Toropov, Andrei

Born July 30 (Aug. 11), 1851, in Yaroslavl; died May 10, 1927, in Moscow. Russian and Soviet bibliographer and specialist in bibliology.

In 1876, Toropov established the first public children’s library in Moscow. In 1889 he founded the Moscow Bibliographical Circle, which in 1900 became the Russian Bibliographical Society of Moscow University. From 1894 to 1896 he was editor of the journal Knigovedenie (Book Science), and in 1907 he became the editor of Knizhnaia letopis’ (Book Chronicle), the state bibliographical publication.

After the October Revolution of 1917, Toropov worked at the Scientific Research Institute of Book Science of the State Public Library and on the bibliographical commission of the Provincial Political Education Committee in Leningrad. Toropov’s main works dealt with bibliographical statistics and the description of books and included A Manual for the Detailed Description of Books (1901), Almanac of Printed Works for the Year 1909 (1909), and Statistics on Printed Materials Published in Russia From 1910 to 1915 (1911–16). Toropov also compiled such bibliographical indexes as Lists of Works by Russian Writers (1894–95), as well as listings of the contents of the magazine Niva (The Field; 1902 and 1906).