Sytin Ivan Dmitrievich

(b. 1851 - d. 1934)

Newspaper and book magnate, educator, creator of the largest publishing company in pre-revolutionary Russia. He achieved in the publishing business the same success as his contemporaries J. Pulitzer and William R. Hearst in America and Lord Northcliffe in England.

Among the loudest names of Russian entrepreneurs who glorified Russia, the name of Sytin rightfully occupies one of the most honorable places. And not only because he amassed a huge fortune through his work or possessed inexhaustible energy, foresight, scope and readiness to help those in need. But first of all, because this native of poor Kostroma peasants, a merchant in the first generation, became one of the leading enlighteners of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, the creator and head of the largest publishing and printing enterprise in the country.

Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin lived a long, eventful life and remained in the memory of several generations of compatriots as a man who fought for the enlightenment of ordinary people. He said: “During my life I have believed and believe in one force that helps me overcome all the hardships of life. I believe in the future of Russian education, in the Russian people, in the power of light and knowledge.” Putting his life purpose education of the people, Sytin achieved that by the beginning of the 20th century, his enterprises produced a quarter of all printed publications produced in the country.

The future publisher was born under serfdom on January 25, 1851 in the small village of Gnezdnikovo, Soligalichsky district, Kostroma province. He was the eldest of four children of the volost clerk Dmitry Gerasimovich Sytin and his wife Olga Alexandrovna. Since the family lived very poorly, at the age of 12 Vanyusha left school and went to work in Nizhny Novgorod, where his uncle was a fur trader. Things were not going well for the relative, so the boy, who, although he helped drag the skins and sweep in the shop, was an extra mouth in the family. In this regard, two years later, his uncle sent him to Moscow, to the familiar merchant-Old Believer Pyotr Sharapov, who held two trades at the Ilyinsky Gate - furs and books. By a lucky chance, the new owner did not have a place in the fur shop where the relatives sent the boy, and in September 1866 Sytin began to serve "in the book business."

Only four years later the boy began to receive a salary - 5 rubles a month. Perseverance, perseverance, diligence pleased the elderly master, and the sociable student gradually became his confidant. He helped to sell books and pictures, selected literature for numerous "ofen" - village book-carriers, sometimes illiterate and judging the merits of books by their covers. Then Sharapov began to instruct Ivan to conduct trade at the Nizhny Novgorod fair, to accompany carts with popular prints to Ukraine and to some cities and villages in Russia.

In 1876, Ivan Sytin married Evdokia Ivanovna Sokolova, the daughter of a Moscow confectioner, and received 4,000 rubles as a dowry for his wife. This allowed him, borrowing another 3,000 from Sharapov, to buy his first lithographic machine. At the end of the same year, he opened a printing workshop on Voronukhina Gora near the Dorogomilovsky Bridge, which gave life to a huge publishing business. It is this event that is considered the moment of birth of the largest printing company MPO “First Model Printing House”.

Sytin's lithography was more than modest, it occupied only three rooms, and its printed editions at first did not differ much from the mass production of the Nikolsky market. But Ivan Dmitrievich was very inventive: so with the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. he began to issue maps with the designation of hostilities and the inscription: “For newspaper readers. Manual and battle pictures. These were the first such mass publications in Russia. They had no competitors, the product sold out instantly and brought fame and profit to the publisher.

In 1878, lithography became the property of Sytin, and the very next year he had the opportunity to buy his own house on Pyatnitskaya Street, equip a printing press in a new location and purchase additional printing equipment. Five years later, the book publishing company I. D. Sytin and Co. ”, whose trading shop was located on Staraya Square. At first, the books were not distinguished by high taste. Their authors, for the sake of consumers, did not disdain plagiarism, they subjected some works of the classics to “rewriting”. Sytin said at that time: “I understood by instinct and conjecture how far we were from real literature, but the traditions of the popular book trade were very tenacious, and they had to be broken with patience.”

Very soon, Ivan Dmitrievich was able to organize not only the preparation and production of printed materials at his own printing facilities, but also the successful sale of popular prints. He created a unique sales network of itinerant traveling salesmen that spanned the entire country. Further, according to the same scheme, publications of a different type began to spread. Sytin's merit was that he correctly determined which publications the future belongs to, and gradually began to replace popular prints in his marketing system. new literature. Many educational publishing houses (Moscow Literacy Committee, Russian Wealth, etc.) entrusted Sytin with the production and marketing of their publications for the people.

In the autumn of 1884, Chertkov, representing the interests of L. N. Tolstoy, came into the shop on Staraya Square and offered for publication the stories of N. Leskov, I. Turgenev and Tolstoy's "What makes people alive." These more meaningful books were supposed to replace the primitive editions that were produced and be extremely cheap, at the same price as the previous ones - 80 kopecks per hundred. Sytin readily accepted the offer. This is how the new publishing house of a cultural and educational nature, Posrednik, began its activity, only in the first four years it published 12 million copies of elegant books with works by famous Russian writers.

Ivan Dmitrievich was looking for the possibility of issuing other publications that would help educate the people. In the same 1884, the first Sytin's "General Calendar for 1885" appeared at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair: "I looked at the calendar as a universal reference book, as an encyclopedia for all occasions." Things were going well, and soon a second bookstore was opened in Moscow on Nikolskaya Street.

The following year, Sytin bought Orlov's press with five printing presses and selected qualified editors. He entrusted the design of calendars to first-class artists, and consulted with L. N. Tolstoy about the content. As a result, the "General Calendar" reached a huge circulation - 6 million copies, and tear-off "diaries" were also issued. The extraordinary popularity of the new products required a gradual increase in the number of calendar titles: gradually their number reached 21, each with a multi-million print run.

In 1887, 50 years have passed since the death of Pushkin, and independent publishers were able to publish his works free of charge. Sytin's firm immediately reacted to this event with the release of a chic ten-volume collection of works by the famous author. In the process of work, Ivan Dmitrievich became close to the progressive figures of Russian culture and learned a lot from them, making up for the lack of education. Together with the figures of public education D. Tikhomirov, L. Polivanov, V. Bekhterev, N. Tulupov and others. Sytin published brochures and paintings recommended by the Literacy Committee, published a series of folk books under the motto "Truth". Having become a member of the Russian Bibliographic Society at Moscow University in 1890, Ivan Dmitrievich took upon himself the labor and expenses of publishing the journal Knigovedenie. By that time, his company was mass-producing cheap editions of the classics, numerous visual aids, literature for educational institutions and extracurricular reading, popular science series designed for a variety of tastes and interests, colorful books and fairy tales for children, children's magazines.

In 1889, the book publishing "Partnership of Sytin" was established with a capital of 110 thousand rubles. Ivan Dmitrievich quickly turned into a monopolist - the owner of the country's largest publishing and printing complex. He controlled prices in the market, having his own share of at least 20% in the release of the folk book. The monopoly position in the market made it possible to create the necessary reserves for the technical re-equipment and modernization of production, and thanks to control over the distribution network, Sytin was able to calmly and systematically concentrate printing capacities in his hands.

Rotary printing presses, which had appeared in Europe by that time, cost an order of magnitude more than flat-bed printing presses, but at the same time they sharply reduced their cost, provided that they were sufficiently loaded and had large print runs. Price reduction, in turn, meant a transition to a fundamentally different market - the mass market. First of all, Sytin became convinced of the potential capacity of this market. In the conditions of the crisis of 1891–1892, which led to a drop in demand for book products, tear-off calendars remained the most popular among the people's publications, for the release of which Sytin purchased the first two-color rotary machine in Russia.

Folk calendars - public home encyclopedias, from which a Russian person could learn everything he needed - brought their publisher both all-Russian fame and super profits. Further work in this direction meant not just monopolization, but the merging of private capital with the state. Over time, Sytin began to simply buy publishing and printing projects that were interesting to him. In 1893, he met A.P. Chekhov, who insisted that Sytin start publishing a newspaper. Ivan Dmitrievich acquired the popular magazines "Niva" and "Around the World", the newspaper " Russian word”, which was the first to open its own bureaus in various cities of the country, collaborated with talented journalists and at the beginning of the 20th century. had a circulation of about a million copies. The Sytin corporation absorbed the printing houses of Vasiliev, Solovyov, Orlov, and placed under its control the largest publishing houses of Suvorin and Marx.

Much attention was paid in the Partnership to advertising. Wholesale and retail catalogs were issued annually, which made it possible to widely advertise their publications, ensure the timely sale of literature through wholesale warehouses and bookstores. For ten years, from 1893 to 1903, the turnover of Sytin's firm increased by 4 times, despite the consequences of the crisis of 1900-1902, which sharpened competition to the limit. The inclusion of bankers on the Board of the Partnership and the widespread use of bank loans at preferential interest allowed the monopolist to continue its offensive on the market. The company's dividends were the highest in the industry, and its shares (unlike those of other publishing houses) were listed on the stock exchange.

New projects required the expansion of the business, and by 1905 three buildings of the next printing house had already been erected on Pyatnitskaya and Valovaya streets. By this time, under the guidance of the architect Erichson, it was built on and acquired modern look four-storey house on Tverskaya. At the same time, the so-called "Sytinskaya Tower" appeared - a five-story production building, which now houses a small newspaper rotation of the Izvestia publishing house. The buildings were equipped with strong reinforced concrete floors, which to this day can withstand any printing technique.

Sytin, a native of the people, always wanted to help his workers learn and teach children, so he created a school of technical drawing and technical affairs at the printing house, the first graduation of which took place in 1908. When recruiting, preference was given to the children of employees of the Partnership, as well as those residents of villages and villages with primary education. General education replenished in the evening classes. Training and full maintenance of students was carried out at the expense of the company.

Educated Sytin workers became active participants in the revolutionary movement. They stood in the front ranks of the rebels in 1905 and published the first issue of Izvestia of the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies, which announced a general political strike. The printing house simultaneously printed classics and contemporaries, monarchists and Bolsheviks, liberals and conservatives. Panegyrics to Nicholas II and the “Manifesto of the Communist Party” were printed on neighboring presses, which only in two years of the revolution of 1905-1907. about 3 million copies were produced - Sytin printed what was in demand.

And one night retribution followed: one of the printing houses was set on fire. The walls and ceilings of the newly built main building of the factory collapsed, printing equipment, finished circulations of publications, stocks of paper, artistic blanks for printing died under the rubble. It was a huge loss for an established business. Ivan Dmitrievich received sympathetic telegrams, but did not succumb to despondency. Half a year later, the building was rebuilt, the students of the art school restored the drawings and clichés, made the originals of new covers, illustrations, screensavers. New machines were purchased and work continued. By 1911, the company's turnover exceeded 11 million rubles. Then to post CEO was appointed Vasily Petrovich Frolov, who began his career in Sytin lithography as a compositor.

Sytin constantly conceived and implemented new editions: for the first time in Russia, the publication of multi-volume encyclopedias was undertaken - People's, Children's and Military. In 1911, the magnificent publication “The Great Reform” was published, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the abolition of serfdom, the next year - a multi-volume anniversary edition “ Patriotic War 1812 and Russian society. 1812-1912", in 1913 - historical research about the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty - "Three centuries".

The network of bookselling enterprises of the Partnership has also expanded. By 1917, Ivan Dmitrievich had 4 stores in Moscow and 2 in Petrograd, as well as bookstores in Kleve, Odessa, Kharkov, Yekaterinburg, Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Irkutsk, Saratov, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, in Warsaw and Sofia (together with Suvorin). Each store except retail trade was engaged in wholesale operations. Sytin came up with the idea of ​​delivering books and magazines to plants and factories. Orders for the delivery of publications through catalogs were completed within 2-10 days, since the system for sending literature by cash on delivery was well established.

Systematically seeking to reduce the cost of their products, Ivan Dmitrievich from the 1910s. became interested in industries that supplied the printing industry with raw materials and fuel. In 1913, he created a stationery syndicate and thus ensured control over the prices of paper supplied. Three years later, he formed a partnership in the oil industry, insuring himself against fuel price spikes. Finally, the final touch in terms of reorganizing mass book printing was Sytin's project to create a "Society to promote the improvement and development of book business in Russia." It was assumed that the range of activities of this organization would be very wide - in addition to the production and marketing of printed materials, the society was supposed to train specialists, supply equipment and consumables, organize printing engineering, and, in addition, bibliography and develop a network of libraries. Under the guise of being created public organization holding, further merging of private and state interests was assumed. In the period 1914–1917. the company produced 25% of all printed matter Russian Empire.

In 1916, the 50th anniversary of Sytin's book publishing activity was widely celebrated in Moscow. The release of the beautifully illustrated literary and artistic collection “Half a century for a book (1866–1916)” was timed to coincide with this date, in the creation of which about 200 authors took part - representatives of science, literature, art, industry, and public figures. Among them were M. Gorky, A. Kuprin, N. Rubakin, N. Roerich, P. Biryukov and many others famous people that time.

Before the February Revolution, Ivan Dmitrievich did not sell the business for pennies and did not emigrate abroad. In 1917, when Kerensky was the prime minister of the Provisional Government of Russia, Sytin tried to encourage Moscow entrepreneurs to alleviate the crisis that was growing in society by large food purchases for the population. He urged them: “The hungry should throw at least some kind of lifeline. The rich must make sacrifices." Sytin himself wanted to allocate everything that he could then for this - 6 million rubles, Varvara Morozova promised to give 15 million, the rich man N.A. Vtorov - the same amount. It was believed that in this way it was possible to gain 300 million. But they did not meet sympathy from anyone else. An equally unsuccessful attempt was made in St. Petersburg.

Of course, Sytin was not a revolutionary. He was a very rich man, an enterprising businessman who knew how to weigh everything, calculate everything and stay profitable. Ivan Dmitrievich took the October Revolution as inevitable and offered his services to the Soviet government. “The transition to a faithful owner, to the people of the entire factory industry, I considered good deed and entered the factory as a free worker,” he wrote in his memoirs. - I was glad that the cause, to which I gave a lot of effort in life, received good development- the book under the new government reliably went to the people.

However, the activities of Sytin's enterprises were soon terminated and, during the nationalization carried out in 1919, they were transferred to the State Publishing House. Ivan Dmitrievich refused Lenin's offer to take the post of head of the Soviet publishing department, citing a three-year education. The former Sytinskaya, and now the First State Model Printing House regularly published Bolshevik literature. In the 1920s, at the dawn of the New Economic Policy, Ivan Dmitrievich, together with his sons, made a desperate attempt to revive publishing life by registering the Book Association of 1922 with Mosgubizdat, which lasted less than two years. Before active life the Soviet government did not allow Sytin. But it didn't follow. By a special resolution of the Revolutionary Military Council, his apartment was freed from compaction as the housing of a person who "did a lot for the social democratic movement." However, after the death of Lenin, Sytin was offered to vacate the apartment, and he moved to house number 12 on Tverskaya Street, where he lived until the end of his days.

The Sytinskaya firm was originally conceived as a family business. Nikolai, the eldest of the sons of Ivan Dmitrievich, was his right hand, Vasily - the chief editor of the Partnership, Ivan was in charge of the sale of products. Peter was sent to Germany to study economics, and only the youngest, Dmitry, became an officer, in civil war fought on the side of the Reds, was at the headquarters of Frunze.

Sytin was preparing his sons to eventually transfer the matter into their hands. Well, when the company was gone, the brothers went to work in various Soviet publishing houses. Nikolai was repressed for preparing an album for the significant anniversary of the Red Army. The album included portraits of those who were already in disgrace, which caused irritation at the top. At the request of Gorky's first wife, Ekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova, Nikolai's prison was replaced with exile.

Ivan Dmitrievich remained faithful to the printing business - until his retirement in 1928, he advised the leadership of the State Publishing House on the management of his former empire contributing to the preservation of the traditions of Russian printing in the new conditions. The famous book publisher, as a sign of special gratitude for everything done, the new government gave the country's first personal pension of 250 rubles, which he received until his death.

Sytin was absorbed in his work all his life and sincerely considered himself happy man. And he told his children and grandchildren: “When a gifted person doesn’t love anything much, he doesn’t rise above mediocrity.” Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin died of pneumonia on November 23, 1934 in Moscow at the age of eighty-three. No one publicly honored the memory of a man who did so much for the country. On the Vvedenskoe Cemetery the deceased was seen off only by relatives, close friends and several former employees. Sytin's grandchildren no longer went to the publishing side.