GLEETT - University of Washington

yet, amazingly, he always knew the precise locaticn of his stock. Davies
was involved In pxttLng together major co1lectia of ks, periodicals
aid aicrofthe, including large iuii,ers of aicrofi]me of Hebrew
inaø.iscripta existing aily in libraries in the USSR.
All during his life, he renamed attacbed to the Soviet Uhiai as the
birthplace of his aistora ard, in a samathat ranantic way, as the hiz
of ,that he believed to be the eirce of man)dM's saving itself fran
destructiai. thatever experiences, good or bad, that those who met
Raynrfd Arthur Davies may of bile, he was the kird of
unforgettable tharacter, larger-than-life, to trderstood how to ve
pecple, and1 toget things dose. Saris librarians may not )ci that he
was also a writer, publishing five books during the 1940's, anl ose
blblij of Jewish Canadians 1111956.
At his death, Davies left a stock of sae 5000 boxes of largely
unsorted material, jicet of whith has been disposed of by his sos (author
of tie lines). The leftover hooks aid other material is being offered os a
selected basis by ert Davies, who can be reathed at 4920 ilevard de
)Iaiscerisuve West, Suite 206, Weslnt, QC Canada H3Z 3N1. Tele1iose
(514) 488-9531. - reseinizq books are meetly issian aid Ivlish
pre-1917. Enquiries are welocais.
A film an Rayerni Arthur Davies life is In progress and any
inforinatios, ocemients aid so forth woold be weltxaeed by his sos.
ert Davies
Alexander Tisofejeff - Instead of an Cbituary
by Wojciech Zalewski
Alexander Timefejeff a book dealer associated with sev, residing
in Pose died an Octeber 2, 1985. Weat follows is a trarislatios frau
issian of an aieLpt fran a letter dated 25.9.1984 he wrote to the
undersigned: 'That pertaixis to book activities (Jcnithnoe delo), is this:
Already in 193 Os I was representing the iepaper Z )DINU in Sweden.
This was a newspaper of RIS. Iiimmdiately after the war, in 1946, I joined
sev, the publishing hase aid the journal. I was its representative in
Sweden, aid I have disseninated air publicatioss. Since then, I never
abanaied this rk, altha4i for a period of time in 19508 aid l960e I
was less active.
In 1969 1Iokathev, an antiquarian book dealer, died in Rare. I bcuht
the major part of his Russian library and sent it to Possev. This began my
activity as an antiquarian book dealer in 1970 (until then I was selling
cnly Possev publicaticuis). I turned fully Into the antiquarian activities in
1972. At that time an antiquarian departhent was formed at P058ev.
I studied bit not mxtL. above all, I have learned fran mistakes. I was
selling rare books Inexpensively. I did not understand Gradually I began to
wderstand. Gradually I began to imagine how the university libraries are
worldng; differently in various intries. Gradually I understood with
ithan anu book dealers aie can deal, and frau whan a shaild keep a
In air catalogs I try to list old books. Since we have many Slavic
institotee anrmg our clients, we axe listing books under a). new books and
b). Soviet hocks in ilology. In general we have taided towaz1 ilology.
In every catalog there is tilology. Often I am taking ks cut isigreant
and I am listing then In sty catalog. Indeed quite often. Aid so Slavists and
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