A GIFT AS A REWARD FOR DILIGENCE: THE STORY OF PROFESSOR PRAGUE, HIS STUDENTS, AND A BOOK
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61699/cjmps-v3-i3-4-p72-81Keywords:
Kliment Prague, enlightenment in 19th century Caucasus, Caucasian Theological Seminary, Stavropol Provincial Gymnasium, book cultureAbstract
The article reconstructs the biography of Kliment Fomich Prague (1821–1872), a Stavropol educator and enlightener of the mid‑19th century. The study was prompted by a discovery in the rare book department of the Stavropol Regional Scientific Library: a copy of N. Koshansky’s General Rhetoric bearing a donor’s inscription from Prague to his student. Drawing on archival documents, the author traces Prague’s career: a graduate of the Kyiv Theological Academy, professor of literature at the Caucasian Theological Seminary, and later inspector of the Stavropol Provincial Gymnasium. The article highlights his public activities, his connections with contemporaries (notably historian I. D. Popko), his family circumstances, and also provides information about his brother Lev Fomich Prague (editor of the Kuban Military Gazette) and his son Sergey. The study demonstrates how a chance find of a book can restore the thread of time and illuminate little‑known pages of Stavropol’s intellectual history.
