User:Nvss132/sandbox/John M. Constantinoff

John M. Constantinoff, born Ivan Mikhailovitch Konstantinov, (April 10, 1881-May 6, 1962) was a Russian book dealer and collector.

Biography
known as "an expert antiquarian bookseller" in New York

Working in Brussels in 1908

In 1914, while employed as the second carpenter on the S.S. Kroonland, he participated in the rescue operation for the SS Volturno. He and the other sailors received a Congressional Silver Medal for their rescue efforts in a ceremony hosted by Commerce Secretary William C. Redfield. Constantinoff was on the first lifeboat sent at 8 p.m. to the ship, assisting in the Kroonland's rescue of 76 passengers.

Constantinoff immigrated to the United States around 1918 In December 1918 he participated in the second convention of the anti-Bolshevik Federation of Russian Organizations in America, held at Beethoven Hall in New York. Constantinoff ran for chairman of the group with the support of the fraternal and religious organizations at the convention, against General Konstantin Oberuchev, the candidate of the Federation's Mensheviks. After both candidates failed to win a majority, the convention agreed for them to each serve as vice-chairman.

In New York he wrote for the Russian-language weekly newspaper Rodnaya Rech (Native Tongue) in 1918 and was one of the five directors of the Rodnaya Rech Publishing Corporation. The paper was associated with the Progressive Party in its political orientation. Constantinoff later wrote for the newspaper Syn Otvechsetva (Sons of the Fatherland), a continuation of Rodnaya Rech published from 1919 on.

Despite his anti-Bolshevik activities in 1918, Constantinoff was a registered member of the left-wing American Labor Party in the 1948 and 1949 elections.

He began collecting and selling books at some point after 1918, with advertisements for his business appearing in Russian publications in 1925. In a letter from 1935, Constantinoff wrote that he did not depend on his book business for money but had another source of employment.

The primary sources of his collections were book dealers such as Israel Perlstein, Eda Glaser...as well as corporations such as...By the 1940s, he also advertised in The American Bookfinder and Serially American Book Prices Current for English-language books on theosophy, by authors such as Archibald Keightley and Helena Blavatsky, which were not part of his Rare Russian Library.

Constantinoff and his book business have become "well-established in the historiography of the Russian book trade in New York", along with Israel Perlstein and George Sabo.

He moved to Los Angeles in August 1951, likely following his friend Violet Trevor. In Los Angeles, he lived at and continued to operate his Rare Russian Library from 1824 2/6 Grace Ave., Hollywood.

Collection
The Constantinoff Collection has been described as "a major collection of Russian occult literature that is particularly rich in materials from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries". In addition to occult subjects, the Collection also has books from imperial libraries such as the libraries of...Books from imperial collections could be obtained for very little money following the Russian Revolution, allowing dealers like Constantinoff to acquire large numbers for an average price of $2. Theosophical books...