EDMONDO DE AMICIS’ BOOKS IN THE COLLECTION OF THE HERZEN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY’S FUNDAMENTAL LIBRARY

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the works of E. De Amicis published in Russian and stored in the collections of the Fundamental Library of the Herzen State Pedagogical University. Most of the publications contain
certain book signs, by which you can find out the history of the existence of each copy and trace the path of their entry into the library. The books of E. De Amicis were very popular, therefore they were present in almost every library oriented to the children’s readership: libraries of state institutions (for example, the library of employees in the Ministry of Finance, the library for employees of the State Bank) and various educational institutions (schools, colleges, institutes), public children’s libraries and personal collections. Recommendations for the purchase of books by E. De Amicis for reading to children came from both official departments of the Ministry of Public Education and specialists in children’s literature as part of various indexes and on the pages of periodicals. The main attention is paid to translations and editions of the most popular story “Cuore”, as well as editions of individual stories extracted from it. Their number was difficult to name already at the
beginning of the 20 th century.

Keywords: Edmondo De Amicis, Italian literature, translated literature, children’s literature, children’s writer, Diary of a Schoolboy, Cuore, The
Fundamental Library of the Herzen State Pedagogical University, Indicative library for children’s reading, Olga Kapitsa, book signs