Victor Kamkin Bookstore
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail (Books) |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Founder | Victor Kamkin, Elena Kamkina |
| Defunct | 2006 |
| Headquarters | Rockville, Maryland , United States |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Russian-language books, magazines, vinyl records, maps |
The Victor Kamkin Bookstore operated as a retail outlet for books, with its principal branch situated in Rockville, Maryland and a secondary location in New York City, United States. Founded in 1953 by Victor Kamkin alongside his wife Elena Kamkina, the bookstore remained active throughout the duration of the Cold War, focusing primarily on publications originating from the Soviet Union.
Founding
In 1953, Viktor Petrovich Kamkin (1902–1974), originally from St. Petersburg and the son of a Russian financier,<ref name=Kuz> and his spouse Elena Andreevna Kamkina established the Victor Kamkin Bookstore.
During his youth, Victor Kamkin served as a volunteer in the White Army under Admiral Alexander Kolchak during the Russian Civil War. Following their defeat, he emigrated to Harbin, China in 1923 alongside Kolchak’s forces. In Harbin, Kamkin pursued further education and graduated from a Russian law school in 1928.[1]
In 1929, Kamkin relocated to Shanghai where he entered the book publishing industry as a partner in the firm V.P. Kamkin and A.P. Malyk, producing approximately 26 published works.[1] By May 1937, he had moved to Tianjin, another northern Chinese city, where he founded a Russian-language bookstore named "Znanie" (translated as Knowledge). Throughout World War II, while remaining in Tianjin, Kamkin was employed as an assistant manager at "Chili Press," an Italian-American publishing company.[1]
Kamkin’s experience in publishing within China enabled him to take on roles as translator and technical assistant for the American military newspaper North China Marine, which was based in Tianjin.[1] He subsequently transferred with this publication to Qingdao in eastern China in 1948 before successfully immigrating to the United States in 1952, settling near Washington, DC.[1]
Upon arrival in America, Kamkin reengaged with book publishing and retail by inaugurating a bookstore specializing in Russian-language literature in 1953. Operating within a market that lacked significant competition, he secured a profitable exclusive agreement with the Soviet government to import books and periodicals from the USSR.[2] Consequently, the Victor Kamkin Bookstore became the foremost U.S. supplier of Russian literary works as well as political and economic publications valuable to academics studying Russian history and Soviet affairs.[2]
Development
Kamkin expanded its business by opening a second location at 149 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. In 1983, the company acquired the Four Continent Book Corporation from Eda Glaser, who was recognized as one of New York City's leading distributors of Russian literature. By 1990, the New York branch's collection had grown to include nearly one million items, encompassing books, magazines, vinyl records, and maps.
Termination
By 2002, declining sales, rising competition, and increasing operational expenses signaled an impending closure. With an inventory exceeding two million unsold volumes, the bookstore attracted significant media attention and drew thousands of patrons. Approximately 60,000 books were rescued from destruction thanks to intervention by Congressional Representative Connie Morella and Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Despite this temporary relief, many titles found new homes with other Russian-language book vendors, but ultimately hundreds of thousands of volumes were discarded during the store’s compulsory liquidation in 2006.
Further reading
- Sue Baker, "The Russians Are Coming... That Is, to See Kamkin's Books," Washington Post, Feb 3, 1986, Washington Business p. 3.
- Dana Hedgpeth, "Customers Swarm Bookstore's Stacks; Evicted Owner, Sheriff Look for Way To Save Russian-Language Inventory," Washington Post, March 10, 2002.
- Harold M. Leich, "The Victor Kamkin Bookstore and the Library of Congress: 2002 and 2006 Events," Slavic and East European Information Resources, vol. 8, no. 1 (2007), pp. 25–32.
- L. Peat O'Neil, "Moscow on the Potomac," Washington Post, Sept. 25, 1987; p. WK50.
- Sue Anne Pressley, "Glasnost Proves Good for the Book Business," Washington Post, Feb. 15, 1990.
- Dana Priest, "A Bookseller With a Select Clientele," Washington Post, Dec. 26, 1984; p. C1.
- Milton Viorst, "Owner of D. C Book Shop Sells Soviet Volumes Without Politics," The Washington Post and Times-Herald, Aug. 10, 1958; p. A7.
- "LC Rescues 60,000 Books," American Libraries, vol. 33, no. 5 (May 2002), p. 30. In JSTOR.
See also
References
- Pages with reference errors
- Articles with short description
- Retail companies founded in 1953
- Retail companies closed in 2006
- Bookstores located in Manhattan
- Independent bookstores in the United States
- 1953 establishments in Maryland
- 2006 closures in Maryland
- Buildings and structures in Rockville, Maryland
- Bookstores in Manhattan