The library expanded its stocks by
purchases and donations, but the prime source was the legislation
of 1810 which gave the library the right to two free statutory
copies of every publication produced in Russia. Yet there are
other collections no less valuable, among them the Greek
manuscripts. These include papyruses of the second to fourth
centuries A.D., fragments of the famous Codex Siflaiticus, the
Porfiry Gospel (835) and Psalter (862), and the tenth-century
Gospel ofTrebizond. The stocks of Western European manuscripts is
absolutely unique, embracing some 6,000 codices of the 15th to
20th centuries and more than 70,000 documents. Here there are
manuscript of St. Augustine (5th century) and the Venerable
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (746) which
includes the sole surviving text of a hymn by Caedmon. Here too
are the world famous Grands Chroniques de France. The majority of
these gems came from the libraries of the French kings or other
members of the royal family. The eastern manuscript collection
makes it possible to trace the entire development of writing in
the East, the birthplace of the most ancient civilizations.
