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Zaitseva Ekaterina Yurievna A.F. Smirdin - publisher of magazines of the 1st half of the 19th century. : dissertation... candidate of philological sciences: 10.01.10 / Ekaterina Yurievna Zaitseva; [Place of protection: Ros. state humanitarian. un-t (RGGU)].- Moscow, 2009.- 137 p.: ill. RSL OD, 61 09-10/962
Introduction
Chapter 1. The main milestones in the biography of A.F. Smirdin 12 12
Chapter 2. Publishing activity of A.F. Smirdin. Smirdin and journalism of his era 44
Chapter 3 The material base of the publishing activity of A.F. Smirdin 78
Conclusion 124
List of references 125
Appendix 133
Introduction to work
In this dissertation research we are talking on the activities of A.F. Smirdin, one of the largest booksellers and publishers of the first half of the 18th century, whose achievements in book business can be regarded as one of the most vivid manifestations the emergence of the process of commercialization of Russian journalism, and at the same time as a catalyst for this process. “We are indebted to Smirdin for the fact that other literary pursuits provide means of livelihood and contentment for those who devote their time and abilities to them. We remember how they attacked modern magazines to this ... These times have passed, everyone understood the importance and necessity of remuneration for literary works, but honor and glory and everlasting memory the one who gave this beginning the first movement ", - reported in the newspaper" Russian invalid "in 1857.
The relevance of research due to the state of modern Russian journalism in connection with the publishing business. In the recent past, most of the publishing houses and mass media were state-owned, and the experience of Smirdin, who was at the forefront of commercial journalism, could not be claimed. Today, however, most publishing houses have become private. And the experience of Smirdin, the publisher of newspapers and magazines, is very useful for modern journalists and publishers. It is relevant to study the methods of development of Smirdin's publishing business, his approach to advertising, ways of distributing products, methods of completing magazine and newspaper issues. The study of modern commercial journalism in Russia is impossible without knowing the processes of its origin and development at the earliest stages.
The funeral of the bookseller Alexander Filippovich Smirdin / / Russian invalid. - St. Petersburg, 1857. - No. 203. - S. 841.
Scientific novelty of the work. The history of Russian journalism is traditionally considered from the point of view of the analysis of periodicals and the work of individual journalists. Meanwhile, there was another side to the history of journalism that has been overlooked by historians of journalism. This side - the publishing business of a particular era. The very process of development of journalism largely depended on what goals this or that publisher pursued, what views he shared, how rich he was. In this study, dedicated to A.F. Smirdin, an attempt was made to fit it into the context of the history of Russian journalism in the 1st half of the 19th century. This is the first time such a study has been undertaken.
In addition, the novelty of the work is associated with the inclusion in the scientific circulation of a new layer of sources characterizing, first of all, the material base of the book publishing and printing business of Smirdin and other publishers. The activities of Smirdin are analyzed for the first time in conjunction with the activities of other major publishers.
aim this study is a comprehensive study of the publishing activities of A.F. Smirdin in connection with the history of Russian journalism in the 1st half of the 19th century. To achieve this goal, the author sets himself the following tasks:
based on the analysis of the factual material, the construction of the biography of A.F. Smirdin;
the study of the media published by Smirdin;
Description of the printing business early XIX century in connection with
journal and publishing activity of Smirdin.
The chronological framework of the dissertation: 1795-1857, years of life of A.F. Smirdin.
The degree of scientific development of the problem. Personality and activity of A.F. Smirdin, despite the presence of several biographies, has not been studied thoroughly enough.
The historical reputation of A.F. Smirdin acquired thanks to the characteristics of V.G. Belinsky: "... the fifth period of our literature, which began with the birth of the first part of" Housewarming "and which can and should be called Smirdinsky<...>for A.F. Smirdin is the head and manager of this period. However, despite such a high assessment of Belinsky, Smirdin's activities began to be scientifically investigated only from the end of the 1920s.
The first serious study of the publishing activity of A.F. Smirdin became the monograph of T. Grits, V. Trenin, M. Nikitin “Literature and commerce. Bookstore A.F. Smirdin ”, which was published in 1929, almost 100 years after the death of the publisher. The work combined the study of popular literature as a forerunner of mass literature and a look at the activities of A.F. Smirdin as a phenomenon due to the requirements of the time. The purpose of the book, according to V. Shklovsky, is “to disperse Smirdin. Separate the complex fact of the appearance of a professional writer from the "housewarming" in the shop on Nevsky. "A separate study of the media published by Smirdin, as well as the construction of his complete biography. It was not part of the task of the authors of this monograph.
The next major study of the life and work of A.F. Smirdin became his biography, the author of which is N.N. Smirnov-Sokolsky 5 . There is no doubt that the author was seriously influenced by the point of view
2 Belinsky V.G. Full composition of writings. - M., 1955. - T. 8. - P. 160. Grits T., Trenin V., Nikitin M. Literature and Commerce (A. Smirdin's Bookstore). - M., 2001.
4 Grits T., Trenin V., Nikitin. Decree. op. - S. 5.
5 Smirnov-Sokolsky N. A.F. Smirdin's bookstore.- M., 1957.
V.G. Belinsky, in Soviet time which was official. Thus, A.F. Smirdin was introduced in the biography as kindest soul a man, a philanthropist, who put all his strength into the development of Russian literature and journalism.
It cannot be argued that such a point of view is unfounded - a lot of memoirs, notes, memoirs of the publisher's contemporaries testify that he was respected and even loved. “... The more I get to know this person, the more I feel love and respect for him: this is the noblest and most good-natured creature that you will meet a few in life. Under the undressed rough bark, he keeps kindest heart and the noblest mind, ”wrote K. Polevoy. Echoes Polevoy and A.V. Nikitenko: “Smirdin is a truly kind and honest person, but he is not educated and, what is worse for him, has no character. Our writers own his pocket like a lease. He may be ruined by their mercy. That would be a real disaster for our literature! It is unlikely that she will wait for another such disinterested and ingenuous publisher” 7 .
However, despite the temptation to introduce A.F. Smirdin in the role of a disinterested and good-natured old man, we must not forget that, first of all, he was a businessman, and very successful at the same time. The profits that he received allowed him to pay high fees to his authors and pay 200 rubles each. banknotes to the journalists who worked for him.
Therefore, despite the carefully collected information and many interesting facts discovered by N. Smirnov-Sokolsky, the biography of A.F. Smirdina, written by him, does not represent a complete and objective assessment of the life and work of the bookseller.
6 Polevoy K.S. Notes. - St. Petersburg, 1888. - S. 235.
7 Nikitenko A.V. Notes and diaries (1826-1877). - St. Petersburg, 1893. - S. 252.
The last, most recent research on the topic was the monograph by L.S. Kishkin 8 . This book is in many ways similar to the study of Smirnov-Sokolsky. The title of the study contains a quote by Annenkov about Smirdin: "Honest, kind, simple-hearted ...". In this vein, the author talks about the bookseller, apparently sincerely admiring him. This work is also interesting for a large amount of new, previously unpublished material, but it misses the commercial side of A.F. Smirdin, which made him the most successful bookseller and publisher of the first half of the 19th century.
In general, researchers of the bookseller's activities, referring to his bright and most significant achievements, such as opening a store on Nevsky Prospekt, writing "Painting Russian 1 Books" - paid little attention to no less interesting and important aspects, for example, the technical side of the publishing house he created. affairs.
This work is an attempt to consider the activities of A.F. Smirdin as a stage in the development of the history of Russian journalism and in connection with the technical side of publishing.
Sourcebaseresearch. Sources
used when working on a scientific work can be divided into three main groups: a) catalogs and paintings, in the creation of which A.F. Smirdin himself participated; b) modern A.F. Smirdin
8 Kishkin L.S. Honest, kind, simple-minded ... - M., 1995.
9 Annenkov P.V. Literary Memories. - M., I960. - S. 144.
10 Tolstyakov A.P. The outstanding scribe of Pushkin's time A.F. Smirdin
and Russian writers // Book: research and materials. - M., 1991. - Sat. 63. - S. 72-85.
11 He is. About the non-existent book lottery of A.F. Smirdin // Book:
research and materials. - M., 1988. - Sat. 56. - S. 165-172.
periodicals; c) sources of personal origin - memoirs and correspondence of contemporaries A.F. Smirdin.
Among the catalogs that were compiled by order of A.F. Smirdin over a fairly long period of his activity, the most famous and complete is "Painting Russian books for reading from the library of Alexander Smirdin, systematically arranged". Several additions have also been made to The Painting. This document contains one of the most complete lists literature, both scientific and artistic, which was in demand by the reader in the first half of the 19th century.
"Painting" clearly demonstrates the scope of the bookselling business, the size and content of the public library of A.F. Smirdin.
The second group of sources used in the work is connected with another aspect of A.F. Smirdin's activity - journalism. The bookseller owned the Library for Reading magazine, which at the beginning of the 19th century gained truly massive popularity. He paid fees to the editor-in-chief of the magazine - I.O. Senkovsky, as well as journalists and other employees who worked in the publication. In addition, in A.F. Smirdin at various times gave funds to the magazines Russian Invalid and Son of the Fatherland. With the help of publications, the bookseller provided himself with generous advertising. Therefore, when writing a scientific work, the archives of publications with which A.F. Smirdin. Most attention was paid to the "Library for reading".
The third group of sources, although the least historically reliable, provided a large amount of material about the publisher. A.F. Smirdin, as mentioned above, was a prominent figure,
Painting of Russian books for reading, from the library of Alexander Smirdin, systematically arranged. - St. Petersburg, 1828.
created a viable commercial system of book publishing and book sales. His contemporaries understood the significance of what A.F. Smirdin had done, so almost every memoirist considered it necessary to mention the bookseller in his notes.
The first attempt to understand the role of A.F. Smirdin in the history of Russian journalism is "Collection of literary articles dedicated by Russian writers to the memory of the late bookseller-publisher Alexander Filippovich Smirdin. Publication of St. Petersburg booksellers for the benefit of the family of A.F. Smirdin and for the construction of a monument to him. It was there that attempts were first made to summarize the results of A.F. Smirdin: 1 "Smirdin was the first bookseller who put himself, and behind him the whole trade, in the right relationship with literature and readers" 13 .
He wrote a lot about A.F. Smirdine N.I. Greek, often retelling those who went to high society jokes. In particular, we owe it to “Notes about my life” 14 Grech for the story of the famous housewarming holiday that Smirdin arranged when he opened his shop on Nevsky Prospekt.
They wrote about Smirdin A.V. Nikitenko 15 and K.S. Polevoy 16, who collaborated with the book publisher (A.V. Nikitenko was appointed censor of the "Library for Reading"). Both Nikitenko and Polevoy in their memoirs provide a lot of interesting, albeit not always confirmed, facts about the activities of A.F. Smirdin.
Collection of literary articles dedicated by Russian writers to the memory of the late bookseller-publisher Alexander Filippovich Smirdin. Publication of St. Petersburg booksellers for the benefit of the family of A.F. Smirdin and for the construction of a monument to him. - St. Petersburg, 1858. - T. 1. - S.28.
Grech N.I. Notes about my life. - St. Petersburg, 1886.
15 Nikitenko A.V. Notes and diaries (1826-1877). - St. Petersburg, 1893.
16 Polevoy K.S. Notes. - St. Petersburg, 1888.
A lot of valuable information is also contained in the correspondence of contemporaries, in which the name of A.F. Smirdin is regularly mentioned. When writing a scientific work, the personal correspondence of the book was used. Vyazemsky with A.I. Turgenev and I.I. Dmitriev, as well as the few surviving documents of A.F. Smirdin with A.S. Pushkin.
Subject of study- publishing activity of A.F. Smirdin in the context of the history of Russian journalism and the technical improvement of typographical business that took place at the beginning of the 19th century.
Research structure. The work consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a list of references and references.
The main milestones in the biography of A.F. Smirdin
The task of this chapter is to build, as far as possible, a complete biography of A.F. Smirdin.
The official biography of Smirdin shows the researcher a successful but uneducated person who achieved wealth and success more due to luck than to his abilities. The reason for the ruin of the bookseller is usually called the financial machinations of Senkovsky, Bulgarin and Grech, adding to this the ruinous contract of Smirdin and Plushar.
Smirdin, one of the richest, most successful and famous people of his time, involuntarily seems to be a short-sighted person, too trusting and naive. Such a portrait of the publisher is presented to the reader by both L.S. Kishkin and N. Smirnov-Sokolsky, two of the most prominent biographers of Smirdin.
Meanwhile, both biographies successfully bypass several blank spots in the history of the bookseller's life, and also ignore the fact that the sacrificial image of Smirdin does not fit well with his achievements and successes. A person short-sighted and gullible to such an extent would hardly be able to build a book publishing and book-selling business, comparable in scale only to Novikov's empire. Those innovations and improvements that Smirdin introduced indicate, on the contrary, a cunning and skillful businessman who deftly bypasses dangerous competitors. And the facts of the biography, previously presented as evidence of the gentle, good-natured, narrow-minded nature of the bookseller, can be looked at from a different angle.
After all, the thirties of the XIX century in the history of Russian, literature and journalism / Belinsky; called the "Smirda period". This period is characterized by penetration, cash! relationships; in literature and journalism.
Thus, literature began to be perceived as a commodity that can be sold and bought. Earlier, during the period of "philanthropic literature", there was no such attitude - literary works: were perceived as examples of art that could bring fame, location, but not a permanent, stable, income. On the other hand, the pay for journalistic and writing work contributed not only to the emergence of professionals in this field; . “Let us rejoice from a sincere heart and the fact that now talent and diligence give (though not to everyone) an honest piece of bread”; - wrote Belinsky in the article “On criticism and literary opinions 18: But together:stem? For many publishers-and authors, royalties become a means of getting rich.
Against this background, A.F; Smirdin can hardly be imagined as a minion of fate, who happened to be at the right time in the right place .. Rather, on the contrary, the figure of a businessman looms before the researcher; a man who was able to correctly assess the opportunities offered to him by a young but rapidly developing book market, and take advantage of these opportunities: Studying the main milestones of Smirdin's life and work allows us to trace how the myth of a poorly educated but successful bookseller who fell victim to deceit and intrigue was formed from those close to him. Several memoirs of friends; point, view of Belinsky; in Soviet scientific thought, perceived as an axiom - and the image of one of the first "businessmen"; tough, sensitive to the needs of society and time, in the Russian journalistic market has turned into a portrait of a suffering patron who distributed his millionth fortune to people unworthy of his kindness.
Most versions agree that A.F. Smirdin was born in Moscow on January 21 (February 1), 1795 in the family of a linen retailer, in a house on Luzhnikovskaya Street not far from the Church of the Holy Trinity, where he was baptized. There is another version: A.F. Smirdin was born in Volokolamsk district in 1794. 19 But most sources give the year 1795. In the metrics of the Trinity Church under January 21, 1795 (found by the bibliologist P.V. Guryanov) there is an entry: “In the house of the Moscow third guild merchant Nikita Artemyev, the son of Zaikin, the son Alexander was born to the tenant of his Volokolamsky merchant Philip Sergeyev and baptized on the same day of January 24 .. .» . The surname of Smirdin's father is not indicated in the birth record - for those who were classified as "lower" classes, only the name and patronymic were noted in the documents.
The version about the birth of A.F. Smirdin in Moscow seems to be the most probable. The "Volokolamsk" version could have arisen due to the fact that Philip Smirdin, Alexander's father, was from the Volokolamsk district. The ancestors of A.F. Smirdin were peasants and lived in the village of Smirdino, Volokolamsk district, Moscow province.
This information came from Alexander Vladimirovich Smirdin, the grandson of A.F. Smirdin, and is confirmed in the memoirs of the granddaughter of one of his brothers (Adrian), Zoya Sergeevna Serebrovskaya. They say that her great-grandfather Philip Smirdin, already being a Volokolamsk tradesman, moved to Moscow in 1791 -. The petition of the father of the future publisher to the provincial government for enrollment in the Moscow merchant class, which was granted in October 1792, has been preserved in 1792. The text of the passport dated 04/30/1792 was attached to the petition, which said: “The announcer of this Moscow province of the city of Volokolamsk, the tradesman Philip Sergeev, son of Smerdin, who was released from the Volokolamsk city magistrate to various Great Russian and Little Russian cities for trade ...” . The petition was signed “Philip Sergeev Smerdin”, but his children are listed as “Smirdins”24. There is also short description appearance of the father of the book publisher: “two arshins six inches tall, oblong face, straight nose, gray eyes, fair hair on the head and eyebrows.”25
The street where A.F. Smirdin was born has not been preserved, but the house of the merchant Zaikin is believed to have survived, although in a modified form. This is house number 16 on Bakhrushina street. In addition to Adrian, A.F. Smirdin also had a brother, Mikhail, who helped him in distributing books "(after the death of his brother, he published a two-volume edition of" Songs for the Russian people, with couplets, "which included 478 songs and 382 couplets collected by him ourselves).
Prior to starting his own book publishing business, A.F. Smirdin worked for three booksellers.
From 7 to. 10 years like this. was accepted in the Moscow trade petty-bourgeois environment, A.F. Smirdin studied literacy, writing, reading and arithmetic from a deacon, who, according to L.S. Kishkin ",. was at the Church of the Holy Trinity. It is known that A.FiSmirdin discovered curiosity and a sharp mind during training. Further versions argue with each other. According to one of them, when the boy was 13 years old, his father defined him as a "boy" in uncle's bookshop - P.A. The opinion is expressed that not 1804, but 1807 should be considered a more reliable date; because even during the life of Smirdin; it was supposed to celebrate in 1857 the fiftieth anniversary of his bookseller activity; what did he know.
The work that; - instructed. A.F: Smirdin at first, had little to do with the actual sale of: books: she had to sweep the shop, run for boiling water. Ilyin's shop was located in the barn, with a solution to the street that did not close and; in winter;.:
Publishing activity of A.F. Smirdin. Smirdin and journalism of his era
The purpose of this chapter is to study the media published and sponsored by Smirdin at various stages of his business career.
In a period when commercial journalism was just in its infancy, and patronage was still flourishing, personal relationships between the publisher and the authors who collaborated with him played an important role in the production of magazines and newspapers. Since Smirdin was a large and significant figure in the commercial book publishing business, his circle of contacts was extremely wide. It should be noted that A.F. Smirdin often spoke in liaison role the link between the “high world”, that is, the environment of poets, artists, writers, among whom the nobles prevailed at that time, and the “technical” world, that group of people, often uneducated, who were engaged in labor associated with the process of creating a book as a material carrier .
Among contemporaries A.F. Smirdin was well known. Throughout his publishing career, he worked closely with prominent writers and journalists of the era: A.S. Pushkin, I.A. Krylov, I.O. Senkovsky, N.I. Grech, F. Bulgarin. Estimates of his activities were given various: from laudatory to blasphemous. Special attention it is worth paying attention to the work of A.F. Smirdin with A.S. Pushkin and I.O. Senkovsky.
The abundance of opinions, assessments, comments indicates that A.F. Smirdin played very important role in the literary life of his time, but not as an author, creator of texts, but as their distributor. He was an intermediary between writers and the public, which in early XVIII experienced literary hunger for centuries. Smirdin and Pushkin Relations between the publisher and the poet were somewhat tense throughout the entire period of their cooperation. There were several reasons for this. The first of them - the roles of Smirdin and Pushkin - are strikingly different from the image of the "publisher-author", as we see it now. Currently, the publisher is in the lead; as a person, with your business connections and means? responsible for the success of the publication and, accordingly, choosing it; edition with great: caution and; thoroughness. At the time of the emergence of commercial relations between the author and the book publisher - during Smirdin - did he enjoy the greatest influence? the author, since it is the author; and not the publisher, belonged: to the nobility and. possessed all the privileges and rights of their social position.
This is how money matters were resolved between. Pushkin, his intermediary in the affairs of OM. Somov (subsequently, the poet refused his services due to the extreme negligence of the latter in the conduct of business), Grech and, only in the very last place, Smirdin: “Dear Emperor Alexander Sergeevich! From Smirdin I receive, under an agreement with Grech, only 800 rubles. per year, as evidenced by Grech's handwritten note, which still remains in Smirdin's hands. The remaining 1000 rubles, according to our common condition with Grech, I put at your disposal, and you only have to take the Assignment from Grech in the name of Smirdin or anyone else. wonder; how Smirdin did not understand this from my note, where exactly it is said; that;I first only two months; due to my illness; I take from him 150 rubles each, the rest 10; I will receive 50 rubles for months, which will be only 800 rubles. Consequently, you can easily arrange with Grech about the 1000 rubles he has withheld from me just for you. From this letter it becomes clear that, for the most part, all Smirdin's participation in the case was reduced to the issuance of money.
Therefore, although Smirdin paid Pushkin for his works, it cannot be thought that he could in any way control or influence him. The only thing that could cause a delay in payment was mocking annoyance: “Smirdin plunged me into trouble; This merchant has seven Fridays in a week, His Thursday is actually Thursday after the rain. At the same time, Pushkin was often in dire need of money, which he often demanded from Smirdin for the purchase of his works. But it would be wrong to believe that Smirdin was ready to buy everything that Pushkin offered him. It cannot be denied that the nature of the bookseller was mild, sometimes even unnecessarily, but he resolved business issues confidently. Moreover, he understood what would sell and what would not. The main criterion for the bookseller was the opinion of the public. Therefore, he equally willingly published and republished Ivan Vyzhigin and at the same time paid incredible money to Krylov for fables, and to Pushkin for The Fountain of Bakhchisarai. The most important thing for the bookseller was not the artistic value of the work, but its commercial success:
“Under the condition concluded on behalf of Pushkin by Pletnev in 1830, S. acquired for four years the right to publish all of Pushkin’s works that had already been published, paying the poet 600 rubles a month during this period. ac. When in 1835 Pushkin was preparing to publish Sovrem., Smirdin offered him 15 thousand rubles so that he would step back from his enterprise and become an employee of his Library again. Pushkin refused, because "Senkovskiy is such a beast, and Smirdin is such a fool that it is impossible to contact them" (Nashchokin, 1835)."
Despite this, Pushkin "contacted" with Smirdin quite often, and the reason for this was not closeness and friendly relations between them, but money issues. “Pushkin,” Korf cites an example in “A Note on Pushkin,” received huge sums of money from Smirdin, which the latter was never able to get back. Smirdin often found himself in the most cramped financial circumstances, but Pushkin did not lift a finger to help his patron. However, he could never help with money, because a dissolute life kept him in constant debts that the sovereign paid for him; but even this was always an abandoned good deed, because Pushkin repaid the sovereign only with some smooth word of gratitude and promises of future works, which were never realized and, perhaps, would have come true more quickly if the poet had been left to himself and his own forces. Pushkin looked at literature as a cash cow and knew that Smirdin, who was fed by others, let himself be milked mainly by him; but as long as he was patient, Pushkin preferred the calmest path - making debts, and only when the drought was complete did he set to work. So, Smirdin often acted as Pushkin's guarantor in money matters. “You deigned to reassure me,” wrote the poet A.A. Ananin, “that around the present time I can get another 2000 rubles from you. According to my account, I have more than 1500 r. no need - Smirdin is ready to vouch for them. Smirdin was often ready to vouch for Pushkin - the poet used a bookseller - when he had no money, and considered this a completely ordinary matter.
The poet himself called his own; relations with the publisher “technical” and “trade”: “Having fulfilled your commission regarding Smirdin and not having received a satisfactory answer from him, I still did not dare to write to you about it: the barbarity of our literary trade infuriates me. Smirdin has entangled himself with various obligations, bought novels and the like, and does not begin to make any conditions; tragedies are not sold out now!, he says in his technical language.
There are several historical anecdotes associated with Smirdin and his communication with. Pushkin, many of them - in the memoirs of Panaeva. This kind of memoirs of contemporaries; clearly demonstrate the relationship between the publisher and the author of the beginning; XIX century. So, it becomes quite clear that Smirdin; understanding; how profitable it is for him to cooperate with Pushkin, behaved extremely cautiously.
The material base of the publishing activity of A.F. Smirdin
When studying publishing in Russia in the 18th century, attention should be paid not only to the biography of A.F. Smirdin itself, but also to the process of making a book, the technology of its creation, and the materials used in its design. The author does not consider it possible to omit and general characteristics book publishing in the "Smirda" era, to list the largest and most successful printing houses - this will help to get the most complete impression of the conditions in which A.F. Smirdin's book trade and book publishing enterprise was born and developed.
The book of the first half of the 18th century differed from the modern one, firstly, in the materials used in its manufacture, and, secondly, in the technology used to create it. Since the 18th century, the rate of development of book printing has been constantly increasing and reaches its climax in the first half of the 19th century. Here, one of the conclusions made by T. Grits, V. Trenin and M. Nikitin in the book “Literature and Commerce” about the phenomenon of A.F. Smirdin as a requirement of time, an inevitable consequence of the process of commercialization of literature. Along with the development of technological processes, the appearance books: “instead of thick belts for stitching books, they began to use a special braid, thinner and more flexible, they began to stick hand-made captal to book notebooks” .
The appearance in the 18th century of fundamentally new types and types of publications contributed to the formation in Russia of a modern way of organizing the publishing and printing form of a book. Title elements of the book ( characteristics their design, the order of the text), the reference apparatus of the publication is gradually acquiring the form familiar to modern readers.
It should also be noted that one of the achievements of A.F. Smirdin is considered to be a significant reduction in the prices of books, the transformation of a book into an affordable commodity. On the other hand, Smirdin's contemporaries also see the negative in this: “Trade now controls our literature, and everything has obeyed its calculations; all works of the verbal world are calculated on the basis of trade; a course is laid on thoughts and forms.”159
A.F. Smirdin, as one of the most major book publishers and booksellers of the 19th century, he received his main income not from the sale of books for individual orders, but from the release of cheap and affordable publications. T. Grits and V. Trenin indicate their reason for this160: the skillful combination of popular print literature with the then new machine technologies, which made it possible to produce huge circulations at that time.
It should be noted that it was in the first half of the 19th century that a technological breakthrough occurred in the field of typography. This made it possible to move from the manual, handicraft creation of the book as a material carrier to the actual mass reproduction. This leads to two very important consequences.
First of all, the book is getting cheaper. This refers to the material from which the book is made - piece copies, upholstered in expensive leather with gold embossing, are replaced by cheap cardboard. At the same time, labor costs are falling. For changing handmade printing presses are coming.
The Antiquarian Book textbook describes a 19th-century book in the following way. The type of book binding was important, which often reflects the main literary trends era. The book binding consisted of two strong, most often hard covers (front and back) and a spine where the sheets were inserted. Endpapers - sheets thick paper, folded in half - glued at the beginning and end of the book to the outermost notebook of the book block and the inside of the cover. They performed a dual function: fastening the pages of the book and at the same time decorating it. Also in "a bound book there was often a captal - a silk or cotton braid that was attached to the spine"161. It served to hold the pages more firmly, and it was also used as a piece of artwork for the edition.
According to the design, the bindings are divided into two main types (the classification is given according to the work “Antique book”): - solid (entirely covered), the sides and spines of which are covered with a single piece of binding material; - Composite, for the manufacture of which different materials are used.
The earliest in time of occurrence is the one-piece binding (salary, everyday binding). The first composite bindings (leather with marbled paper) appeared in Russia only in the middle of the 18th century. In subsequent historical periods both types of bindings developed in parallel. Returning to the actual books that came out of the printing house of A.F. Smirdin, it is worth noting that the bound books still cost not a penny. When mentioning the period of commercialization of journalism and publishing, the emphasis is always on two points. The book in the "Smirda period" becomes cheaper and therefore becomes available to a wide range of readers.
But the publications of A.F. Smirdin were distinguished by the quality1 of execution, close to the European one, which was repeatedly mentioned by his contemporaries. The publisher ordered engravings abroad - one has only to remember how the book publisher was deceived, who ordered expensive English engravings, but received badly executed engravings from Dresden. And yet the price varied depending on the quality of the publication - A.F. Smirdin produced and quite expensive books. Not in. last of all, this was determined by the material from which the cover was made. According to the classification proposed by the work "Antique Book", the most common and ancient binding material is leather, which was widely used for the manufacture of all types and types of binding, both individual, proprietary, and for sale (publishing). “The oldest variety used in Russian bookbinding is calfskin, which has a number of varieties, the best of which are: - outgrowth (skin of calves at the age of one year); - calf leather (skin of a two-year-old calf): - Calfskin is textureless, has a smooth front surface, which has been additionally polished, and is highly durable”164. In addition to calf, in Russian bookbinding, the following types of leather were used as binding material: - “ram - sheepskin; low-strength compared to other varieties (it easily lifts up on a book), can be dyed in any color (it was dyed mainly in black, dark brown and green colors). It became widespread in Russia in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, it was used to make cheap bindings for mass-produced books” 65; - “bovine leather is a type of leather characterized by high strength. It is rarely used in bookbinding, mainly in those cases when the pattern on the cover of the cover is knocked out with punches or cut out with a knife; - velor (chrome leather) - chrome-tanned leather, produced from dense small skins of cattle or pigs; when grinding, it acquires a pronounced hairiness. Rarely used in bookbinding.
Russia (USSR)
Russian publisher.
Alexander Smirdin from childhood he served in various Moscow bookstores, and in 1817 he entered St. Petersburg as an clerk to the bookseller V.A. Plavlshchikov, after whose death, in 1825, according to the will of the former owner, he became the owner of his library, printing house and bookstore.
It is characteristic that in book publishing A.F. Smirdin guided not on the capricious metropolitan nobility, and on the wider readership - mainly on the provincial landowners. He sought to publish books in large numbers, but at affordable prices. The calculation turned out to be correct ... Later, the book publisher repeated a similar move I.D. Sytin for even more broad circles Russian society.
In 1832 A.F. Smirdin opened a new bookstore in St. Petersburg on Nevsky Prospekt with a library attached to it. After 2 years, he founded the first Russian "thick" monthly magazine - "Library for Reading", and from 1838 he published the magazine "Son of the Fatherland".
Exactly Alexander Filippovich Smirdin for the first time in the Russian press, he introduced sheet payment for the author (for example, works A.S. Pushkin).
Unfortunately, by 1837 A.F. Smirdin broke...
“Perhaps the most significant and popular in St. Petersburg in the first half of the 19th century was the book trade of A.F. Smirdin. Alexander Filippovich Smirdin entered the history of Russian book publishing as the founder of a new period in publishing, a period later named after him. “The name of the publisher, bookseller Smirdin has long ago acquired general fame in Russia,” he wrote. V.G. Belinsky. - In the eyes of the public, Mr. Smirdin has long ceased to belong to the number of ordinary book dealers. No, the Russian public saw in the city of Smirdin a bookseller on a European footing, a bookseller with a noble pride, for whom it was not so much important to make money through books, but to merge his name with Russian literature, to enter it into its annals.
And indeed, despite the commercial nature of Smirdin's activities, her with good reason should be called educational. Starting as a “boy” in a Moscow bookstore, during the capture of Moscow by the French army in 1812, he reached St. Petersburg on foot, making his way through alms, where after some time he got a job in Plavilytsikov’s bookstore. There, a semi-literate young man showed remarkable abilities, extraordinary diligence and big love to the book.
This prompted Plavilytsikov not only to appoint him chief clerk, but also to bequeath to Smirdin a printing house, a bookstore and a library. Smirdin sacredly honored the memory of his teacher and in every possible way preserved many of his undertakings, but at the same time significantly expanded the publishing business, setting it up on a commercial basis, greatly increasing circulation and reducing the cost of the book. […] Smirdin helped writers a lot, including A.S. Pushkin, to which he treated with reverence and love, highly appreciated everything that came out from the pen of the great poet. So, in the early 1830s, when Pushkin's expenses increased sharply in connection with his marriage, Smirdin took over the sale of all his previously published, but not sold out, works, for which he paid the poet 600 rubles a month. In addition to Pushkin's works, Smirdin published I.A. Krylova, N.V. Gogol, V.A. Zhukovsky, K.N. Batyushkova, P.A. Vyazemsky, carried out reprinting of works M.V. Lomonosov and G.R. Derzhavin. Successful business management allowed Smirdin in 1832 to transfer his store, located on the Moika near the Blue Bridge, to a luxurious building on Nevsky Prospekt (d. 22). N.M. Karamzin described the store as follows: “On Nevsky Prospekt in a beautiful new building that belonged to the Lutheran Church St. Petra, in the lower housing there is a book trade in Smirdin. Russian books in rich bindings stand proudly behind glass in mahogany cabinets, and polite clerks, guiding the buyers, satisfy everyone's needs with extraordinary speed. In the upper housing above the store, a reading library is being arranged, the first in Russia in terms of wealth and completeness ... The heart is comforted at the thought that finally our Russian literature has entered honor and moved from the cellars to the halls. Unfortunately, such a fruitful love of Smirdin for Russian literature and writers personally led him to ruin.
The writer A. V. Nikitenko noted in his diary about Smirdin: “Our writers own his pocket like a lease. He may be ruined by their mercy. That would be a real disaster for our literature.”
Indeed, some writers have abused the benevolent attitude of the publisher, among them - especially Bulgarin, Senkovsky and Grech. As a result, by the end of the 1930s, Smirdin was experiencing great difficulties.
In 1839, he makes an attempt to unite Russian writers in the fundamental publication "One Hundred Russian Writers" with their portraits and reviews of creativity. But the publication, despite the luxurious design, was unsuccessful and unprofitable. The attempt to publish the Encyclopedic Lexicon also ended in failure.
From 1840 to the year of death 1857 - for Smirdin there was a period of struggle with ruin and debts. Despite all the attempts of an experienced "scribe", his affairs went from bad to worse, and he died A.F. Smirdin in complete poverty, forgotten by many of those whom he helped so much during his lifetime.
Yakovkina N.I., History of Russian culture. First half of the 19th century, St. Petersburg, Lan, 1998, p. 81-83.
News
Beginning January 20, 2019 VIIth season of Sunday online lectures by I.L. Vikentieva
at 19:59 (Moscow time) about creativity, creativity and new developments in TRIZ. Due to numerous requests from non-resident Readers of the portal site, since the fall of 2014, there has been a weekly Internet broadcast free lectures I.L. Vikentieva about T creative individuals / teams and modern techniques creativity. Parameters of online lectures:
1) The lectures are based on Europe's largest database on creative technologies, containing more than 58 000 materials;
2) This base data was collected during 40 years and formed the basis of the portal website;
3) To replenish the database of the portal site, I.L. Vikentiev works daily 5-7 kg(kilograms) scientific books;
4) About 30-40% the time of online lectures will be answers to questions asked by the Listeners during registration;
5) The lecture material does NOT contain any mystical and/or religious approaches, attempts to sell something to the Listeners, etc. nonsense.
6) Part of the video recordings of online lectures can be found at.
44th full-time conference site "Creativity Strategies", will be held in the center of St. Petersburg near Nevsky Prospekt during the "white nights" on June 22, 2019 (Saturday).
220 years since the birth of the outstanding St. Petersburg publisher A. F. Smirdin (1795-1857) .
“The heart is comforted at the thought that, finally, our Russian literature has entered the honor and moved from the cellars to the halls. This somehow inspires the writer, ”the Severnaya Pchela newspaper wrote about the relocation of the bookstore and library of A.F. Smirdin to a new, luxurious for those times premises on Nevsky Prospekt at the end of 1831. And in 1833, in memory of this event, the almanac "Housewarming" was published, which V.G. Belinsky called "the best Russian almanac". So Smirdin's activity gave the name to another (fifth) period of Russian literature according to Belinsky's classification, who, in his "Literary Dreams", arguing about the periodization of Russian literature, wrote as follows: "... it remains to mention the fifth, ... which can and should be called Smirdin's, ... for A.F. Smirdin is the head and manager of this period. Of course this important event preceded by others, no less important, and most of the life of Alexander Filippovich Smirdin.
Who is he, A.F. Smirdin, why was his name not lost among a whole series of names of bookmakers, why did the memory of him remain? Galina Fortygina, librarian of the fiction subscription, will tell about this to the readers of the VO!Circle of Books blog.
Alexander Filippovich Smirdin was born on February 1, 1795 in Moscow, in the family of a small linen merchant. The father could not provide his son with education due to lack of funds and gave him as a "boy" to the shop of the Moscow bookseller Ilyin. In a short time, the "boy" achieved the position of a clerk. So, having started working in the book trade, Smirdin did not change his occupation until his death. Later, the fateful meeting of Smirdin with the St. Petersburg bookseller V.A. Plavlshchikov, to whom he entered the service. Talent, diligence and practical ingenuity led to the fact that Smirdin, having started working as a simple clerk in V.A. Plavilshchikov, later became the owner of the book business and developed a wide book-selling and publishing activity.
The success of Smirdin as a publisher begins with the release in 1829 of “a moral and satirical novel by F.V. Bulgarin "Ivan Vyzhigin". A huge circulation for those times, about 4 thousand copies, sold out in three weeks. It was one of the first novels in Russia written on the material of Russian life, and therefore was perceived by contemporaries almost as the first "Russian" novel. Smirdin's prosperity was facilitated by the publication of A.S. Pushkin "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray", which had an unprecedented success with the reader. In the early 1830s, Smirdin acquired the right to sell all of Pushkin's previously published works, but for this the publisher paid unusually high fees for those times.
And at the end of 1831, Smirdin took a new step in the field of book trade - he moved his bookstore to a larger building on Nevsky Prospekt. Smirdin's bookstore and library for reading on Nevsky Prospekt, opposite the Kazan Cathedral, very soon became a kind of literary salon, where writers of various trends gathered. Pushkin was a frequent visitor and participated in the opening in February 1832. Somewhat later, together with Sobolevsky, he composed a comic epigram on the regulars of the salon:
If you go to Smirdin,
You won't find anything there.
You won't buy anything there.
You will only push Senkovsky
Or you step into Bulgarin
At the bookstore, Smirdin opened a library where books could be borrowed for a small fee. Thus, in one enterprise, commercial and cultural principles were successfully combined. Such a system worked perfectly, but commercial success is not the most important thing, such activities of Smirdin served to popularize reading, those people whose income was very modest began to come to the library. In addition to all this, Smirdin created a printed catalog "Painting Russian books for reading from the library of A. Smirdin", which retained the role of a valuable reference book. This catalog, published in 1828, together with additions (in 1829, 1832, 1852 and 1856) has always been and remains one of the main bibliographic reference books on Russian literature of the previous time.
Another interesting and important cultural initiative of A.F. Smirdin, which at the same time had commercial success, was the publication of the journal Library for Reading. The first book of the new magazine appeared in January 1834. It was the first Russian thick encyclopedic journal, recognized as a literary fact.
So, now it became clear why the name A.F. Smirdin was not lost among a number of names of book leaders. Here are some more facts and results.
Thanks to the activities of A.F. Smirdin significantly expanded the circle of the Russian reading public. High-quality, but inexpensive due to mass circulation (3-4 thousand copies) books poured from the capital to the provinces. Reading has ceased to be the lot of wealthy people. Thanks to Smirdin, noted V.G. Belinsky, "the purchase of books has more or less become available to that class of people who read the most and, consequently, need books the most."
The paid library at the bookstore also played an outstanding cultural role.
Smirdin's activities contributed to the popularization of Russian literature. He published Karamzin, Lomonosov, Derzhavin, Pushkin, Gogol, Krylov, initiated the publication of the Complete Works of Russian Authors series, within which he published over 70 volumes (small format) of works by more than 35 Russian writers, including K.N. Batyushkova, D.V. Venevitinova, A.S. Griboedova, M.Yu. Lermontov, M.V. Lomonosov, D.I. Fonvizin, as well as Empress Catherine II.
Smirdin, as the publisher of the first Russian "thick" magazine "Library for Reading", laid the foundation for the existence of "thick" magazines in Russia. V.G. Belinsky wrote: "Before him, our journalism existed only for a few, only for the elite, only for amateurs, but not for society."
A.F. Smirdin was the first in Russia to introduce a permanent payment for author's work.
So, in history, Alexander Filippovich Smirdin will forever be remembered as a book publisher who made a revolution in the Russian book trade and, as a result, in Russian literature.
Sources:
Barenbaum, I.E. History of the book: a textbook for universities / I.E. Barenbaum. - M.: Book, 1984. - 248s.;
Zakrevskiy, Yu. In the footsteps of the book publisher Smirdin/ Yu. Zakrevskiy// Science and Life.– 2004.– No. 11.– P. 30–34.
Chereisky, L.A. Pushkin's contemporaries: documentary essays / L.A. Chereisky.– L.: Det. lit., 1981. 270s.
The review was prepared by Galina Fortygina, Librarian of the Fiction Loan Department.
Alexander Filippovich Smirdin was born on January 21 (February 1), 1795 in the family of a Moscow tradesman. At the age of 13, his father assigned his son to a "book" shop, in which he acquired his first skills in bookselling. In 1817, he moved to St. Petersburg to work in the new bookstore of the famous bookseller V. A. Plavilshchikov at the personal invitation of the owner. It is here that young Smirdin passes " high school» book business and as a bookseller, and as a future major bibliographer and publisher. After Plavilshchikov's death in 1823, Smirdin received his master's shop and his library for reading under his spiritual will.
In 1825, A.F. Smirdin began his independent book-selling and publishing activities. In 1829, he published the first book - "Ivan Vyzhigin" by F. V. Bulgarin.
At the turn of the 1820-1830s. Smirdin becomes a leading figure in the Russian book trade and book publishing business.
Successful trading activities contributed to the relocation of the bookshop and library to Nevsky Prospekt. This became a notable event in Russian cultural life: they wrote about him in newspapers, contemporaries discussed the event in letters. The move marked not only the commercial success of Smirdin, but also the transition to a new qualitative level of literature and all books. By this time, Alexander Filippovich was familiar with many Russian writers. The entire literary Petersburg was present at the housewarming celebration. Writers, in order to thank the hospitable host, decided to publish a collection in his honor. In 1833 and 1834 two books of the anthology "Housewarming" were published.
Mid 1830s was the time of the highest flourishing of Smirdin's bookselling and publishing activities. His shop and library on Nevsky Prospekt became the center of the literary Petersburg largely due to his business contacts with the best Russian writers. The "Smirda period" in the history of the development of the book business coincided with the "golden age" of Russian literature. Smirdin developed friendly relations with A. S. Pushkin, he published works by N. M. Karamzin, V. A. Zhukovsky and many others famous writers and poets, participated in the distribution of the posthumous edition of "Northern Flowers" by A. A. Delvig. In 1830, Smirdin purchased from I. A. Krylov for 40 thousand rubles the right to publish his fables for 10 years. He carried out 8 editions with a total circulation of 40,000 copies. In addition, in 1835 the fabulist edited the Library for Reading magazine published by Smirdin. Like Pushkin, Smirdin paid Krylov very high fees - 300 rubles for each new fable.
Before Smirdin, literary work was not considered as professional activity. Alexander Filippovich introduced a permanent payment of a fee, the size of which allowed the writer to devote himself entirely to literary work. During his activity, Smirdin published and sold books worth about 10 million rubles, and paid royalties of 1.5 million rubles (i.e., the profit from publishing was several times higher than the amount of royalties).
Alexander Filippovich significantly reduced the cost of books. For example, he bought from the heirs of N.M. Karamzin for a lot of money the right to publish the 12-volume History of the Russian State, which he printed in large numbers. This made it possible to sell a new edition for 30 rubles in banknotes (previously books cost 120-150 rubles).
Of great importance for the development of Russian bibliology, literature and science, not only in the 19th century, but also today, is Smirdin’s “Painting of Russian Books for Reading from the Library of Alexander Smirdin” published in 1828 and additions to it (1829, 1832).
In 1834, Smirdin founded the journal Library for Reading.
In 1839, Smirdin undertook the monumental publication of One Hundred Russian Writers.
In the early 1840s. Smirdin's book publishing and bookselling activity began to decline. Trying to get out of financial difficulties, he made debts, which did not save the situation. But even in these dark days, Smirdin did not cease to be active. In 1843 and 1844 he organized two book lotteries, which brought in an income of 150 thousand rubles, which were almost completely spent on paying off debts. Lotteries proved to be one of the ways in which books were distributed and contributed to the revival of the book trade. However, Smirdin's affairs went from bad to worse. And yet he continued to work.
In 1846, the publication of the Complete Works of Russian Authors series began. Starting to publish the first volumes of the series, Smirdin organizes the "Office for the publication of Russian classics and their expulsion to non-residents", a distant prototype of the "Book by mail".
In 1856, Smirdin was declared bankrupt, which caused a depression. A.F. Smirdin died in poverty on September 16 (28), 1857. He was buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery.
The name of the bookseller and publisher Alexander Filippovich Smirdin is forever inscribed in the history of Russian education and Russian literature.
Library for reading and bookstore A. F. Smirdin. Detail of the "Panorama of Nevsky Prospekt" by V. S. Sadovnikov. Lithography on stone by I. Ivanov
The exhibition was prepared by:
Idea, text, preparation of illustrative material - Shumkova I. A.
Text editing - Zyryanova I.V.
Posted on the site - Osetrov V.V.
Y. ZAKREVSKY, film director and book lover.
Portrait of A. S. Pushkin (watercolor 20.5x17 cm). 1831. The artist is unknown.
Book publisher and bibliophile Alexander Fedorovich Smirdin. Portrait mid-nineteenth century.
V. Gau. Portrait of Natalia Nikolaevna Pushkina. 1842
The title page of the anthology "Housewarming" with the image of Smirdin's Shop, located on Nevsky Prospekt next to the Lutheran Church.
A. P. Bryullov. "Dinner on the occasion of the opening of a new bookstore Smirdin." 1832-1833 years.
A. P. Sapozhnikov "In the bookstore of A. F. Smirdin".
On a watercolor by N. G. Chernetsov - St. Petersburg, Academy of Arts. 1826
Title page of the first issue of the journal "Library for Reading".
About dear companions who are our light
They gave life to their companions,
Do not speak with sadness: they are not!
But with gratitude: would be.
V. Zhukovsky
St. Petersburg, Moika Embankment, house 12. January 1837. On the second floor lies the seriously wounded Alexander Pushkin. Doctors at the bedside - Spassky and Dal, friends - Vyazemsky, Danzas, Zhukovsky, Arendt, Zagryazhskaya. In the next room, his wife and children - Pushkin did not want to disturb them. The staircase and the hallway are full of people, people of all conditions.
The dying man is tormented by pain, and even more so by death longing. A few minutes before his death, he tried to get up. “I dreamed that I was climbing up these books and shelves with you!” Zhukovsky recalls the words of the poet. It may very well be that Pushkin also said goodbye to his book friends. I didn’t finish writing, I didn’t finish reading, I didn’t return the books to the library ... On each one there is a sticker: “From the library of A. Smirdin. Those who wish to use it are favored to subscribe and pay: for a whole year - 30 rubles, and with magazines in addition - 20 rubles. ". Pushkin was her regular, although he laughed at the owner:
No matter how you come to Smirdin,
You won't buy anything
Il Senkovsky you will find,
Or you will step into Bulgarin.
Alexander Filippovich Smirdin idolized the poet, and he laughed it off:
Smirdin got me into trouble,
The merchant has seven Fridays in the week,
His Thursday is actually
There is "after the rain on Thursday."
What did this "merchant" annoy Pushkin with? Paid for poetry late? So after all, the poet was more than once in his debt.
Who is A.F. Smirdin?
He is a little older than Pushkin (born in 1795), but his childhood also took place in Moscow. He did not belong to the nobility, from the age of fifteen he served in a bookstore. The product was colorful: from "The Story of Vanka Cain" and "The Tale of the English Milord" to the magazines "Drone", "Hell's Mail", "Northern Bee", "Useful and Pleasant", "And this and that" ... The future writer Stendhal , finding himself together with the Napoleonic army in Moscow, was amazed by the abundance of books. And Sasha Smirdin, along with his friends, had to save them from fires. I wanted to join the militia - they didn’t take it, and the enemy had already “got away”. In the late autumn of 1812 he went to St. Petersburg. I had never been there before, but I knew a lot about Northern Palmyra - from books and magazines.
Vasily Alekseevich Plavilshchikov (1768-1823) was then known as a venerable Petersburg bookseller and publisher. Together with his brother, he rented the Theater Printing House from the beginning of the 19th century, expanded trade, and created a library at the store. The lyceum student Pushkin also visited them, in one of the first poems he wrote:
Virgil, Tass with Homer,
All are coming together.
Here Ozerov with Racine,
Rousseau and Karamzin,
With Molière the Giant
Fonvizin and Knyazhnin.
You are here, lazy, careless,
The pure sage
Vanyusha Lafontaine.
Of course, Sasha Smirdin dreamed of working for Plavilshchikov. And he took him on the recommendation of the bookseller P. Ilyin, as a knowledgeable scribe, as a clerk, and then made him the manager of the store.
“From his face he was a man constantly serious, concentrated, extremely attached to his work and industrious to the point of being ridiculous,” one of his contemporaries wrote about Smirdin. Almost all writers, historians, and artists visited the store and the library. They were attracted not only by books, but also by an honest, courteous clerk striving for enlightenment. Krylov and Karamzin, Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, Fyodor Glinka and Karl Bryullov later became his friends. And Melters, bequeathing his trade to the clerk, sold him the library for a small sum. True, he left behind considerable debts: Smirdin had to pay about three million rubles in banknotes in order to keep the bookstore near the Blue Bridge.
It was 1823. Over Russia, "from the cold Finnish waters to the fiery Colchis," "Pushkin's sun" rose. From the southern exile, the poet sent a poem - they called it either "Key", then "Fountain". The poem diverged in the lists, and was soon published with a picture on the title. Having received the little book, Pushkin wrote to his friend Vyazemsky: "... I am beginning to read our booksellers and think that our craft, really, is no worse than others."
The obvious merit of the publishers of the brothers Glazunov, Shiryaev and Smirdin. On the writings of Derzhavin and Kapnist, on the beautifully illustrated fables of Krylov, the brand of the company appeared: "Published by the dependent of A.F. Smirdin." At the same time, he was "written into the St. Petersburg merchant class."
A peculiar "handwriting of Smirdin" arose - the quality factor and excellent taste of the publisher. The commonwealth of writers and poets with Smirdin guaranteed that the book would be quickly sold out and the author's work would be adequately paid. The publisher's special generosity was manifested in relation to Pushkin's works: he perfectly understood the poet's desire to live at the expense of literary work. Smirdin was one of the first to realize great value creativity of the poet for the spiritual life of Russia. Therefore, he became a voluntary mediator between the "Creator" and the "People". In 1827, for a considerable amount at that time - 20 thousand - he buys three poems from Pushkin. Pays regardless of how they are sold. Poems published in separate books with illustrations. In "Ruslan and Lyudmila" a portrait of the poet by Orest Kiprensky appears for the first time. A little later, Smirdin also published "Boris Godunov", "Belkin's Tale" and seven chapters of "Eugene Onegin".
But Pushkin is far from satisfied with everything. He was outraged, for example, by the fact that Smirdin published O. Senkovsky and F. Bulgarin. Later, Natalya Nikolaevna may also have influenced the poet's relationship with the publisher. Avdotya Panaeva in "Memoirs" (publishing house "Academia", 1929) cites the story of Smirdin himself on this occasion:
"- Characteristic, sir, lady, sir. I happened to talk to her once. I came to Alexander Sergeevich for a manuscript and brought money; he made me a condition that I always pay in gold, because their wife, except for gold, does not want to take Alexander Sergeevich says to me: “Go to her, she wants to see you herself.” But I don’t dare to cross the threshold, because I see a lady standing at the dressing table, and the maid is lacing up her satin corset.
I called you to my place in order to announce that you will not receive a manuscript from me until you bring a hundred gold pieces instead of fifty ... Farewell!
She said all this quickly, without turning her head towards me, but looking in the mirror... I bowed, went to Alexander Sergeevich, and they said to me:
There is nothing to do, you need to please my wife, she needed to order a new ball gown.
On the same day, Smirdin brought the required money.
housewarming
In 1832, Smirdin's "Lavka" and the library moved to Nevsky Prospekt (next to the Lutheran Church). Only 12,000 banknotes were paid for the mezzanine rental. Luxurious for that time, the store was perceived by everyone as an unprecedented leap in the history of the Russian book trade.
Before the opening of the store, Severnaya Pchela reported: “A.F. Smirdin, who earned the respect of all well-meaning writers with honesty in business and a noble desire for the success of literature and the love of the public .., wanted to give a decent shelter to the Russian mind and founded a bookstore, which has not yet been happened in Russia ... The books of the late Plavilshchikov finally found a warm store ... our Russian literature entered into honor. Formerly, the book trade took place under open sky or in unheated rooms. Smirdin moved her "from the cellars to the halls."
His attitude to literature is all the more surprising because he himself was not widely an educated person, even in literacy is not too strong. But his clerks possessed bibliographic knowledge, the bibliophiles Nozhevshchikov and Tsvetaev made friends with him, the translator and poet Vasily Anastasevich - with his participation, the so-called “Painting”, that is, the catalog of the Smirda collection, was subsequently compiled. Four volumes of this painting have survived to this day in the Russian Fund of St. Petersburg Public.
The grand opening of the store and library took place on February 19, 1832. AT great hall in front of massive cabinets filled with beautiful folios, a dinner table was set. There were about a hundred guests. Then the "Northern Bee" published their names with their commentary: "It was curious and funny to see here representatives of the past centuries, expiring and coming; to see magazine opponents expressing feelings of respect and affection to each other, critics and criticized ..." In the chairman's place - the librarian and fabulist Krylov, next to him are Zhukovsky and Pushkin, on the other side are Grech and Gogol, a little to the side is Smirdin, who humbly bowed his head. This is how the artist A.P. Bryullov captured them in a sketch title page almanac "Housewarming" (1832-1833).
The venerable veteran of poetry, Count D. I. Khvostov, read the verses to the host:
Pleasant of Russian muses,
celebrate your anniversary
Champagne for guests
for housewarming lei;
You are Derzhavin to us,
Karamzin from the coffin
Called to immortal life again.
Finally, champagne frothed in the glasses and a toast was made to the health of the emperor. Then - for the owner. They also drank for his guests-friends. "Cheerfulness, frankness, wit and unconditional brotherhood animated this triumph," Grech recalled. The cozy "Smirdin's shop" very soon became a meeting place for St. Petersburg writers - the progenitor of writers' clubs.
At the same solemn dinner it was decided common labors create an almanac. They came up with a name - "Housewarming" - and asked Smirdin to lead it. In addition to poems and essays, the first issue of the almanac included a dramatic opus by the historian Pogodin and part of Gogol's Mirgorod. "Housewarming" came out until 1839.
Smirdin's journals
At the same time, Smirdin began to publish the journal "Library for Reading". He was criticized for the "diversity" of the content, but many people liked it precisely because of the diversity - the number of subscribers quickly reached five thousand.
The Smirda journal is perhaps unfortunately named "Library for Reading" (and why do libraries exist if not for reading?), but its various sections: "Poems and Prose", "Foreign Literature", "Science and Art "," Industry and agriculture", "Criticism", " literary chronicle", "Mixture" - were invariably present in all issues (only "Fashion" with colored pictures was added at times; the volume also increased: from 18 to 24 printed sheets).
Following the example of the "Library" and "Notes of the Fatherland", Pushkin's and Nekrasov's "Contemporary" and our "thick" magazines were later published.
Whether Pushkin was directly involved in Smirdin's publishing activities is not known, but apparently, he could not do without mutual advice.
Smirdin's most serious reform can be considered a reduction in prices for books and magazines by increasing their circulation. In 1838, A.F. Smirdin undertook the publication of the works of contemporary writers - "One Hundred Russian Writers", "so that the public could see the features of each and judge his style and features." I also had a chance to leaf through these three voluminous volumes, printed on good quality paper with portraits of writers and engravings.
Even then, a true democrat, an admirer of Pushkin and Gogol, Vissarion Belinsky wrote about a new period in Russian literature, calling it "Smirdinsky". He defended his activities from the attacks of the aestheticists: "There are people who claim that Mr. Smirdin killed our literature, seducing its talented representatives with profits. Is it necessary to prove that these people are malicious and hostile to any disinterested enterprise." And as if confirming Belinsky’s thought, one of the newspapers of that time wrote: “We owe Smirdin that now literary studies provide a means of living ... He is a truly honest and kind person! Our writers own his pocket like rent. He can go bankrupt ".
Smirdin's disinterestedness is obvious. For example, by publishing Karamzin's "History of the Russian State", he was able to reduce the cost of its twelve books by five times. Thanks to Smirdin, books became available to the class of people who most needed them. The second component of his activity is also obvious: the more readers, the more educated the society. Smirdin put a lot of effort into publishing the collected works of those who are close to us today - I. Bogdanovich, A. Griboyedov, M. Lermontov.
Smirdin had competitors - far from disinterested. One of the main ones was Adolf Plushchar, who began by printing posters and announcements about entertainment in the capital, and then moved on to publishing the Encyclopedic Lexicon, which was a success. Intrigues began, leading to a quarrel between Smirdin and Plyuscher.
Alexander Filippovich started the publication of "A Picturesque Journey Through Russia" and ordered engravings for it in London. I waited for them for a long time, but for some reason I received them from Leipzig and they were very bad. In order not to go broke, Smirdin organized a book lottery. There was, however, not only a commercial intent in it, but also a desire to addict the population of many regions of Russia to reading. At first, the lottery was successful, but in the third year, thousands of tickets remained unsold. There was a general crisis in the book trade, caused by a sharp increase in the number of booksellers and publishers: many random people appeared in this business. Almost the entire book industry is taking on a market-speculative character.
One way or another, but Smirdin (like Plyuscher) went bankrupt. He wrote then: "Under old age, I remained naked as a falcon - everyone knows that." But he managed to save the books with their most complete bibliographic description. However, after the death of Smirdin (in 1857), and then his heirs, the Smirda library disappeared - 50 thousand volumes! Bibliophiles of the early twentieth century tried to find it, but in vain...
The ways of books are inscrutable
In 1978, a tiny note appeared in Vechernyaya Moskva by Yevgeny Ivanovich Osetrov, editor-in-chief of the Bibliophile's Almanac, who attacked the trail of that library. He managed to find out that a book dealer named Kimel bought it from someone on the cheap and shipped it to Riga. He sold something to second-hand booksellers, and most of the books were sold by his heirs to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the twenties of the twentieth century.
The story is almost detective, but not so unusual: books get to travel. I also traveled a lot, making geographical films and essays in the Film Travel Almanac. We met with Evgeny Ivanovich and decided to write an application for a film about the fate and search for Smirdin's library. At my studio, they looked askance at the application: now, if something about technical progress ... They sent an application to the Prague film studio "Brief Film". There, they willingly agreed to a joint production and sent their representatives to sign the contract.
Was written and sent to "Brief Film" literary script. And then it was time for filming... Fabulous hundred-towered Prague! For more than five centuries, the chimes on the Old Town Hall have been counting down the time. The toy rooster was still crowing, and the apostles appeared in the windows, just as at that time, when Pushkin admired the white nights on the distant banks of the Neva, and Smirdin hurried to his shop. And here and there the love of books and wisdom is eternal. The alphabet, created by the "solunsky brothers" Cyril and Methodius - those that stand in bronze on the Charles Bridge - helped to rally the Slavs. And the Strahov Monastery became a treasury of Czech and other writings: books of the seventeenth, sixteenth, fourteenth, twelfth centuries!
In Clementinum, a Dominican monastery, schools and a printing press were opened at the beginning of the 17th century. Now there are libraries: national, musical, technical. One of the largest collections of books in Slavic languages, and the main thing in it is Russian literature.
Yes, this is Smirdin's bookplate! So here it is, the Smirda library!
No, this is only half of it, - the dearest Jiri Vacek, the head of the Russian sector, answers me, smiling.
Then he told how these books came to them.
We even have old Russian manuscripts, some of those published by Ivan Fedorov-Moskvitin. Since the beginning of the 20th century, almost all of your journals and almanacs have been sent to us. And when the Smirda library was purchased in Riga, it turned out that much was missing from it. According to the painting, the missing items were collected throughout Europe - this is how the Smirda Fund was formed.
There were also second copies - they were sent to Brodzyany, where our film crew decided to go. Once upon a time, the sister of Pushkin's wife Alexandra Goncharova, who became the wife of the Austrian envoy to Russia Gustav Friesengoff, lived in the Brodzyansky castle. Pushkin's children and grandchildren visited the castle - they are captured in the drawings of the family album. In the dining room there are traditional family portraits and watercolors of Natalia Goncharova, Pushkin and his friends. They appeared here already in our years: when a museum of Russian literature was created in the castle, they were brought here along with Smirda's books.
It was late autumn, the paths were covered with fallen leaves, the sun played in the crowns of oaks and elms. " Autumn time- the charm of the eyes!" But I also remembered the poems of N. Zabolotsky:
Oh, I did not live in this world for nothing!
And it's sweet for me to strive
from the darkness
So that, taking me in the palm of your hand,
You, my distant descendant,
Finished what I didn't finish.
And I thought: after all, Alexander Smirdin thought about his descendants, doing a noble, important work. Customs, mores, ideologies change, but Russian literature remains alive for us. And if you, dear reader, happen to visit the Petersburg public library, ask the Russian Fund to show the only pictorial portrait of A. F. Smirdin. Bow from me to his memory.