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Born into a princely family in Gzhatsk, Smolensk Governorate (gubernia). He has lived in Bulgaria since 1919.

He graduated from the Russian High School and the Free University in Sofia. He volunteered in Bulgaria’s war against Nazi Germany (1944–1945) and was awarded Order of Courage, the First Degree, given only for exceptional merit. He completed his postgraduate library specialization with Professor Todor Borov and went to work at the National Library (1950). He served as a Scientific Information Specialist at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

A. Meshcherskiy was a distinguished bibliographer and library worker. The pearl of his creative work was a comprehensive bio-bibliography of Russian immigrant professors who have worked in Bulgaria between 1920 and 1944. This was also the topic of his dissertation, which he did not defend for political reasons. The preface to his unprinted work about Russian scientists in Bulgaria can be found here: http://savedarchives.net/article/predislovie-kam-bio-bibliografiite-na-ruskite-ucheni-v-balgariia.

He also compiled a detailed bio-biography of Professor Peter Bitsilli, who was one of the most famous Russian scientists in Bulgaria. Meshcherskiy also owned the largest private library of Russian books in the country. Information on the compiling and operation of the library can be found here: http://savedarchives.net/article/lorem-ipsum-0. He died in Sofia.

The effort of A. Meshcherskiy who was the first to collect and analyse on a professional ground the legacy of the Russian immigrant scientists in Bulgaria is still to be appreciated.

Works

• Библиография трудов профессора Петра Михайловича Бицилли с материалами для его биографии. София, Октябрь 1954 [ръкопис].
• Заметки и материалы к биобиблиографии русских преподавателей в высших учебных заведениях Болгарии 1920–1944 гг. : Дисертационен труд. София, 1955–1956 [ръкопис].
• Бицилли, П. М. Трагедия русской культурой : Исследования. Статьи. Рецензии. Москва, 2000, 570–588.
• Неизвестные письма И. А. Бунина. – Русская литература, 1961, № 4, 152–158.
• Опит за библиография на професор Н. С. Трубецкой. – Литературна мисъл, 1991, № 4.

About A. Meshcherskiy

• Бирман, М.А. А.П. Мещерский (1915–1992) : Несколько страниц к биографии первого „бициллиеведа”. – В: POLITROPON : К 70-летию Владимира Николаевича Топорова. Москва, 1998, 800–805.
• Ратиев, А. То, что сохранила мне память : Мемуары : Т. 1. София, 1999, с. 680.
• Галчева, Т. Судьба свидетеля: "собрать все, что возможно, воедино" (неизвестное об А. П. Мещерском) // Свидетельство: традиции, формы, имена / Сост. К. Б. Сигов. – К.: ДУХ И ЛIТЕРА, София, 2013, 583–603.
• Галчева, Т. Mолчать или писать «в стол». Выбор Клавдии Васильевны Флоровской и Андрея Павловича Мещерского. В: Гуманитарная наука в России. Перелом 1917 года : экзистенциальное измерение, 2017, 110-122.
• http://savedarchives.net/article/lorem-ipsum-0
• http://savedarchives.net/dokumentalen-arhiv