The Tashkend public library we visited on a subsequent
day. It was established under the auspices of
von Kaufmann, Governor-General of Turkistan, and
consists of 5,381 works in 9,734 volumes, and in
languages predominating in the following order :—
Russian, 2,695 works; French, 1,444; German, 850;
English, Latin, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, etc., 392.
The magnum opus of the library, however, consists of
a collection of information relating to Central Asia
generally and to the Turkistan district in particular.
I was told that almost everything that had been
published since 1867 on Central Asia, such as articles
in papers and journals, and likewise every pamphlet
and book, had here been gathered by the bibliographer
Mejoff, and placed in chronological order
in large volumes, now upwards of 300 in number, in
uniform binding— an excellent work, truly, and one
for which I, who have searched the London libraries
through in making a similar list, ought of all men
to be thankful. And so I am ; though I doubt the
absolute completeness of MejofFs work, for I have
found some publications other than Russian in the
languages of Western Europe that are not in his list.
I, however, think that his great work and my own little
bibliography combined must approach very near completeness,
as regards books published on Central Asia.
There is just one peculiarity in the work of my
distinguished co-labourer, to which I cannot resist
playfully alluding. I mean the binding the books all
of one size, which entails this amusing result, that
when a book comes to hand that is smaller than the
procrustean binding, the leaves are cut at the back
and pasted singly on pages of blank paper cut through
to the size of the letterpress ; which is uncomfortable,
but bearable. When, however, a book has come to
hand larger than the regulation size, the leaves have
actually been turned in to reduce the dimensions ; the
consequence of which is that the reader must unfold,
and in so doing not improbably tear, each leaf before
he can read it ! T o these wonderful tomes is attached
an excellent alphabetically-arranged index,* whilst the
contents of volumes 1— 300 have been published at
Petersburg.
On the Wednesday evening we had the honour of
dining with General Abramoff. Our host is a bachelor, •
and there were no ladies present, but several officers of
distinction. Unfortunately for me, the General did not
speak French, and though there was no lack at the
table of persons who did, yet having to speak through
an interpreter to the Governor-General prevented that
full enjoyment of intercourse which I feel sure I should
have experienced could we have communicated our
ideas directly ; for what I saw and all I heard of him
led me to form a high estimate of his character as a
governor. One of those in office under him told me
that his subordinates simply “ adore ” him. It had
been suggested to me that I should ask for two or
three Cossacks to accompany us for security when out
of Russian territory, but the General said that he
could not grant that, for even embassies, when going
* The Tashkend library receives from the State a yearly subsidy of
^130. Of this amount ^80 are devoted to the maintenance of the
library, and ^50 to purchase of books, periodicals, and binding. During
1878, 183 men were admitted as subscribers, to whom were issued 2,780
volumes, or an average number of 15 or 16 to each man. The library
is well supplied, of course, with the back numbers of the Turkistan
Gazette. This newspaper sells for z\d. per copy, and about 500 copies
of each number are printed. It represents an effort to introduce Russian
civilization into Central Asia, and the Government gives it a subsidy of
¿500 a year.