St. Vladimir’s Seminary Librarian Eleana Silk is delighted with Mr. David Jonas Bardin's recent donation to the Florovsky Library: a late 19th century 16” x 11½” volume, featuring 15 historic photographs of the Holy Land with original captions in English, Russian, and Greek. The cover is bound in olive wood and features a carved image depicting the Aedicule (small shrine or chapel) inside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (View Dn. Ryan Tellalian’s photo gallery of the book’s pages and cover.)
“It's one of the most unique donations we’ve ever received because it combines the history of the Holy Land with the hand-colored kerosene lantern slide art technique of the 1800s,” notes Eleana. “David’s mother was presented with this album many years ago. While the original author is unknown, it seems intended for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, with each picture faced on the opposing page by pressed local wildflowers. Both the highly detailed colorized photos and the pressed flowers are beautifully intact.”
The path to this recent acquisition was unusual as well. The book’s owner David Bardin of Washington D.C., and his wife Livia are good friends and neighbors of Nina Shafran. Nina is the daughter of Archpriest Paul Shafran (SVOTS 1945) and Matushka Mary, who were honored by the seminary in December of 2012 for their 65 years of ministry. In a lovely gesture, David donated the book in memory of his mother, Ruth, and in honor of Fr. Paul and Matushka Mary.
Nina explains that “when David asked me for ideas about suitable permanent homes for this book, naturally I suggested the SVOTS library. When Eleana was in Washington D.C., I showed her the photos I had taken of the book, and she was definitely interested, since the library had nothing else like it. It’s quite fascinating to see images depicting the Holy Land as it looked in the latter 1800s–the dirt roads, the garb of the people, their hut-like living quarters.”
Art dealer Jennifer Breger, who specializes in Hebraica and Judaica maps, books, and prints, noted in her appraisal that the book contained “high quality photos” and is a “luxury volume—bigger than most of that period.” Some of the images included are of the Holy Sepulchre, the Jaffa Gate, David’s Tower, Bethany, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jericho, Jordan River, and the Monastery at Mar Saba. (Read about lantern slides at the Library of Congress Website.)
The book will be right at home at the Florovsky Library, where “we have so many unusual and historic pieces that I wouldn’t know where to start to describe them all,” notes Eleana. She adds, “yet we never forget our ministry focus; we continue to donate our overflow to other institutions like St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, and Holy Trinity and St. Herman Orthodox Seminaries.”
As of 2013, those interested in donating books to St. Vladimir’s Library may purchase a volume through the library’s Amazon Wish List. “Many of the books on that list are ones that have to do with Christian history or exegesis of Scripture—useful resources for our students, faculty, and visiting researchers,” says Eleana.
“We always appreciate donations of books and collections of any size!”
Read about other recent library donations
