George Sabo (January 18, 1896 – February 15, 1983) was a Slovak-born American publisher and book dealer specializing in
Slavic-language materials.
Biography
Sabo was born in
Orechova, Slovakia and immigrated to
New York in July 1913.[1] Sabo was inspired to become a book dealer as a child when his father took him to
Julij Feldesi's bookstore.[2] He became a naturalized American citizen in April 1926.[1]
In 1936, Sabo began his work as a book dealer with the purchase of 18,000 Russian books.[2] With John M. Constantinoff and
Israel Perlstein, Sabo is considered to be "well-established in the historiography of the Russian antiquarian book in New York".[3] One of his clients was Russian
bibliophileAndrey Avinoff.[4] Another important client was Paul M. Fekula, whose collection of Slavica was the largest assembled by an individual in the United States.[5] Sabo also contributed Slavic books to the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, helping the University develop the largest Slavic collection west of the
Mississippi by the 1970s.[6] In addition to his work as a book dealer, Sabo was also involved in the publication of
Rusyn books and periodicals.[7] Until the 1950s, Sabo's publishing house was one of the two largest sources of Rusyn-American literature.[8] He also served as Secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the
Greek Catholic Union.[2] Sabo later moved to
Melbourne, Florida, where he continued his business under the name Slavic Books.[9]
After his death, the majority of his 16,000 book collection was acquired by Sterling C. Evans Library at
Texas A & M University.[10] An additional 432 books from his collection were donated to
Seton Hall University Library in 2012.[11]
^Struminskyj, Bohdan; Kasinec, Edward (1984). The Millennium Collection of Old Ukrainian Books at the University of Toronto Library: A Catalogue. University of Toronto. pp. viii.
ISBN0772751056.
^Magocsi, Paul R. (2005). Our people : Carpatho-Rusyns and their descendants in North America (4th ed.). Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. p. 79.
ISBN9780865166110.
^Thernstrom, Stephan, ed. (1980). Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Harvard University Press. p. 207.
ISBN0674375122.
^Walker, G.P.M. (1973). Russian for Librarians. Linnet Books. p. 66.
ISBN0208011994.
^Young, Ann-Christe (1998).
"Grants and Acquisitions". ACRL College & Research Libraries News. 59 (11).
Archived from the original on 2024-05-19. Retrieved 2024-05-19.