia's Imperial House

Case 9:
Sellers, Salesmen, and Buyers

How did these books end up in America? By the time of the October Revolution of 1917, the wealth of the Romanov dynasty and imperial elite was staggering, making the Russian court's rulers and grandees among the most splendid in all of Europe. In the two decades after the Revolution, however, various Soviet ministries and agencies first confiscated much of this wealth, and then sold portions of it abroad to Western collections and collectors at auction, and through a number of art dealers, antiquarians, businessmen, and librarians. The beautiful icons, furniture, decorative arts, books, manuscripts, and photographs found receptive buyers among both Western European and American museum and library collections. These Soviet government-sponsored sales provided an additional and much-needed source of foreign (hard) currency during a period of economic and political isolation and rapid industrialization during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Next Section: Case 10: Western Perspectives