Viktor Aleksandrovich Istrin

Born Nov. 23, 1906, in Warsaw; died May 30, 1967, in Moscow. Soviet bibliolo-gist; doctor of the philological sciences (1963); professor.

Istrin graduated from the literature and art department of Moscow State University in 1931. His candidate’s dissertation, The History and Bases for Standardization of Sizes of Printing Paper and Printed Publications (1944), initiated the scientific standardization of the publishing and printing industry. From 1931 to 1965 he headed the laboratory at the All-Union Research Institute of the Printing Industry. After 1934 he was involved in both research and teaching. During 1965–67 he headed the subdepartment of books and bibliography at the Moscow Printing Institute. Istrin’s major works were The Origin and Development of Writing (1965) and 1,100 Years of the Slavic Alphabet (1963).