Collection type: private.
Volume: about 4000 copies.
Chronological framework: 1728–1939.
Language of documents: Russian, French, German, English, and Italian.
Russian public library named after I. S. Turgenev was established in Paris in 1875 by the progressive Russian intelligentsia. The young rebel Herman Lopatin was the direct organizer but the library was actually founded by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev. From the first months of its existence, the library became the cultural center of the Russian community. Its collection was constantly replenished with fiction, historical books, literary studies and sociology. At that time the library owed its significance to the management, which included M. Osorgin, I. Bunin, B. Zaitsev, I. Shmelev, M. Aldanov, etc. The collection was growing due to numerous gifts, bequeathed private collections and libraries that ceased to exist. As a result, before the Second World War, the library had more than 100 thousand volumes. In 1940, after the occupation of Paris by German troops, the library was closed, and then transferred to Germany. In 1945, the books of the Russian library were discovered by the Soviet army on the border of Poland and were carefully disassembled and taken to the Soviet Union on instructions from Moscow. Books with the seals of the Turgenev library are currently stocked in large book depositories of Russia and other CIS countries. In Belarus, the Academic Library of the National Academy of Sciences and the Presidential Library possess books from the Turgenev Library collection.
Purposeful formation of the Turgenev Library collection in the National Library of Belarus was started in 2004. After the decision of the Collection Commission to transfer the Turgenev Library books to the Bibliology Research Department, a special collection was created with the assignment of the collection number “BRT”. The largest number of books are those published between 1900 and 1939. A small part of the collection (16 units) are books dated back to the 18th century. Among early-printed books, there are works of Catherine II in French – “Memoires du regne de Catherine”, as well as the “Instructions adressées par sa Majestré l'imperatrice de toutes les Russies: à la commission établie pour travailler à l'exécution du projet d'un Nouveau Code de Lois” and the first Complete collection of all the works by A. P. Sumarokov in verse and prose (1781-1782) published by N. Novikov.
Many of the books in the collection have dedicatory inscriptions and autographs. The dedicatory inscriptions and autographs collections of the Turgenev Library is rather diverse. The owners of books included famous writers, scientists, public and political figures. In particular, L. M. Weber, A. F. Onegin, A. A. Izvolskaya, A. K. Bazili, D. N. Anuchin, K. F. Khartulari, V. N. Nikitin, V. M. Istrin, P. A. Kropotkin, etc. Books with dedications to the library and individual members of the Board are singled out separately: A. M. Remizov, N. N. Berberova, I. S. Shmelev, M. Chagall, etc.
Ownership characteristics: books included in the collection have dedicatory inscriptions, possessry records, library labels, seals, ex-librises, super ex-librises.
Time of receipt: 1945.
Sources: Русская общественная библиотека им. И. С. Тургенева – перекресток духовной жизни России и Франции = La Bibliothèque publique russe I. S. Tourguéniev – carrefour de la vie intellectuelle de la Russe et de la France : [сборник статей] / Культурный фонд «Петербург и зарубежье» ; [научный редактор Н. Я. Олесич]. – Санкт-Петербург : Знаменитые универсанты, 2014. – 147, [10] с.

Русская общественная библиотека им. И. С. Тургенева = La Bibliothèque russe Tourguènev a Paris : сотрудники, друзья, почитатели : сборник статей / [редакторы: Т. Л. Гладкова,  Т. А. Осоргина]. – [Изд. дополненное]. – Санкт-Петербург : Благотворительный культурный фонд «Петербург и зарубежье» : Знаменитые универсанты СПбГУ, 2012. – 142, [1] с.

Верас, Н. Я. Калекцыя «Руская грамадская бібліятэка імя І. С. Тургенева» ў фондах Нацыянальнай бібліятэкі Беларусі / Верас Н. Я. // Здабыткі : дакументальныя помнікі на Беларусі / Нацыянальная бібліятэка Беларусі. – Мінск, 1995–. – 2012. – Вып. 14. – С. 59–71.

Registration number: K-000000017