On the issue of the library of Mikhail (Desnitsky), metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg

The problem of forming the library collections of theological seminaries and academies through the inheritance or purchase of book collections of outstanding bishops has only recently begun to receive coverage in domestic library science. It is all the more interesting to explore the history of the acquisition of the library collection of the Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg by the library of the Bethany Theological Seminary, relying on archival materials stored in the OR RSL. Consideration of these materials allows us to get acquainted with the literary preferences of the bishop, which shaped his theological views, re-examine many historical assessments of his personality, ask new questions about his immediate environment and trace the process of acquisition and primary description and cataloging of copies of publications using archival documents, as well as assess the probable the possibility of identifying them in the modern collection of the Russian State Library.