Revolution in the Far East

The civil war that was already consuming much of the European territory of the old empire would soon start to spread in earnest throughout its vast Asian territory.  Foreign troops would play a large part, as future months’ items will show, and in April 1918, the first Japanese forces arrived in the port of Vladivostok.

The book shown here has as its cover title Recollections : episodes of the revolution in the Far East.  On its main title page, the title becomes much more lengthy as it describes the author’s previous positions (Recollections of the chair of the Stock Exchange Committee, the District Priamur’e Government [etc ] … I.K. Artem’ev).

Vospominaniia … / I.K. Artem’ev (193-?)  586:9.d.90.7

The list of responsibilities shows how closely the author was involved with the White governance of the Siberian Far East, and we are fortunate to have such an interesting survivor’s memoirs; the University Library’s copy appears to be the only one in a UK library.  It arrived here in 1987, apparently via France.  The stamp shown partially here is clearer on the title page –  “From books of K.M. Pirogoff” – but is superimposed on a handwritten name which seems to read P. Dunkank (an unlikely surname, however).  In the same hand, we have a place and date: Paris, 7/1/1946.

By the 1930s, when this book was published, Artem’ev was long out of Russia.  The place of publication is Tian’tszin – Tianjin, in north-eastern China.

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