OWNERSHIP MARKS ON THE COPIES OF G. S. SKOVORODA’S PUBLICATIONS FROM THE STOCKS OF THE SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY OF THE ODESA I. I. MECHNIKOV NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (ON THE 300TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PHILOSOPHER’S BIRTHDAY)

The article is devoted to the publications of a famous Ukrainian philosopher, humanist, poet, teacher and musician Grigory Savvich Skovoroda (1722–1794) from the collections of the Scientific Library of the Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University. The author aims to analyze a relatively small collection of editions of G. S. Skovoroda’s works as well as studies on his philosophical and literary heritage in rare editions of the 19th – 1st third of the 20th century which are stored in the university library. Ownership marks on copies of books make it possible to trace how the interest in the oeuvre of the great philosopher aroused in a particular university in southern Ukraine. Whereas at the beginning of the 19th century the philosopher’s works were published mainly in periodicals, in the second half of the 19th century separate editions of G. S. Skovoroda’s writings appeared, while in the late 19th – early 20th centuries the collected works of the great humanist were published. Ownership marks on copies of publications indicate that the oeuvre of the great Ukrainian wandering philosopher G. S. Skovoroda resonated at different times. The scale of the personality of G. S. Skovoroda was also of great importance for representatives of various strata of the Odessa intelligentsia: free-masons (S. M. Telesnitsky) and Orthodox priests (M. K. Pavlovsky), University professors (I. A. Linnichenko) and members of scientific and bibliophile societies (B. V. Yurkevsky and L. A. Chizhikov respectively) etc. – they all looked for answers to key questions of their time in G. S. Skovoroda’s heritage. Ownership marks on copies of books from the University library illustrate the tragic fate of many Ukrainian authors who studied the oeuvre of the great philosopher. Library stamps on books can help display the Soviet censorship policy in library institutions. The questions raised need additional research which can be based on sufficient materials provided by valuable and diverse stocks of the university library. The article is published in the year of the 300th anniversary of the birth of G. S. Skovoroda.