Armenian Collection

About the collection

In its entirety, the Armenian collection presents itself as precisely the kind of literary foundation an erudite scholar needs for both learning and entertainment. It includes a great many historical works, writings on church fathers and learned men, shahs, synods and ancient chronicles, reissued in the Armenian spirit of always assuming the perspective of eternity. In addition, selected periodicals from the Armenian national library, the Matenadaran, are represented here. The places of publication trace the Armenian diaspora across the map of 19^th century Europe, with Venice and Vienna as nodes in the heartland where the Armenian culture has been continuously preserved in print.  

A foreground personage within the Armenian history of learning, who is represented as a matter of course in the book collection of Norayr Byuzandatsi, is the polymath Anania Shirakatsi. His enormously prolific output includes a humble, delightful little text on mathematical riddles and puzzles, though this title is unfortunately not part of Norayr's library;  in an appendix of one of the mathematical works of Shirakatsi, is the Xraxč̣anakank’ (Խրախճանականք), literally "something for festive occasions". The book has been translated to English and issued in several different editions, with titles such as Mathematical Pastimes, Fun with Arithmetic and Problems for Amusement. It is likely the oldest preserved work of its kind, and includes 24 problems "intended for mathematical entertainment during social gatherings." 

Several of the books that are part of the collection concern medicine and epidemiology, botany (with a focus on plant names, not least those of the bible), and the care of infants. A French book on caring for small children share the shelves with the heavy tomes on language and church history. It was newly published in 1881, when Norayr married Selma Jacobsson, but perhaps it was Norayr's teaching efforts that motivated its addition to his book collection. Armenian primers and spelling books are other features in the material - Norayr worked as a language teacher, along with his many other undertakings. The couple had no children of their own.  

Apart from the large dictionary that would be Norayr's foremost published work, the collection also includes the unfinished manuscript of his next lexicographical project, in five volumes. 

Acquisition history

Norayr bequeathed the couple's fortune, 125 000 SEK and his entire library to the Fredrika Bremer Association, where Selma had been active. The book collection was sold in 1922, to the then Gothenburg city library. At the same time, the library acquired Norayr's extensive linguistic archive, inventoried in French in 1982 by Arlette (d. 2014) and Martiros Minassian (1926-2016). In addition, the archive has an inventory in Armenian. The archive is held by the University Library, with the inventories available through Alvin.

In time, the library established a separate catalogue of the collection, including some works that had not been part of Norayr's library. These books have been continuously acquired by the Gothenburg city library, in order to expand the Armenian Collection. Unlike the original material, the later aquisitions are not marked with Norayr's name in the catalogue, and the majority of these books have been published after his death. 

Biography

Norayr (Neander) Byuzandatsi (1844-1915) was born in Constantinople and christened Stepan Gapetsian. After studying to become a Catholic priest and working for some time at the Saint Lazare monastery in Venice, he chose instead to become a linguist, and moved to Paris. He took the name Norayr Byuzandatsi, "New man from Byzantium." As a lexicographer, he worked on an extensive French-Armenian dictionary, which would be the crowning achievement of his academic career. Another of his endeavours was the expansion and editing of the New Dictionary of the Haykazian Language, orginally published in Venice in 1836-1837 by Gabriel Avedikian, Khachatur Surmelian and Mkrtich Avgerian, three members of the Armenian order of Mekhitarists, who spent over half a century between them producing the work. In 1990, it could be reissued and was published in Geneva, thanks to the great efforts of Martiros Minassian - the same man who, along with his wife Arlette made an index of Norayr's archive. Volume 1 alone of the New Dictionary spans almost 1 200 pages. 

In 1881, Norayr met Swedish-Jewish Selma Jacobsson in Paris. They got married in the same year. Selma was a professional photographer, and had studied photography in Vienna and Ghent, as well as under Bertha Valerius, whose studio on Drottninggatan in Stockholm she made her own in 1872. In 1877, Selma moved her enterprise to Fredsgatan. The couple settled in Stockholm where Selma continued to be very successful. Her photos and archive are partially preserved at Nordiska Museet.

Norayr became a Swedish citizen in 1885. With Selma's income from a renowned professional career, he could finish and publish his French-Armenian dictionary in Constantinople in 1884. In 1899 Selma was appointed photographer of the court, but died suddenly in the same year. Her obituary in IDUN magazine includes an interior from the studio on Fredsgatan. She is said to have been tenacious, intelligent and sympathetic. 

Norayr returned to Venice in 1903. He continuted to work, and acquired a number of new books for his library. Then, the First World War came, and the Armenian Genocide of 1915. From this obliteration, Norayr would never recover. He died in December, 1915. He bequeathed the couple's fortune to the Fredrika Bremer Association, along with his library and archive. After conducting his academic career while being financially supported by his wife, this was perhaps a way of reciprocating her efforts by supporting her work and dedication in turn. The war years interfered with and delayed the transport of Norayrs ashes, and his remains were not returned to Sweden until 1922, to be buried next to Selma in the North Cemetery in Stockholm - despite the documentation accompanying his urn saying it should be returned "speedily". The burial took place on December 4^th, 1924, after nearly a decade of posthumous roaming. Perhaps the cosmopolitic Norayr would have appreciated this irony.

Read more

Armenisk ordbok tungt livsverk. Magnus Ljunggren in SvD 2009-09-19.

Berättelsen om armeniske Stepan och svenska Selma. Magnus Ljunggren in Östbulletinen no. 4, vol. 15 (2011).

Biographical notes on Suren Yerznkyan, with the pseudonym Imam Raguza. Yerznkyan was a Soviet publicist and statesman who conducted research on the book collection. 

Kvinnor bakom kameran : 1848-1968 / Eva Dahlman, Magnus Bremmer & Björn Axel Johansson ; photo editor : Lena Wilhelmsson

About the dictionary Norayr helped edit and expand, and its reissuing through the efforts of Martiros Minassian.

About the acquisition of the collection to the Gothenburg city library in 1922.

About Selma Jacobsson via Wikipedia

About Norayr via Wikipedia

About Selma Jacobsson via Digitalt museum

Suggested research topics

• An overview of the collection's contents. What is represented here, and how does it mirror the time and context of the material? 
• Bibliographical research.
• The Armenian language in Sweden and internationally. 
• Historical perspectives on lexicographical work, including how such work is impacted by the first language of the editors, as well as other languages. 

Please contact us if you have any suggested research topics you would like to share! 

Help us

Do you have any knowledge concerning the Armenian collection? Do you speak Armenian? Would you like to contribute to our work? Do not hesitate to contact us!