Photo credit: unification.com.au
More than a thousand books in Russian, which were part of Andrei Tkachenko’s private collection, have been restored in Australia. The Kursk native began collecting his library in the 1930s in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and then moved to Australia. After his tragic death, the unique foreign editions of Russian authors of the first half of the 20th century were distributed among Russian libraries in Australia, the Edinenie newspaper in reports.
The biography of the collector was restored by the Australian researcher Alexey Ivachev. He managed to find out that Andrei Tkachenko was born in Kursk in 1885. It is known that before the start of World War II, he and his family moved to Hong Kong, where he opened a restaurant and cafe, which were popular with the Russian community of the city and foreigners.
On the top floor, Andrey Tkachenko placed a private library and distributed books from his collection to Russian-speaking readers. The collection began with books purchased in Shanghai, later the library was filled with volumes published by emigrant publishers in Paris, Shanghai and other cities.
Going to Australia in 1951, Andrei Tkachenko sold a restaurant and other property, but brought all his book collection to the country. Ten years after arrival, the collector died tragically under the wheels of a car. Books were distributed in Russian libraries in Australia and today are found in various collections. They are easy to recognize by stamp and number.
Russkiy Mir
