Avgusta Mezer

Mez’er, Avgusta Vladimirovna 

Born Dec 13 (25), 1869, in Tsarskoe Selo, the present-day city of Pushkin; died June 2, 1935, in Leningrad. Soviet bibliographer, translator, and writer.

The daughter of a soldier, Mez’er was educated at the Smol’nyi Institute. She translated fiction, scientific literature, and children’s literature from French and worked in L. T. Rubakina’s library, which was one of the best in St. Petersburg. From 1901 to 1909 she taught in the SmoFnyi Sunday School for Workers. During this time she also wrote several popular books on the history of the liberation movement and contributed to journals. Mez’er’s first bibliographical work—an index for Marmeri’s The Progress of Science—was published in 1896. She has about 300 published works, chiefly on bibliography and library science. Her principal works are Russian Literature From the 11th to the 19th Century Inclusive (parts 1–2, 1899–1902) and the unique A Lexical Index for Bibliology (1924; supplement and parts 1–3, 1931–34).

WORKS

Mashkova, M. V.A. V. Mez’er: Ocherk zhizni i deiateVnosti (1869–1935). Edited and with an introductory article by P. N. Berkov. Moscow, 1962. (Contains a bibliography.)

M. V. MASHKOVA