Writers bookstore. Book business in the USSR Book trade in Leningrad

23.3. BOOK SALES IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 1990s The development of market relations in the book business led to the fact that book trade workers had to actively apply the principles of marketing in their activities. Direct dependence of the results of activities on the book

book trade

book trade

The first bookstore in St. Petersburg was established in 1714 in Gostiny Dvor. In 1728 the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences opened the Book Chamber for the sale of its own publications and foreign books. Private k. t. developed from the end of the 18th century. (in 1768 in St. Petersburg there was 1 private bookstore, by the end of the 18th century - 29), which was facilitated by the decree of Catherine II "On Free Printing Houses" (1783) and the publishing activities of N. I. Novikov. In the early 80s. 18th century T. A. Polezhaev, I. P. Glazunov, N. N. Kolchugin, V. S. Sopikov and others became his commissioners in St. Petersburg. Foreign bookstores were located on Millionnaya Street (now Khalturin Street), Bolshaya Morskaya Street (now Herzen), St. Isaac's Square, shops of Russian merchants - in Gostiny Dvor, on Nevsky Prospekt and Sadovaya Street. The center of the shopping mall on Vasilyevsky Island was the Andreevsky market, in the Petersburg part - the Sytny market. some publishers and booksellers of the 1st quarter of the 19th century. were associated with the Decembrists (including V. A. Plavilshchikov and I. V. Slyonin; the first owned a bookstore, at which one of the first paid libraries in St. Petersburg was created, the Slyonin shop at 30 Nevsky Prospect was a meeting place for future Decembrists). In 1825, Plavilytsikov's firm passed to A. F. Smirdin, his shop and library (Nevsky Prospekt, 22) is a traditional meeting place for St. Petersburg writers. In the 40-50s. 19th century many small firms went bankrupt, only large firms survived (N. A. Isakova, F. V. Bazunova, and others). In an atmosphere of social upsurge in the early 60s. 19th century At the end of 1861, N. A. Serno-Solovyevich opened a bookstore on Nevsky Prospect, 24, which became one of the centers of public life in St. Petersburg (in fact, a stronghold of the Land and Freedom organization). After the arrest of Serno-Solov'evich (July 1862), A. A. Richter continued his work, and from 1867 - A. A. Cherkesov. In the 70-80s. in St. Petersburg, the first specialized antique and second-hand bookshops appeared (see Second-hand book trade). The largest booksellers of the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. In St. Petersburg there were publishers M. O. Volf, A. S. Suvorin, I. D. Sytin (the St. Petersburg branch of his Moscow firm), and I. I. Glazunov. In the conditions of growing competition, many booksellers took the path of specialization of K. t. . At the end of the XIX century. in St. Petersburg there were bookstores for non-residents (books were sent by pre-order by mail), shops of subscription publications. The bookshops of the publishers E. N. Vodovozova and A. M. Kalmykova occupied a special place in the K. t. system: Marxist literature (including the first books of V. I. Lenin) and literature for workers were distributed through them. During the revolution of 1905–07, social democratic literature was distributed by the book warehouses of the Vperyod, Zhizn i Znanie, and Zerno publishing houses, and S. A. Skyrmunt’s Trud bookstore. At the beginning of the XX century. there was a tendency to monopolize the book trade (I. D. Sytin managed to subjugate many bookselling firms), but the devastation caused by World War I brought the book trade to the brink of a crisis. At the beginning of 1918, the first state bookstores were opened in St. Petersburg (in Smolny and at the printing house of the headquarters of the Red Army). In August 1918, a bookstore was opened at 116 Nevsky Prospekt (from December 1919 - at 28 Nevsky Prospekt (see House of Books)). On December 20, 1919, under the conditions of the "book famine", the Petrosoviet municipalized large warehouses and shops (A. F. Marx, Devrien, Brockhaus - Efron, Wolf, Glazunov, Sytin, and others). Books were distributed free of charge to enterprises, institutions, military units. With the introduction of the New Economic Policy in November 1921, paid printing was restored, and in December 1921 the activities of private and cooperative publishing houses were allowed, which began to open their stores in St. Petersburg. In January 1922, the trade sector of PetroGIZ opened bookstores at 13 and 24 Nevsky Prospekt. The “House of Arts” had a bookstore at 14 Herzen Street, the House of Writers at 11 Basseynaya Street (now Nekrasov Street), 51 Liteiny Prospekt, and 26 Ofitserskaya Street (now Dekabristov Street). 1927 at 64 Liteiny Prospekt, the Gostekhizdat Technical Book store was opened; other publishing houses also had their own stores in Leningrad. In 1930, all private and cooperative stores in Leningrad were nationalized and placed under the jurisdiction of LenKOGIZ, and departmental apparatuses of the K. t. In 1930, an educational combine, a technical school for commercial technics, a school for apprenticeships for trade, and pedagogical courses were formed in 1930 to train cadres of commercial technologists (training teachers and management for technologists). The scientific methods of bookkeeping were developed by a special laboratory of the Institute of Books, Documents, and Letters of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1930, the first collector of public libraries was opened at 53 Liteiny Prospekt. By 1940 there were 60 LenKOGIZ stores operating in Leningrad. During the blockade, 20 bookstores in Leningrad continued to operate. In 1949, a book trade department, Lenknigotorg, was created. In 1954, the pre-war level of bookkeeping was restored. In 1962, Lenoblnigotorg was spun off from Lenknigotorg, and in 1974 they were merged (see Lenknigotorg). In 1990, over 120 Lenkniga stores were operating in Leningrad, as well as 4 Academkngi stores, the Writers' Book Store, the Military Book House, the music store of the Leningrad branch of the Musical Fund of the Union of Composers of the USSR, and over 20 stores of the Soyuzpechat agency.

In 1926, the Spring Book Market was organized in Leningrad for the first time (it was held annually until 1934 on Sofia Perovskaya Street, in 1927 on Ostrovsky Square; until 1932 books were sold at a discount). In April - May 1946, in commemoration of the 1st anniversary of the Victory, a book market was held in the square near the Trinity Cathedral. The tradition of the annual Spring Book Markets was resumed in 1957 (during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Leningrad), in 1958-65 they were held on Mira Square, since 1966 - on Ostrovsky Square (the 42nd book market took place in 1990).

The damage inflicted during the war years on the book business was very great. If in the pre-war 1940 45 thousand publications were issued with a circulation of 462.2 million copies, then in 1945 18.4 thousand publications were issued with a circulation of 298 million copies. To reach the pre-war level, it was necessary to increase the number of publications by almost 2.5 times, and the circulation - almost two times. It was necessary to re-create publishing houses and printing enterprises in the territories of the RSFSR, which were temporarily occupied by the Nazis. It was necessary to restore the machine park, provide printing houses necessary materials, improve production technology, train workers in the printing industry.

In a short time, many printing houses were restored and reconstructed. The printing industry has mastered the production of various typesetting machines, photomechanical and plate equipment, new types of printing presses, powerful newspaper units, automatic binders and semiautomatic machines.

The printing house of the Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences was completely reconstructed. Multi-color printing, in particular, offset, was widely distributed. In the second half of the 1950s. more than 100 new enterprises were introduced, incl. a number of large printing plants. At the end of 1955, the printing plant in Kalinin (Tver) issued the first products - largest enterprise multicolor (gravure and offset) printing. A printing plant began to operate in Yaroslavl. In Saratov, the construction of a printing plant was launched, designed for the mass publication of textbooks, brochures and posters.

Existing book factories and printing houses expanded. The Leningrad Offset Printing Factory was completely reconstructed. The reconstruction of the Leningrad printing house named after Ivan Fedorov has been completed.

The leadership of the entire publishing business was in the hands of the Association of State Publishing Houses (OGIZ).

In 1949, Glavpoligrafizdat was formed - the Main Directorate for the printing industry, publishing houses and book trade. OGIZ was liquidated, its material base was transferred to the disposal of Glavpoligrafizdat. 200 publishing houses and more than 4,500 printing companies worked in the system of the new association.

In the mid 1950s. the network of book publishers was again expanded.

By the beginning of the 1960s. 71 central, as well as dozens of republican and local publishing houses and publishing organizations of ministries and departments were engaged in the release of book products. Central publishing houses produced 25% of books by number of titles and 37% by circulation, departmental publishing houses - 36% of titles and 11% of circulation.

At the same time, the lack of coordination in the activities of the country's publishing houses, the lack of a well-thought-out plan for the production of books caused overstocking of book products, which led to the reform of the book business in 1963-1964. In 1963, the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on Printing (since 1972, Goskomizdat) was formed, which was entrusted with the management of publishing, printing and book trade, as well as control on a national scale over the content of published literature. The network of publishers was revised. Many homogeneous or small publishing houses were merged or abolished, and their functions were transferred to other publishing houses. As a result of the reorganization, new, more powerful publishing enterprises emerged. In the RSFSR, instead of 46 small regional publishing houses, large interregional publishing houses were created, each of which served a certain cultural and economic zone: Upper Volga, Central Black Earth, East Siberian, Priokskoe, Far East, South Ural publishing houses, etc.

The reorganization of the publishing business also had serious shortcomings. Many local publishing houses were liquidated, but also some central ones that enjoyed well-deserved authority. The network of publishing houses that had developed over the years was destroyed. During the liquidation of some publishing houses and the consolidation of others, prospects, cultural traditions, and national characteristics of the composition of the population were not taken into account. The strict regulation of the Center led to the fact that the peripheral publishing houses almost stopped publishing scientific, industrial and educational literature. The book business developed under conditions of strict centralism.

By 1985, the publishing system included 121 publishing houses, incl. 64 central subordination and 57 publishing houses of the RSFSR.

The release of books and pamphlets by central publishing houses in 1986 accounted for almost half of the total number of publications issued by publishing houses of the USSR, while publishing houses subordinate to the RSFSR produced only 16%. At the same time, more than 1/2 of the gross circulation accounted for fiction (including children's literature). At the same time, a significant part of the issue was made up of publications that did not find demand or were not intended for sale. It is no coincidence that it was during these years that the term “gray literature” appeared even in the official vocabulary.

At the end of 1986, a process of transformation began in the publishing business, which was called the “period of democratization of book publishing” and became the starting point for fundamental changes both in the organization of the editorial and publishing process and in changing the very social orientation of the book business in Russia. Decisions were made “On expanding the rights and independence of publishing houses and improving thematic planning” (1986) and “On further democratization of the organizational and creative activities of publishing houses” (1987). A basis was created for the solution of the problems of the development of the press to move to a higher, state, level.

In the history of our country 1985-1990. called "perestroika". The essence of this period was an attempt to reform the Soviet system that had existed for almost 70 years in all spheres: economic, social, cultural. At the same time, the basis of the system - the leading role of the CPSU, state regulation of the economy, mono-ideology, state monopoly in all areas of the book business - were not affected by the proposed reforms. The foundation was supposed to be unshakable, and it was only about "socialism with a human face", the slogans "more democracy", "more socialism", "more glasnost" were popular. However, it was during this period that changes began in the structure and organization of book publishing and book sales. Book publishing and bookselling industry after the reform of 1963-1964. developed quite steadily.

In terms of the level of book and brochure production, the USSR ranked first in the number of titles and, in fact, second in the number of copies, there were 7 copies per capita, at the same time, all negative sides book publishing and bookselling processes only intensified over time, and most importantly, the repertoire (what was published) did not satisfy a significant part of the reading public. Society itself tried to fill the vacuum: this is how it arose by 1985-1986. reached a significant level of unauthorized release of printed materials, the so-called "samizdat". Prohibited works of political, economic and fiction were published abroad by emigrant and some foreign publishing houses and illegally imported into the country (the so-called "tamizdat"). Publishers, booksellers, scholars, writers and readers increasingly insistently demanded the liberalization of the book business, the easing of censorship restrictions, freedom of creativity and the press. In the end, the authorities were forced to start some transformations in the organization of book publishing and book distribution, without affecting the foundations of book business - state monopoly and ideological control.

In 1986, the collegium of the USSR State Committee for Publishing House adopted a seemingly quite ordinary resolution, in the style of many similar ones before: "On the expansion of the rights and independence of publishing houses and the improvement of thematic planning." But the content of this document was fundamentally different from all the previous ones. For the first time, it questioned the state monopoly and the administrative-command system in book publishing - the main direction of the ideological work of the CPSU.

After analyzing the state of book publishing, identifying many shortcomings due to both ideological reasons and administrative methods of leadership, the State Committee for Publishing House decided to “grant publishing houses the right to independently form and approve thematic plans for publishing literature”, and “approval thematic plans cancel in the State Committee for Publishing of the USSR. For Goskomizdat, i.e. the state power retained the right to control and coordinate the release of literature. In practice, there was not so much independence. Nevertheless, this was the first serious step in shattering the state monopoly in the book business, which had existed in the country since 1930.

In a 1987 paper on book distribution, the trend towards institutionalization of government leadership was formulated more forcefully: state form book trade... This decision was explained by the need to eliminate parallelism in the book trade, where there were various forms of its organization: the Goskomizdat, Tsentrosoyuz systems, Nauka, Transport, Military Book publishing houses, various creative unions(for example, the Writers' Shop in Leningrad), but in essence the goal was the same: to strengthen the positions of state power and the CPSU in the book business as in the most important direction of ideological influence on citizens. And in this sense, the resolution on the book trade can be viewed as a departure from the liberal direction of the decision of Goskomizdat in 1986. But the process of liberalization that had begun in the country could not be stopped, and this directly affected all branches of the book business.

The next step can be considered the emergence of cooperative activities in the publishing industry. The first attempts to organize cooperative publishing houses include the publishing house "Vest", organized by Moscow writers headed by V. Kaverin, "Stolitsa", in the creation of which not only Moscow writers, but also public organizations participated: the All-Union Society of Book Lovers, the Moscow branch of the Literary Fund of the USSR and the Soviet cultural fund. A cooperative publishing house "Zharki" was created in Novosibirsk. All these publishing houses could not release anything, as the authorities reacted negatively to this undertaking in the publishing business, and the publishing houses were not registered.

But government in this direction was extremely inconsistent. On the one hand, in the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of 1988 "On the regulation certain types activities of cooperatives in accordance with the Law on Cooperation in the USSR, it was stated that cooperatives cannot engage in publishing activities, and, on the other hand, it was emphasized that the Goskomizdat of the USSR recommends publishing houses, printing enterprises, and book trade organizations to promote in every possible way and create conditions for the development industry cooperative movement.

Cooperative activity in the publishing sector took the form of publishing and printing or publishing and editorial cooperatives under state publishing houses. The books were published under the brand name of the state publishing house and the corresponding cooperative association. For example, the books of the cooperative publishing enterprises "Themis-10", "Text", "Informator", "Union", "Creative Association of Writers and Artists", "Word" were published under the brand name of the state publishing house "Legal Literature". The cooperatives Pik, Rossiya-88, the literary and artistic agencies Moskva and Ekho, the association Unknown Russia "hid" under the guise of the state publishing house Prometheus. In 1989, the All-Union Association of Editorial and Publishing Cooperatives - VOKIM - was organized under the Mir State Publishing House. It included 16 editorial and publishing cooperatives in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv and other cities. In the same years (1987-1988), the first joint ventures with foreign partners were organized, for example, the Soviet-British "Dynamics" together with the state publishing house "Mashinostroenie", the Soviet-German "Burda-Moden" together with the state "Vneshtorgizdat". In total, by 1989, at least 100 new non-state publishing houses of various forms of ownership were operating in the USSR.

An even more significant blow to the established system of state book publishing was new edition"Regulations on the release of works at the expense of the author", adopted by the State Committee for Publishing House in 1989. The release of a work at the expense of the author was allowed to all organizations that had the right to publishing activities, moreover, they counted this as a plus in their work. As a result, editorial and publishing, publishing and printing cooperatives, joint ventures and the possibility of independent thematic planning and publication of books at the expense of the author, which arose in the depths of publishing houses, were the first steps in restructuring the book production system.

The decisions adopted by the State Committee for Publishing and the Council of Ministers of the USSR, despite all their inconsistency and inconsistency, were a kind of preparation for cardinal reforms, which became possible only in the new social conditions of the rejection of a totalitarian society and the beginning of the democratization of all aspects of society.

major publishing houses. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, along with the restoration and development of the printing industry, there was a restoration of old and the creation of new book publishing houses.

In 1957, in Moscow, on the basis of Goscultprosvetizdat, the republican book publishing house "Soviet Russia" was created. In terms of publishing - the release of mass-political, socio-economic, popular science, methodological, fiction and children's literature.

In December 1957, a publishing house of socio-economic literature - "Sotsegiz" - was created. He was faced with the task of publishing scientific monographs and popular science literature on the main sections of the social sciences - political economy, philosophy, history, history of international relations. "Sotsegiz" was also engaged in the publication of historical and diplomatic documents, monuments of Russian and general history. A significant place among the publications of "Sotsegiz" was occupied by the reprinting of the works of outstanding representatives of socio-political thought of the past and modern progressive economists, historians and philosophers of foreign countries.

In 1957, another new republican publishing house was created - “ Child's world"and a number of regional book publishing houses (in Belgorod, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, etc.)

At the same time, new branch and specialized publishing houses were created.

In 1958, the Oriental Literature Publishing House was established within the system of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which began publishing books and brochures on the history and economy of the countries of the Near and Middle East, India, the countries of Southeast Asia and the Far East. The publishing house widely published literature on linguistics and literary criticism, fiction, books on art and culture. The popular series "Following the Traces of Disappeared Cultures" and "Traveling through the Countries of the East" were designed for a wide circle of readers.

The newly formed State Publishing House of Literature in the Field of Atomic Science and Technology - Atomizdat - was entrusted with publishing books on nuclear physics and energy.

Created under the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the USSR, the publishing house " graduate School» engaged in the production of textbooks and study guides, lecture courses and programs for higher educational institutions.

Originated in the late 1950s and early 1960s. many new publishing houses, the commissioning of new printing facilities, and the expansion of the bookselling network required further improvement in the organization and structure of book publishing.

As a result, new, larger publishing enterprises emerged, which, in accordance with their subject matter, received new names: "Thought", "Economics", "Science", "Engineering", "Nedra", "Spike", "Higher School", " Progress”, “Mir”, “Fiction”, “Soviet Encyclopedia”, “Art”, “Book”.

In the late 1960s there was a further development of the publishing network - a number of new publishing houses appeared: Aurora, Planet, Sovremennik, Plakat, Russian language, etc.

Founded in 1969, the publishing house "Planeta" specialized in the production of photo publications - photo albums, photo postcards, photo montages, etc. The publishing house also published the magazine "Soviet Photo".

Every year, about 900 political posters and over 1,000 other visual materials (thematic exhibition sets, portraits, postcards, transparencies, etc.) were published by the Plakat publishing house organized in 1974.

In 1970, the Sovremennik publishing house was established in Moscow. Its goal is to release works of art by contemporary writers Russian Federation. Many series were published: “News of Sovremennik”, “Our Day”, “Russian Field”, “The First Book in the Capital”, “Library of Poetry “Russia””, etc. Books on literary criticism and criticism were published in the series “For Lovers of Russian Literature ”, “About time and about myself”. The Classical Library of Sovremennik was popular. For youth, the series "Adolescence" was published.

Various philological and scientific and technical dictionaries, educational and educational literature for foreigners who studied the Russian language, were published by the publishing house "Russian Language", organized in 1974 on the basis of the dictionary editions of the publishing house "Soviet Encyclopedia" and editions of educational literature for foreigners of publishing houses " Progress" and "Higher School".

The Avrora Publishing House, founded in 1969 in Leningrad, had a branch in Moscow. It published monographs on art, art albums, postcards and booklets with texts in Russian and foreign languages. ". A significant place in the plans of the publishing house was occupied by sets of postcards in a double format - "Kept in the museums of the USSR." Of interest are facsimile editions - separate reproductions and albums, in which the maximum approximation to the original was achieved. color scheme original. A significant place in the publications of Aurora was occupied by scientific collections, exhibition catalogs, guides, books on the theory, history and technology of world fine and applied art, architecture from ancient times to the present day. The publishing house was awarded the I. Gutenberg medal for strengthening creative ties with the printers of the GDR.

In 1981, on the basis of the publishing houses "Finance" and "Statistics", the publishing house "Finance and Statistics" was created. On the basis of "Energy" and "Atomizdat" - "Energoizdat", "Soviet Radio" and "Communication" was transformed into "Radio and Communication", "Light Industry", "Food Industry" into the publishing house "Light and Food Industry".

On the basis of Progress, two publishing houses were created: Progress, which published socio-political literature and fiction in translation into other languages ​​and socio-political in translation into Russian, and Raduga, which published fiction, books on literary criticism, art, linguistics, tourism in Russian and translated into foreign languages.

The Young Guard publishing house was focused on the young reader. It published the yearly "Panorama" on art and culture, the "Eureka" series on discoveries in science and "Daisy" on the ethics of behavior and culture of life. For teenagers from 14 to 18 years old, the series "The Same Age" was published.

Subjects and types of publications. In the first post-war decade, all sections of the book assortment were replenished with new editions.

Gospolitizdat has published many books on Marxist-Leninist theory, party history, internal and foreign policy, the struggle for peace, etc. The series of the Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences "Predecessors of Scientific Socialism" edited by Academician V. P. Volgin, compiled from the works of T. Campanella, T. More, Morelli, A. Saint-Simon, C. Fourier , R. Owen, E. Cabet, T. Desami and other representatives of utopian socialism.

A large place among the publications of the State Political Publishing House, Sotsekgiz, the Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences was occupied by scientific monographs on political, economic, historical and philosophical topics. Together with scientific institutions, generalizing multi-volume works on general and national history were published - "World History", "History of the Soviet Union", "History of Moscow", "Essays on the History of Leningrad", "History of Czechoslovakia", "History of Poland", "Essays on the History of Argentina”, “Essays on the History of Brazil”, etc. The publication of the “Philosophical Encyclopedia” met with a positive assessment of the public. The series "Library on Scientific Socialism", "Public Library on Philosophy" were also published. The publication of The History of Philosophy in the USSR was completed. The publishing house "Thought" began in 1963 to release the library "Philosophical Heritage".

In the field of economic science, we note the publication of the History of Russian Economic Thought and the Economic Encyclopedia. The output of books covering questions of the international situation and foreign policy of the Soviet Union, the political, economic and cultural position foreign countries, especially the countries of the East.

In 1946, the Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences began publishing the Classics of Science series, which consisted of the most significant works by domestic and foreign scientists. The series "Literary Monuments" published works, letters, notes and memoirs of outstanding figures of science and literature of the past.

In 1949, the second edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedic Dictionary, was published in three volumes. Later, the third edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia was published in thirty volumes. Numerous sectoral encyclopedias on history, philosophy, pedagogy, literature, geography, chemistry, and the encyclopedic dictionary "Knigovedenie" appeared.

There were achievements in the field of natural science publishing. In the 1970s and 1980s the number of published works on the theoretical and practical aspects of the physical and mathematical, chemical, geological and technical sciences, as well as the number of translations of scientific and technical literature, has increased. Central publishing houses annually published about 400 titles of fundamental works by foreign authors (monographs, reference books, textbooks).

The series "Modern problems of mathematics", "Modern problems of mechanics", "Modern problems of physics" were devoted to topical problems of science and technology.

Many works were also published on sociology, on problems of cybernetics, informatics, social psychology and in other emerging areas.

The total circulation of fiction in 1946 reached 70 million copies. in 1949 - 138 million copies, in 1950 - 178.9 million copies. In 1950, 4 times more fiction was published than in pre-war 1940.

In the post-war years, the release of subscription editions of collected works of the classics of Russian and world literature, as well as contemporary major writers, increased. There are a number of series designed for the mass reader - "Mass Series", "Library of the Russian Novel", "Library of the Soviet Novel".

The publication of the literature of the peoples of the USSR and of foreign literature has increased. The series "Foreign Novel of the 20th Century", the popular series "Modern Foreign Poetry", "Modern Foreign Drama", "Modern Foreign Short Story" are published.

A significant achievement in the field of fiction was the publication (since 1967) of the "Library of World Literature", a further development of the plan of M. Gorky, who founded the publishing house "World Literature" in 1918. 200 volumes were published containing the works of more than 3 thousand writers from ancient times to the present day. Experts from many countries took part in the richly illustrated edition.

In the 1970s, due to the unusually increased need for fiction, its output was increased three to four times. In 1973 Goskomizdat introduced new system: the most famous fiction works were published in special editions for libraries with an indication on the title - "Library Series". For educational purposes, a series called "School Library" was published.

An experiment was also carried out to exchange waste paper for the most requested works of fiction.

The output of literature for children and youth increased. Every sixth book published in the USSR was intended for a young reader. The first place among children's and youthful books was occupied by fiction: classical works of writers of the past, books by modern authors - N. I. Dubov, V. V. Golyavkin, R. P. Pogodin, etc.

Since 1976, the "Library of World Literature for Children" has been published, the first edition of which was "Selected" by A. S. Pushkin.

In the post-war years, many well-designed books on art were published, among them - "The General History of Art" in six volumes and "The History of Russian Art" in twelve volumes.

Publishing in the period of the first five-year plans. - Bookselling in this decade. - Bookshops of writers in Moscow and Leningrad. Bibliophile organizations in Moscow and Leningrad in the 1930s. - Libraries of V. A. Desnitsky, I. N. Rozanov and M. Gorky.

The program of a full-scale socialist offensive along the entire front, adopted by the Party in 1930 at the 16th Congress, soon caused significant changes also in the field of book publishing and bookselling. Further consequences of these changes were new forms of activity of Soviet bibliophilic organizations and the existence of Soviet bibliophilia in general.

In the course of the 1920s, state publishing houses gained strength in ideological and material terms and little by little ousted the private publishing houses that had existed since the time of the New Economic Policy; gradually, small departmental publishing houses, publishing houses of city councils and various scientific institutions were merged into them. However, there was no strict planning in their activities: there was parallelism in publishing plans, the issue of circulation of published books was not settled, etc. In this regard, even before the 16th Party Congress, the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a resolution "On measures to rationalize the work of book publishing houses and streamlining the book distribution network, otherwise known as the Decree on the Typification of Publishing Houses. This decision contributed to the streamlining of the publishing business, but did not bring its reorganization to the end. Therefore, in 1930, a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR on the organization of the “Association of State Book and Magazine Publishing Houses (OGIZ)” followed. The essence of this decision was that the State Publishing House of the RSFSR and the largest specialized publishing houses were merged. The latter retained their name and relative independence, but at the same time were subordinate to the board of the OGIZ. Soon a resolution was adopted to establish the Bookselling Association of State Publishing Houses (KOGIZ). This decision was of great importance for the distribution of new editions, and also, as will be seen from what follows, for the sale of antiquarian books.

Changes in the publishing business of the RSFSR naturally affected the development of Soviet bibliophilia. The most significant in this regard was the role of Goslitizdat, the State Publishing House fine arts(Izogiz), later - “Art”, publishing houses “Academia” (until 1938), “Soviet Writer” (since 1938; before that, the Moscow Association of Writers and the “Publishing House of Writers in Leningrad”).

The sphere of activity of Goslitizdat and the "Soviet writer" was basically delimited in such a way that the former was asked to publish the works of Russian and foreign classical and generally major writers of the pre-Soviet period, the latter - the works of Soviet writers. However, in practice there were deviations from this order. So, for example, the "Soviet Writer" published and publishes two series of the "Poet's Library", Big and Small, which include works of both pre-revolutionary and Soviet poets. The Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Publishing House publishes complete collections of works by Soviet writers D. Bedny, V. Mayakovsky, I. Ehrenburg, K. Fedin, and others. However, during the 1930s, some of the parallelism in publishing was gradually eliminated.

One of the important aspects of the activity of Goslitizdat in the late 1920s, and especially in the 1930s and subsequent years, was the organization of the issuance of subscription publications. The insufficient capacity of the printing industry in the mid-1920s did not allow such experiments as mass subscription editions of classics and major Soviet writers. At the same time, separate private and cooperative publishing houses in the late 1920s published collected works of some contemporary writers. In the second half of the 1920s, the Leningrad branch of Gosizdat undertook the publication of collected works by Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, literary works by L. Tolstoy, etc. Subscriptions to them were a huge success. Since the 1930s, the sector of subscription publications of OGIZ has received even greater development, which continued steadily in the future.

Some bibliophiles, who collected old, especially the first, editions of writers, treated with disdain, even contempt for those whom they called "subscribed bibliophiles." However, such an attitude towards subscribers to Soviet editions of the classics is deeply unfair. Subscription publications have played and are playing a huge socially useful, socially educational role. They incited millions of people to reading, spread the love for literature, for the book, raised the artistic tastes of readers and made many of them bibliophiles, lovers of a good book. In addition, as a rule, Soviet subscription editions are textologically incomparably higher than any pre-revolutionary ones: large scientific forces necessarily participate in their preparation, ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the reproduced texts of classics and other writers, whose writings were previously distorted by tsarist censorship and careless editing, and most often and the absence of the latter.

Along with subscription editions, Goslitizdat and other Soviet typed publishing houses published beautifully designed individual works of classical and modern writers with illustrations by Kukryniksy, D. A. Shmarinov, B. A. Dekhterev, E. A. Kibrik, G. S. Vereisky, I. N. Pavlova, B. I. Prorokova and others.

All this, undoubtedly, represented significant steps in the development of the art of the Soviet book and contributed to the growth of Soviet bibliophilia.

However, among the book publishing phenomena of the 1930s, two were directly and immediately reflected in the bibliophile passions of contemporaries and even subsequent decades. We mean the activities of the publishing house "Academia" and the emergence of the "Poet's Library".

One of the results of the decree on the typification of publishing houses was the nomination - one might say unexpectedly - of the Academia publishing house, which had existed since 1921 as the publishing house of the Leningrad State Institute of Art History, to the first row of publishing houses of the RSFSR.

The publishing house "Academia" was conceived in the early 1920s by a number of Petrograd university professors specifically for the publication of Plato's works in Russian translation, and precisely for the reason that this ancient Greek philosopher conducted his classes with his students in the garden that belonged to the Athenian Academy, and Plato's school because it was called the Academy, the newly created publishing house was given this name. There is no need to remain silent about the fact that this publishing house was openly idealistic in nature and was probably conceived as a counterbalance to the materialism of Soviet ideology. Then, during almost the entire first decade of its activity, the Academia publishing house served the needs of the State Institute of Art History, the stronghold of the Leningrad Formalists, and did not stand out among similar institutions. From the second half of the 1920s, it began to publish works of old and new artistic foreign literature, since it could not print the works of Russian authors, nationalized by a decree of December 30, 1917. After the creation of the OGIZ, the Academia publishing house received the right to publish works by Russian writers in an artistic form, in contrast to the mass publications of Goslitizdat. The energetic and educated bibliologist and bibliophile A. A. Krolenko, who led the publishing house in the Leningrad period, skillfully managed the business, and the Academia publishing house began to publish elegantly designed and textologically good books, which immediately became a collector's item. In 1932, the publishing house issued a beautifully printed "Catalogue of publications 1929-1933. With an appendix of a plan of publications for the triennium 1933-1935", which, like all the printed products of the publishing house, was immediately snapped up and became, as it were, a reference book for collectors. Soon the "Academia" was transferred from Leningrad to Moscow, and its publishing scope assumed even greater proportions. This is evidenced by a small booklet entitled "Academia". Publishing house, to the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b). Tasks, list of publications, plan ", (M.-L., 1934, 120 p.).

Back in 1930, I. S. Yezhov in the following words characterized the work of the Academia publishing house in the Literary Encyclopedia (vol. I): “... in the publication of fiction works, Academia often strives to satisfy the demand of the “refined” bourgeoisie. The Academia editions stand out especially in their external design: the choice of fonts, format, cover, binding - all this is done with great taste.”

If we leave aside the vulgar sociological judgments about the alleged desire of the publishing house "Academia" to satisfy the demand of the "refined" philistinism, then the main part of the above characterization is true. The management of the publishing house paid serious attention to the typographic design of its products. It began to use the Elizabethan type, which had been neglected for quite a long time, and attracted a number of well-known old, as well as young, already proven graphic artists, to work on illustrating books that were being published. Such publications as "A Thousand and One Nights" translated by M. A. Salier, designed by N. A. Ushin, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" with drawings by Paleshans and much more, undoubtedly, belong to the serious achievements of Soviet typographic art in the early 30s. -s.

Interest in the publications of the "Academia" was, as already mentioned, exceptionally great. “Everything that came out in the Academia edition,” M.I. Puzyrev, a second-hand book dealer, wrote in 1932 in the Moscow Bookman magazine, “is sold out… Meanwhile, the demand for these publications is extremely high” (138). But foreign lovers of fine books also showed attention to the editions of the Academia. This was taken into account by the International Book, and already in 1932 it published the Catalog of Books. Editions of "Academia"" (M., 1932, 29 p.).

As already mentioned, in the 30s there was a "Publishing House of Writers in Leningrad". In 1931, at the suggestion of M. Gorky, it undertook the publication of a series of selected works by Russian poets, starting with folklore and poets of the 18th century. and ending with the poetry of the Soviet years. It was the famous Poet's Library. She began to come out in 1933 and also immediately became the subject of gathering of numerous Soviet poetry lovers. Later, after the 1st Congress of Soviet Writers, the Writers' Publishing House in Leningrad merged with the Soviet Writer Publishing House, which still continues to publish both series of the Poet's Library.

Thus, the subscription and fiction editions of Goslitizdat, the series of the publishing house "Academia" and "The Library of the Poet" of the "Soviet Writer" were the qualitatively new material that influenced the formation of the tastes of Soviet bibliophiles in the 30s.

Now these once new editions are diligently sought after by our modern bibliophiles - like rare old books!

Turning from the issues of book publishing in the 1930s to the issues of the book trade in general and the trade in used and antiquarian books in particular, we must note in this area one important phenomenon, which began to be identified as early as the late 1920s, then in the 1930s became sharply expressed forms and still has not disappeared and constantly makes itself known and felt. The point is that, despite the disproportionately larger circulations than in pre-Soviet times, since the late 1920s, it has become increasingly difficult to get a new book, especially interesting in any respect. A prominent Soviet literary critic and book lover, Ya. E. Elsberg, wrote the following on this subject, however, a little later, in 1951, the following: “Everyone who loves and collects a book knows what an alarming interest the news of the publication of a new book arouses in readers. Anxious, - for is it destined to get it, this book? .. "(69, p. 57). But this question was already in the early 30s. Therefore, on March 3, 1931, the board of the All-Russian Union of Soviet Writers decided to organize a writers' bookstore in Moscow. “It was motivated,” we read in the brochure “Writers' Bookshop. May 3, 1931 - August 15, 1934 Towards the first All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers "(M., 1934), - the need for the best supply of books for writers and writers' organizations." Soon bookstores of writers appeared in Leningrad, Kyiv and other cities.

However, their discovery to a certain extent ensured the book interests of writers and, to a much lesser extent, other book lovers. The hitherto unresolved difficulty in acquiring certain newly published books is the clearest evidence of changes in the nature of Soviet bibliophilia and its growth in quantitative terms.

The problem of acquiring new books did not exhaust the bibliophile issues of the book trade in the 1930s. The trade in used and antique books also had its own specific difficulties.

As one of the leaders of Mosknigotorg wrote in the journal Moskovsky Knizhnik in 1932, “during the 15 years of the existence of Soviet publishing houses, a number of books completely went out of sale and became a bibliographic rarity” (138).

This primarily applied to the earliest publications of the Soviet period - 1917–1922. The remarkable writer and no less remarkable bibliophile V. G. Lidin in his essay “Search and Preserve” from the book “My Friends are Books” (1962–1965) spoke about their historical and, therefore, bibliophilic significance.

From the 1930s, Soviet bibliophiles began to intensively collect books and little books of poets from the first years of the revolution that had almost disappeared from sale - publications of Proletkult, poems by V. Bryusov, A. Blok, A. Akhmatova, miniature collections of publishing houses that meteorically arose and collapsed with strange names : “Sneeze-pikhi”, “Cardboard House”, “Sopo” (Union of Poets), etc. Publications of the same years dedicated to the theater were also in great demand (publishing house “Svetozar”).

The demand for these and other Soviet publications from the period of war communism and the 1920s, on the one hand, and the cessation of the activities of private second-hand booksellers and antique dealers at the end of the 1920s, on the other, forced the Book Center to pay special attention to the organization of the state antiquarian secondhand trade. Since the beginning of the 1930s in Moscow - in Leningrad, as we have seen, a little earlier - a number of second-hand and antique shops were opened; some of them - for example, store number 18 in the passage of the Artistic Theater, etc. - still exist. Old scribes, A. G. Mironov, D. S. Aizenshtadt, M. I. Puzyrev, E. F. book dealers and antique dealers. In the process of their work, many questions arose that needed to be addressed, in particular, the question of a rare book, the sale price of books of Soviet publications that were sold out and became a bibliographic rarity, etc. Interesting materials on these issues are in the journal "Moskovsky knizhnik" for 1932: articles by L. Khaikin "The second-hand book business in MOGIZ" (No. 15–16), A. Mikhailov "Regarding the article "The second-hand book business in MOGIZ" (In the order of discussion) ” (No. 23–24), M. I. Puzyreva “It is necessary to determine the denomination of a second-hand book” (No. 13–14) and responses to this article - L. Kalinina “Once again about the face value of a second-hand book” (No. 17–18) and A. Mikhailova “You mustn't increase the denomination of Soviet publications” (No. 21-22).

Questions about the denominations of books continued to be discussed later on the pages of the magazines "Book Front" and "Soviet Bookman".

The issue of the purchase and sale price of antiquarian and second-hand books was resolved in the mid-30s by the publication of the "Rules for the sale of second-hand and antiquarian books" developed by the Book Center. They stated that the books of Soviet publishing houses above face value should not be sold in any case. However, a reservation was immediately made that “an exception is made for those books of Soviet publications that are a bibliographic rarity, as well as for books that do not have a nominal price (subscription editions and supplements).” Such books, as well as "pre-revolutionary publications and luxurious antiquarian books, representing a bibliographic rarity, are regarded on an individual basis."

These rules, which were intended to eliminate difficulties in the trade in second-hand books and antiquarian books, only partly helped the cause, since it was not finally determined what should be considered a bibliographic rarity and what the principles of Individual order were. These issues remained unresolved in the following decades, and even when, in the early 60s, an attempt was made to radically revise the antiquarian-second-hand assortment.

Another problem was considered differently - familiarizing new cadres of sellers of second-hand books and antiquarian books and new bibliophiles with rare books.

In the 30s, as far as we know, except for those mentioned and not having practical value reports of A. I. Kondratiev in the Moscow section of collectors of books and bookplates, there were no attempts in the press to theoretically define the concept of a “rare book”. This does not mean that the conclusions of A. I. Malein, N. Yu. Ulyaninsky and others were recognized. Most likely they were either forgotten or unknown to the new scribes and book lovers. Therefore, the issue was resolved not theoretically, but practically. Those categories of books that P.P. Shibanov identified as rare in the “Looking for a Buy” catalog served as a starting point for new practitioners of antique dealers.

However, this did not end the issue. Life suggested another way.

In the history of Soviet bibliophilia in the second half of the 1930s, an interesting phenomenon was represented by the journal Knizhnye Novosti (1936–1938). Conceived as a publication informing scribes and readers of newly published, in-print and forthcoming books, this journal provided a widely circulated annotated and current bibliography register. However, along with this information task, the editors of "Book News" set as its goal to acquaint readers with the past of Russian book culture. There were departments in the journal: articles, science and technology, literature and art, short chronicle, chronicle, abroad, rare books; in addition to these departments, many issues of the Book News - especially in the pre-anniversary year 1936 and in the anniversary year of Pushkin in 1937 - had a department "Pushkinian". For the history of bibliophilism, all sections of the journal are of interest, but especially, as is natural, the section "Rare Books". Articles and notes of the excellent connoisseur of Russian books, literary critic N. S. Ashukin (“The Creator of the Encyclopedia of Fatherland Studies” - about M. D. Khmyrov, 1938, No. 6; “Gorky and the book”, 1938, No. 12; “Collection works of Valery Bryusov”, 1938, No. 21, etc.), V. Baranov (“Who is the author of the “Manuscripts from the Green Briefcase””, 1836–1936-1936, No. 33), O. E. Volzenburg (“Biography of the Tula gunsmith of the 18th century ”, 1936, No. 30), M. Ginzburg (“The smallest book in the world” - about Krylov’s “Fables”, 1855, 1936, No. 18), D. S. Darsky (“Notes of a Bibliophile”, 1936, No. 11 and 21; “Album of O. A. Kozlova”, 1938, No. 4, etc.), G. Zalkind (“Encyclopedic Dictionary” of S. I. Selivansky, 1938, No. 13), A. G. Mironov (“The First Art Journal in Russia” - about the “Journal of Fine Arts” of 1807, 1937, No. 13, etc.), V. Nazarov (“Archival Values” - the prices at which P. P. Shibanov sold the great book. Pushkin's letters to Oleg Konstantinovich: 2000–3000 rubles, 1937, No. 13; "The rarest autograph" - about drawings by N. A. Lvov, 19 36, No. 22), E. Sokolova (“Library of Ivan the Terrible”, 1936, No. 5).

In addition to the listed persons, I. Ya. Aizenshtok, N. V. Zdobnov, Vl. Kunin, D. S. Likhachev, S. A. Reiser, B. and Vl. Smirensky, I. G. Yampolsky. In the foreign chronicle, P. D. Ettinger often published, along with small informational notes, articles on autographs, Gorky's bookplates, Pushkin's publications abroad, etc.

The bibliophile material of Knizhnye Novosti is not of equal value: next to interesting, new materials, articles and notes were published in the journal that did not add anything to what was already known. However, the editors should not be blamed for this: the circle of readers of the Book News was so large and grew so quickly that it was simply necessary to popularize information about rare books among the new antique dealers and bibliophiles. The readers' responses, placed in No. 17 for 1937, are curious. All the authors of the letters thank the editors for the introduction of the "Rare Books" section and insist that it be in every issue of the journal without exception. This need to satisfy the needs of new bibliophiles and young second-hand antique dealers explains the appearance on the pages of the Book News of popular articles by B. Evgeniev (“The Painter” by Novikov, 1937, No. 18), V. Snegirev (“Edition by N. I. Novikov” - about "St. Petersburg Scientific Bulletin" of 1777, 1937, No. 23–24), etc.

The initiative of the "Book News" did not go unnoticed: in 1937 and 1939. in the journal "Soviet scribe" (it was not published in 1938) a number of notes and articles about rare books were also published. Issues of the magazine dedicated to the anniversaries of Pushkin and Gorky contain some very useful articles. Since 1939, the “Anniversaries of Books” section was opened in the “Soviet Bookkeeper”, which consisted of unsigned notes, sometimes very interesting, for example, 15 years since the publication of the last collection of poems by V. Bryusov (No. 19–20), 55 years since the day of the debut of Kozma Prutkov (No. 22), about the book by Y. Chaadaev “Don Pedro Procodurante” (No. 23–24), etc.

In the "Soviet scribe" of 1939, articles by I. Bukman (pseudonym D. S. Aizenshtadt) and others "Bibliography in the service of second-hand books" (No. 10), about incunabula (No. 11), etc., addressed directly to the young scribes - book dealers and antique dealers.

The example of "Knizhnye Novosti" and "Soviet Scribe" has caused imitation in our time - in the magazine "In the World of Books" and the newspaper "Book Review", which we talk about in more detail in the last chapter.

Closing in 1929–1931 bibliophile societies in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv and Minsk had a different impact on the further activities of their bibliophile members. Members of UBT and BTB did not make any attempts to organize their work within the framework of other collection associations; some members of the RODK used the opportunities provided by the statutes of the All-Russian Society of Philatelists and local societies of collectors to create various sections, including bibliophiles and ex-librists. Thus, legal forms were found that allowed the bibliophiles and ex-librists of Moscow and, as we will see later, Leningrad to carry out their research and organizational and practical work for almost the entire 30s - in 1931, the Section of Collectors arose books and bookplates of the Moscow Department of the All-Russian Society of Philatelists (SSK and E MO VOF) and the Section of Bibliophiles and Bookplates of the North-Western Department of the VOF (SB and E S.-Z. OVOF), which since 1933 became the same sections of the Moscow and Leningrad Collectors' Societies . However, none of these metamorphoses of the RODK and LOB could compare with the activities of these organizations in the 1920s.

The loss of independence and the unification with ex-librists, which began even before the liquidation, were reflected in the nature of the bibliophile activity of the newly formed sections. They nevertheless became less numerous, a significant number of old participants in closed societies did not want to enter the newly emerged organizations; among the members of the sections, new participants appeared, mainly from among the ex-librists. It is enough to compare the printed lists of members of the RODK in 1927, on the one hand, with the “List of Members of the Section of Collectors of Books and Bookplates of the MO VOF and the Section of Bibliophiles and Bookplates of S.-Z. OVOF ”(M., 1932), on the other hand, to make sure of the changes that have taken place. So, as of November 15, 1927, the RODK had 115 members (honorary, full-time and employees), and as of March 9, 1932, 57 members in the SSK and E MO VOF. Secondly, the nature of the scientific work of these sections has also naturally changed. It has lost the intensity and tension that characterized the activities of bibliophile organizations in the 1920s.

Therefore, the history of bibliophile organizations in Moscow and Leningrad in the 1930s cannot in any way be compared with their history in the preceding decade.

The emergence of the SSK and E dates back to March 1931. The organizational meeting, convened by the initiative group, took place on March 9 in the premises of the VOF (Herzen St., 31). The invitation typewritten agenda for this meeting indicated that the program of the section's activities was reports, a demonstration of new books and bookplates, an organized exchange, auctions, a publishing house, etc. The working day of the section was set to Thursday, and thus four meetings were held every month : two - bibliophilic and two - ex-libris; the first and third Thursdays were devoted to reports, the rest - to auctions of books and bookplates.

The bureau of the section, elected on March 26, 1931 and finally taking shape later, consisted of chairman K. I. Dunin-Borkovsky, deputy chairman N. N. Orlov, secretary S. A. Silvansky, who soon left of his own free will and was replaced by A. A. Tolokonnikov, members of the bureau - A. M. Makarov, P. D. Ettinger and F. F. Fedorov and candidate members of the bureau - A. I. Anopov and I. N. Zhuchkov. Already in the first year of the section's work, the preponderance of bookplate interests of the members of the SSC and E was indicated: out of 28 reports read, 12 were devoted to bookplate studies, 7 to bibliophilia, and in the other 9 various issues of the history and theory of book science were considered, for example, N. V. Zdobnov made a report about Russian book statistics, N. Yu. Ulyaninsky - “From the history of the Russian print”, I. N. Rozanov - “The main functions of the Russian book cover”, etc. The same preference for ex-librists manifested itself in the organization of auctions: from 22 collections, where auctions were held, 12 were dedicated to bookplates, 9 to books and 1 to small graphics. The activities of the section in the second and third years of its existence had approximately the same character, as can be judged from the printed report for 1932 compiled by N. N. Orlov and the handwritten report for 1933 prepared by I. N. Zhuchkov.

Since May 1931, the publishing activity of the section began: the programs of the proposed meetings for the next month or two, memos of the meetings, annual reports, etc. were printed. V. Zdobnov, N. Yu. Ulyaninsky, as well as the report of A. I. Kondratiev "Evolution of the doctrine of book rarities (Experience of Marxist analysis of the subject and literature)". The circulation of the section's publications ranged from 18 copies (SSK and E stamp for the 1st anniversary, works by M. V. Matorin) and up to 150–200. The most high-circulation editions are the books by N. M. Somov “The Essence of Bibliology. Bibliological essay "(M., 1933) and P. D. Ettinger" Bookmarks of V. A. Favorsky "(M., 1933) - were issued in quantity: the first - 400, the second - 300 copies.

In 1933, the Chairman and Deputy Chairman left the Bureau of the SSK and E. This affected the work of the section. For the management of affairs was allocated working group composed of E. V. Golovnya, S. A. Silvansky, I. N. Zhuchkov and A. I. Kondratiev. In an attempt to introduce some diversity into the traditional forms of activity of the SSC and E, the Bureau held presentations by members of the section at the annual meeting on the topic “Three best books my library." According to I. N. Zhuchkov, who compiled a report on the activities of the SSK and E for 1933, "the demonstration attracted a large number of participants and revealed a number of extremely valuable and rare publications."

Analyzing the activities of the SSK and EMO VOF and, in particular, its printed products, we consider it necessary to focus on the above-mentioned book by N. M. Somov “The Essence of Book Science. Bibliological essay". We do this not because this work represents some particularly valuable contribution to Soviet book science, but because the personality of the author, according to the information we have collected (unfortunately, we did not have to meet with him or even correspond with him), deserves attention. He was an amazingly unique person, very well-read, unusually industrious and able-bodied, who did not lose a lively and active interest in the science of the book until the end of his long life.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Somov was born in Moscow in 1867 and died there on July 22, 1951, at the age of 84. From 1889 to 1922 he worked in the Library of the Rumyantsev Museum; from 1922 to 1924 he was a librarian and teacher of bibliography at the Institute of Journalism. In 1922, Somov published his Bibliography of Journalism, which went through two editions. In 1924, as a Marxist bibliographer, he was invited to serve at the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute as a librarian. In 1927, for health reasons, N. M. retired and devoted himself entirely to work on book science. Attentively, perhaps more attentively than any other bibliologist of those years, Somov followed everything that appeared in the press on questions of the Soviet science of the book. Somov carefully classified all these materials and published his works one after another: “Bibliography of the Russian public. (On the Question of the Intelligentsia)" (M., 1927), "Critical Bibliography. Essay on newspaper and magazine bibliography” (M., 1928), “Composition of bibliography. Bibliophilia - bibliography - journalism. To the construction of a system of book science” (M., 1931), “Bibliography of the Russian public. (To the question of the intelligentsia). Part Two” (M., 1931) and the already mentioned “The Essence of Book Science. Bibliological essay” (M., 1933).

In each work of Somov, a huge, but not critically processed material is collected. The author, without any objections or comments, either retells the materials known to him on the topic under consideration, or simply cites the corresponding text in full, if it is not particularly long. So, for example, in the "Composition of Bibliology" N. M. Somov completely reprinted the abstracts of the report by A. I. Kondratiev "The main prerequisites for the doctrine of book rarities", published in 1925 in the amount of 100 copies and almost completely lost by the author-publisher. Particularly valuable in the works of Somov is an extensive bibliography, which takes into account not only books and journal articles, but also newspaper notes, printed and typewritten abstracts, reviews, even information gleaned from oral communications. For the purposes of our book, the sections of his "Composition of Bibliology" and "The Essence of Bibliology", devoted to considering the essence of bibliophilia and its place in the system of bibliology, could be of interest, but this is only a transfer of what the author has read on this issue, and not what he introduced something new in this area. Is it only one thing that should be noted in The Essence of Book Science - that N. M. Somov decisively distinguishes bibliophilia as a collection of books in general and rare ones, in particular, from bibliophilia or bibliophilism as a doctrine of book rarities. N. M. Somov liked to create scientific terms, for example, bibliography, a bibliophilist (as opposed to a bibliophile - a book collector).

Knowing N. M. Somov for about half a century, prof. B. S. Bodnarsky wrote in an unpublished article “In Memory of N. M. Somov” that the deceased, working in the library of the Rumyantsev Museum together with the famous librarian-philosopher N. F. Fedorov and his students Ya. G. Kvaskov, A. I. Kalishevsky and others, took a lot from these people and, above all, ardent devotion to their views.

“In terms of his inner qualities,” wrote B. S. Bodnarsky, “N. M. was an exceptional person in the full sense of the word. The main feature of his character was modesty, which involuntarily struck everyone who came into contact with N. M.. It was as if the feeling of resistance was atrophied in him, and this quality was unusual to such an extent that to others N. M. even seemed “strange”. Another thing was just as striking: an unexpected and rare metamorphosis, when, when N.M.'s convictions were tested, the childish softness suddenly disappeared, and he became hard as a rock.

“The ‘testament’ he left,” adds B. S. Bodnarsky, “contains the only request that the notice of his death be brought to the attention of Soviet bibliologists.” However, neither the announcement of the death of N. M. Somov, nor the obituary in the press could be published. With all the more respect for the memory of this worker in the field of Soviet book science and bibliophilia, we assign him several pages in the History of Soviet Bibliophilia: until the end of his days he was surrounded by books, immersed in books, busy with books and full of thoughts about books.

Turning to other speakers of the SSK and E MO VEF, we have to admit that we mainly meet here names familiar from the RODC - P. D. Ettinger, who, as before, informed about Western and Soviet literature on graphics and mainly bookplates, N. I. Orlov , A. A. Sidorov, I. N. Zhuchkov and some others. Of the new members of the section, the engineer S. A. Silvansky, who moved to Moscow from Kherson in 1929, where he published several works on bookplates and bibliophilia (Bibliography of Publications of the Leningrad Society of Bibliophiles, 1929), should be mentioned. He made a number of reports on bookplates at the SSK and EMO VOP (in 1931: “Library sign in Russia and the USSR”, “Lenin in ex-libris”, “Ex-libris studies (Terminology and composition of the subject)”, etc.; in 1932. - "New publications on the Ukrainian ex-libris", in 1933 - "Ex-libris and the public"). The most important of his published works related to the activities of the SSK and E is the brochure “Bibliography of publications of the section for three years. 1931 - March - 1934 "(M., 1934, 100 copies). The bibliographic works of S. A. Silvansky do not meet the strict requirements for describing such publications, but they occupy a well-deserved place in our poor bibliophilic literature. In addition to the bibliographies LOB and SSK and E, he wrote the brochure "Ex-libris (Popular essay)" (M., 1932). Upon his arrival in Moscow, S.A. Silvansky began to sell his collection of books and bookplates, and in 1935 he completely liquidated it. He died in Moscow in 1937. “Bibliography of publications of the section for three years” was the last (No. 60) edition of the SSK and E. In May 1934, the All-Russian Society of Philatelists with all its departments and sections became part of the All-Russian Society of Collectors. The VOF held its 139th meeting of the SSC and EMO on April 26, 1934, and on May 15 of the same year its 140th meeting took place already as the Section of Collectors of Books and Bookplates of the All-Russian Society of Collectors. In this latter capacity, she did not last long. According to the information we have collected, the last meeting of the SSC and E VOK took place on January 8, 1936.

In parallel with it, since October 1935, the Section for the Study of Graphics and Books began to work at the VOK, whose activities can be traced to June 16, 1936. After the indicated dates, we have no information about the activities of both sections.

From the invitation agendas for meetings of the SSC and E VOK, it can be concluded that bibliophile and even ex-libris topics have almost completely disappeared from the program of the section's activities. So, the meeting on May 15, 1934 was devoted to the work of the artist-engraver I.N. E. Aleeva "Descriptive sign in the service of socialism", March 16, 1935 - report by Professor A. I. Larionov "Methods for compiling trade union signs" ... Only two reports made by A. D. Silin on February 26, 1935 and January 8 1936 justified the name of the section in which they were read - "Modern book illustration and My work on book signs.

For a year and a half of its existence, SSK and E VOK, as far as we were able to establish, did not leave any printed matter.

It is possible that the departure of SSK and E from bibliophile and bookplate studies led to the creation of the Section for the Study of Graphics and Books (SIGIK) at the same VOK.

Of the reports that took place over the 8 months of the existence of SIGIK, we note the following: A. I. Kondratiev “Art publications in connection with the 20th anniversary of October” (October 16, 1935), M. S. Bodnarsky and V. N. Andrianov “History and the technique of printing geographical maps” (November 16), M. A. Zelikson “Woodcut printing and its technique in historical coverage” (December 16), “Matchtet on the publication of the poet V. Kryukov” (speaker not named; December 26); N. G. Mashkovtsev “Soviet graphics” (February 8 and 16, 1936), L. A. Ureklyan “The state of book science in Transcaucasia” (March 16), his own report “Graphic creativity and bookplates of the artist E. E. Lansere” (16th of May); On March 26, the artist E.V. Golovnya made a report on his work.

E. V. Golovnya and L. A. Ureklyan in 1935–1936 were at the head of the SSK and E VOK, since on June 5, 1935, at a meeting dedicated to the 4th anniversary of the section, the first of them made a report for 1934–1935, and the second spoke about the immediate tasks of the section for 1935–1936. They also played a major role in SIGIC.

The publishing activity of SIGIK was expressed in the publication of a memo to the report of M. A. Zelikson “Woodcut and its technique in historical illumination” (M., 1935, 8 pp., 200 copies). The memo is well designed, contains reproductions of 6 Chinese and Japanese woodcuts and two European ones; in addition, some copies were accompanied by a reproduction of an engraving by F. Pannemaker.

These data exhaust the materials we have collected on the activities of the Moscow bibliophile organizations of the 1930s - SSK and E and SIGIK.

No less curious evolution has gone through. Bibliophile organization of Leningrad in the 1930s.

The forehead was not closed, like the RODK; its activities developed without interruption until May 1931, when the Leningrad Department of Public Education decided to join the Leningrad Society of Bibliophiles as a section to the Leningrad Society of Library Science. At a meeting of the Council of the LOB on June 10, 1931, the chairman of the society, M. N. Kufaev, and the secretary, B. M. Chistyakov, announced the forthcoming reorganization. N. N. Orlov, deputy chairman of the SSK and E of the Moscow department of the All-Russian Society of Philatelists, who was present at the meeting of the council, spoke about the organization and activities of the Moscow section and recommended the Leningrad bibliophiles to take a similar decision. The LOB Council accepted the recommendation of N. N. Orlov and drew up a special memorandum on the desirability of the society joining the All-Russian Society of Philatelists as a section. The request of the LOB Council was granted by the Board of the VOF, and in September 1931 the Leningrad Society of Bibliophiles self-liquidated and entered as a section into the North-Western Department of the VOF.

In the new society, the former LOB began to be called the Section of Bibliophiles and Bookplates (SB and E SZO VOF). M. N. Kufaev was its chairman, first V. V. Dobrovolsky, then L. B. Modzalevsky, its secretary. The SB&E existed for a little over a year: on January 1, 1933, it, like the entire SZO VOF, became part of the Leningrad Society of Collectors.

What the section was doing during September and October 1931, in view of the loss of the LOB and SB and E archives during the siege of Leningrad, we cannot say. From December 1931, the section began to print programs of proposed meetings for the coming month or two months. Based on these programs, one can get a clear idea of ​​the nature of the scientific meetings of the Security Council and E. Thus, from the very beginning it was decided that one meeting per month would be devoted to bibliophilic or, more broadly, book history topics and one ex-libris study; the rest of the meetings were devoted to the organized exchange of books and bookplates. So, in December 1931, P.K. Simoni read the report “I. P. Karataev is a collector and researcher of early printed books ”(the only known portrait of Karataev is reproduced in the memo), in January 1932 L. B. Modzalevsky made a report “Pushkin’s inscriptions on books donated by him to various people”, in February O. E. Voltsenburg reported on the library of the village of Maryina and its book signs(Stroganov-Golitsyn collection), in March, the memory of Goethe was honored (reports by M. N. Kufaev “Goethe and bibliophilia”, E. F. Gollerbach “Goethe - an art critic, artist, collector”; Vs. A. Rozhdestvensky read new translations of Goethe's lyrics ); in April, a report by Ya. P. Grebenshchikov “A book on film” was read with a demonstration of an apparatus for reading film books (as microfilms were then called), designed by L. D. Isakov. In May 1932, reports were made by P. K. Simoni “External and internal design of books by Russian book lovers” and B. M. Chistyakov “I. I. Kuris and his collection”. From the reports of the second half of 1932, the reports of P. A. Kartavov “Watermarks of Russian stationery factories (From my collection)” (in September; the program for this month was printed on rag paper 1732 of the Yaroslavl factory I. Zatrapeznov) and “ Libraries of N. A. Nekrasov and I. I. Panaev, their composition and fate ”(in December; the December program was printed on paper made in 1902). In October 1932, a meeting was held in memory of V. Ya. Adaryukov, with reports by V. K. Lukomsky, O. E. Volzenburg, V. S. Savonko, E. F. Gollerbakh and P. E. Kornilov. In the brochure “In Memory of Vladimir Yakovlevich Adaryukov (1863–1932)” (L., 1932, 16 pp., 100 copies), published for the meeting, brief summaries of the reports were printed.

Compared with the same commemorative brochure of the SSK and E MO VEF, the Leningrad edition is undoubtedly superior both in content and design.

In the list of members of the SB and E SZO VOF, among the names familiar to us from the LOB, there are only two or three new bibliophiles. Of these, L. B. Modzalevsky deserves attention.

Lev Borisovich Modzalevsky (1902–1948), Doctor of Philology, a major Soviet literary critic, Pushkinist and Lomonosov, inherited from his father, a famous Pushkinist, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences B. L. Modzalevsky (1874–1928), a love for the auxiliary disciplines of literary criticism : bibliography, paleography, textual criticism and literary biography, as well as passionate bibliophilia. The obituaries dedicated to L. B. Modzalevsky speak in detail about his work on the study of Pushkin and Lomonosov. In this book, we want to note one amazing feature of L. B. Modzalevsky, bypassed by the authors of obituaries - a rare knowledge of the handwriting of all the major figures in Russian literature and science of the 18th - early 19th centuries. L. B. read any manuscript of this period with complete freedom and, at a glance, unmistakably determined by whom it was written; if the manuscript was from the funds of the Archive of the Academy of Sciences, in which he served, L. B. immediately and just as accurately determined which of the scribes of the 18th century. it was made. He possessed another rare ability of a practical paleographer: he could fluently read the manuscript “upside down”. From childhood, L. B. Modzalevsky was well acquainted with his father's large library, which enjoyed well-deserved fame among Russian bibliophiles. By the end of the 1920s, it numbered up to 15 thousand items and was especially rich in books on bibliography, heraldry and genealogy, as well as on Pushkin studies and everyday history of the Pushkin and pre-Pushkin times. Even during the life of his father, L. B. began to collect his own library in approximately the same sections; after the death of B. L. Modzalevsky, the library of the latter passed to his son, who continued to replenish the collection in the previous sections and supplemented it with books on Russian literature and history of the 18th century, especially on Lomonosov.

L. B. Modzalevsky really began to take part in the life of bibliophile organizations in Leningrad only in the last period of the existence of the LOB (he was the last scientific secretary). Above were the reports read by him at the sessions of the section. In addition, in one of the publications of the section, L. B. Modzalevsky published an obituary of Valentin Vasilievich Dobrovolsky (1892–1932), a member of the Security Council and Establishment, later compiled and read a report on the activities of the section for 1932, etc. Soon, however, he moved away from work in the SB and E, of course, without ceasing to be a person boundlessly devoted to bibliophilia.

In 1947, L. B. Modzalevsky defended his doctoral dissertation “Lomonosov and the Academy of Sciences”, and a year later he died tragically, falling out of the open door the car in which he was standing. His library was acquired by the Institute of World Literature. A. M. Gorky (Moscow).

On January 1, 1933, the Section of Bibliophiles and Bookplates, retaining its name, became part of the Leningrad Society of Collectors. M. N. Kufaev continued to be its chairman, O. E. Volzenburg, deputy chairman, and L. B. Modzalevsky, secretary. The bureau of the Security Council and E included its permanent treasurer B. M. Chistyakov and members: V. A. Kenigson, V. E. Shevchenko, F. G. Shilov and A. A. Savelyev. After the departure of L. B. Modzalevsky, V. M. Losev was elected secretary, who worked until the end of 1935, when he was replaced by A. G. Bisnek.

Throughout its activities, the SB&E met regularly, usually three times a month; occasionally, together with other sections of the LOK, the fourth time. The number of reports on bibliophile and ex-libris studies has, perhaps, even increased in comparison with the previous year. Of the most interesting reports, it should be noted: V. M. Losev "The book in the works of Russian poets" (January 6, 1933), P. E. Kornilov "Portraits of V. I. Lenin in engraving and lithography" (January 16), session " In memory of A. M. Litvinenko” (February 16), L. R. Podolsky “Is it necessary to collect books” (March 6), meeting “In memory of K. Marx” (with a report by V. A. Desnitsky “K. Marx in fiction "(March 16), meeting "In Memory of S. A. Mukhin" (May 26), Ya. L. Barskov "Editions" Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow "by A. N. Radishchev, 1790–1922)" (July 6), V. E. Shevchenko “On the bibliography of publications of the Committee for the Popularization of Artistic Publications (1928–1930)” (September 6); meeting “In Memory of I. S. Turgenev” with reports by O. E. Volzenburg “Illustrations by Russian artists to the works of I. S. Turgenev”, V. M. Losev “The Library of I. S. Turgenev” and with a report by F. G. Bernshtam “The funeral of I. S. Turgenev in St. Petersburg in 1883 according to personal memories” (September 26), M. N. Kufaev “The book in the works and correspondence of I. S. Turgenev” (October 6), B. M. Chistyakov “Decade Leningrad Society of Bibliophiles” and V. E. Shevchenko “Publications of the Society for 10 years” (November 26), D. D. Shamray “N. I. Gnedich and his library "(December 6), M. N. Kufaev" Pioneer Ivan Fedorov "(December 16).

During 1933, SB&E issued seven editions: four programs of the proposed meetings (January - February, No. 1; March - April, No. 3; May - June, No. 4; July - September, No. 6), the programs of the meetings "In Memory of A. M. Litvinenko” (with an obituary of the artist written by O. E. Volzenburg), a leaflet for the meeting “First printer Ivan Fedorov”, “End of the catalog of publications of the Committee for the Popularization of Fine Editions (1928–1930)” (print from program No. 6, p. the addition of the publishing mark of the Committee, the work of N. M. Brimmer).

The scientific and publishing activities of the section in 1934 slightly decreased compared to 1933. From the reports we note: L. Savinov "My collection of books on cooking" (June 6, 1934), L. V. Vedenov "Separate illustrated editions" Eugene Onegin "" (July 6), D. D. Shamrai "" Book chronicle "of the printing house of the Land Gentry Corps" (July 26), D. Kornilov "On two libraries on one ship and their book signs" (August 6), A. G. Bisnek “10th Anniversary of the Section’s Library” (September 16), O. E. Volzenburg “The Book of the Adventures of Vasily Baranshchikov” (November 3), B. N. Klopotov “On Some Editions”, honoring P. K. Simonyi ( December 6).

Of the printed publications of the Security Council and E for 1934, we know only the program of the XXXIX meeting "In Memory of V. I. Lenin" (January 16).

In 1935, the following reports worthy of attention were read: M. N. Kufaev “In memory of V. I. Medkov” (February 6), A. N. Leskov “From the memories of my father, the writer N. S. Leskov” (6 March and April 6), A. A. Davydov “Scribes-Yaroslavl” (March 16), Tsenger “L. F. Melin - a bookseller or a collector of books? (May 6), L. V. Vedenov "Miniature editions of "Eugene Onegin"", M. N. Kufaev "In memory of A. V. Mezier", F. G. Shilov "In memory of P. P. Shibanov", B. M Chistyakov "The Little Humpbacked Horse" in the publication "Academia" (June 6), Yu. A. Mezhenko "Portuguese bookplate" (16 June), V. M. Losev "Analysis of the book" Ivan Fedorov - the first printer "" (July 6) , I. M. Stepanov "Publishing activities of the Committee for the Popularization of Artistic Publications" (August 6), Yu. A. Mezhenko "Editions of Shevchenko's works", O. E. Volzenburg "Iranian publications" (October 6), A. I. Savinov " My works on book graphics”, N. V. Zdobnov “New milestones in bibliophilic bibliography” (October 16), M. N. Kufaev “The October Revolution and its creation - the State Book Fund” (November 4).

From the publications issued by the section in 1935, we know the following: “Chronicle of the Section of Bibliophiles and Bookplates. October - December 1933" (L., 1935, 24 p., 200 copies, No. 7), “Dear comrade” (leaflet-offer to take part in the ex-libris exhibition of 1933–1934, No. 11), “In memory of Augusta Vladimirovna Mezier” (speech by M N. Kufaeva at the meeting of the Security Council and E on June 6, 1935. L., 1935, 7 non-num. pages, 300 copies, No. 12), Invitation card to the meeting on September 6, 1935 on the occasion of the 100th meeting of the section ( 75 copies, no no.).

In 1936, the issues of bibliophilia almost completely dropped out of the program of the section: in addition to the reports of M. N. Kufaev “People and books of the 60s of the XIX century. (Dobrolyubov, Ap. Grigoriev, Sokolov)" (February 6) and "In memory of Acad. N. K. Nikolsky” (April 6) and M. V. Sokurova “Plan of work of the State public library on the bibliography of Russian bibliographies” (April 6), all the rest were devoted to bookplates and other types of graphic collecting. Of the reports on ex-libris studies, the message of prof. I. Ya. Depman "The first mention in Russian literature of ex-libris" (February 16). The agenda for the meeting of May 26, 1936 is the last evidence known to us about the activities of the Security Council and E.

Apparently, there were no printed publications of the section for 1936.

The last manifestation of the activities of the Security Council and E was the exhibition in memory of Pushkin from February 6 to 18, 1937 in the premises of the LOK in the Winter Palace. However, this event was held under the brand name not of the section, but of the Leningrad Society of Collectors.

In presenting information about the activities of the SB and E LOK, one should say not only about what it did, but also about the publications that were being prepared. So, in terms of publications of the LOC for 1936, it was planned to release the collection "In Memory of Turgenev", in which the reports made at the meetings on September 26 and October 6, 1933 were to be printed. In addition, the plan included "Chronicle of the LOC for 1934" , the reference book "Who collects what" (6 printed sheets) and "Index of literature on ex-libris" (6 printed sheets). Unfortunately, the names of the compilers are not indicated in the draft plan, and we do not know the degree of preparation and the fate of the manuscripts of these works.

From the written, printed and oral materials we have collected, we can conclude that since June 1936 the regular scientific meetings of the Security Council and E ceased, but it continued to exist for some time and could even realize such a significant event as the Pushkin Exhibition of 1937. From the new bibliophiles that appeared in SB and E, we mention V. M. Losev and A. G. Bisnek.

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Losev (1890–1942) was a librarian at the Library of the Academy of Sciences, then an employee of the Leningrad branch of the Institute of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Bibliographer and local historian V. M. Losev for a number of years was the secretary of the Society "Old Petersburg - New Leningrad". During the short time of his stay at the Security Council and E LOK, V. M. Losev made several of the reports mentioned above, of which the “Book in the Works of Russian Poets” is of the greatest interest. AT summary report after mentioning the anthology of I. A. Shlyapkin "Praise to the Book" V. M. Losev reported on unknown and unrealized attempts to continue and expand Shlyapkin's work. These are the collections "The Wreath of the Book" and "The Power of the Book", prepared by I. R. Belopolsky for the Kolos publishing house of F. I. Vityazev-Sedenko. Based on the materials of V. M. Losev, it turns out that from the end of the 18th century. Until 1917, there were up to 60 works in Russian poetry, either completely devoted to the book, or containing statements about it. From 1917 to 1932, according to V. M. Losev, there were more than 30 of them; they belong to 27 poets, including only a few major ones: V. Bryusov, V. Mayakovsky, D. Poor, S. Yesenin. V. M. Losev described the ode to A. A. Sidorov “Praise to the Bookplate” as a wonderful and completely poetic comprehension of the book sign.

Other reports by V. M. Losev were not so interesting. However, even his first report cannot be accepted without significant clarifications. V. M. Losev compiled the already mentioned “Chronicle of the Section of Bibliophiles and Bookplates of the LOK. October - December 1933" (L., 1935).

Not much more information has been preserved about Andrei Gustavovich Bisnek (1887–1942). For a long time he served in the Red Army, was one of the first Soviet citizens who visited the Pamirs in the post-revolutionary period, and after retiring began to work energetically in the field of bibliography of the Pamirs and Tajikistan. Together with K. I. Shafranovsky, A. G. Bisnek published the “Bibliography of Bibliographies of Central Asia” (M.-L., 1935–1936) and the bibliographic index “Ethnography of the peoples of the Pamirs” (1940). At the end of his life, he was an employee of the State Public Library. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. As the last secretary of the Security Council and E LOK, after the termination of the section's activities, A. G. Bisnek moved its library and archive to his apartment. In 1942, during the blockade of Leningrad, he died.

We have already noted above that in every single period in the history of Soviet bibliophilia there were major collectors who either did not take part in the life of bibliophile organizations at all, or occasionally appeared at meetings to read one or two reports or deliver them to one or another exhibition, for example, Pushkin , materials from their collections. The libraries of such generally negligent bibliophiles are usually of particular interest to the historian of Soviet bibliophilia.

Of the many bibliophiles mentioned both in this chapter and in the preceding ones, one should dwell on the names of professors V. A. Desnitsky and I. N. Rozanov. Classifying them among the greatest Soviet bibliophiles of the 1930s is conditional: they collected books from the beginning of the 20th century, if not from the end of the 19th century, and continued to collect books after the 1930s.

Vasily Alekseevich Desnitsky (1878-1958) was born in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of a priest, studied first at the local theological seminary, and then at the Yuryev (Derpt, now Tartu) University. From his youth, he took part in the revolutionary workers' movement in Sormov and Nizhny, and organically, and not in an armchair-book, learned the philosophy of Marxism. A dialectical materialist by outlook, a historian by education, and a literary critic by profession, V. A. Desnitsky played a prominent role in the history of Russian culture in the 20th century. Until 1908, he actively participated in the RSDLP (b). Since the beginning of the 20s, he devoted himself entirely to work at the Pedagogical Institute. A. I. Herzen (Leningrad), one of the founders and long-term professor of which he was. Friendly relations V. A. Desnitsky and M. Gorky continued until the death of the great writer.

As a Marxist literary critic, V. A. Desnitsky was one of the organizers of Soviet literary science. Few people have fully realized his contribution to it, and to fill the gap in the history of Soviet literary criticism - to write a monograph about V. A. Desnitsky, the founder of Marxist literary science - is an urgent and obligatory task.

V. A. had a sharp, flexible natural mind, excellently honed by Marxist-Leninist philosophy. He was a man of a very great culture - both inherited by tradition and acquired.

As early as the beginning of the 20th century. with great danger to himself, the young Desnitsky collected the richest collection of underground revolutionary publications - rare proclamations, newspapers, books, brochures, magazines, printed in Russia and abroad. All this became the prey of the fire (5).

During the First World War, the second library of V.A. also perished in Tartu. Since 1917, he began to collect his famous library, which for a long time was considered the second most important of the personal bibliophilic libraries in the USSR (after the library of D. Poor; after the liquidation of the latter, the library of V. A. Desnitsky took first place.

It is now impossible to determine the volume of his collections, since during his lifetime the scientist did not compile a catalog of the library, and the catalog prepared by the employees of the State Library of the USSR named after V.I. even the volume of this unique library.

There is no exact count of the books that came to the V. I. Lenin Library from the V. A. collection in official sources: in one place, “about 11 thousand volumes” (130) are deafly indicated; in a library report for 1963, it is reported that Desnitsky's collection included 6020 volumes of books, 3708 issues of magazines, 500 items of visual materials. But according to his daughter, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences A. V. Desnitskaya, we know that the V. I. Lenin Library did not take many books on literary criticism and art. It can be thought that, in general, the library of V. A. Desnitsky consisted of more than 15 thousand books, brochures, prints, etc.

The typewritten catalog of a part of the library of V. A. Desnitsky, which was received by the Library named after V. II. Lenin, consists of Russian and foreign departments. The first contains 2968 numbers, but this figure is not accurate: for example, under No. 2518 it is indicated in total - “370 books on literary criticism”, under No. 2677 - 100, under No. 2690 - 70, etc. In general, the Russian department of the catalog is poorly compiled: suffice it to point to No. 979, under which is listed "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", attributed to Griboedov. The foreign section of the catalog (No. 1556) is better done, but it, like the Russian one, is full of misprints.

A detailed enumeration of only the most important rare editions of V. A. Desnitsky would take much more space than we can devote to it in this chapter.

Therefore, we will limit ourselves to indicating only those "pearls" ("cimelia") of the collection of V. A. Desnitsky, which are especially noted in the literature about his library. This is Lenin's leaflet "To the Workers and Female Workers of the Thornton Factory", issued by the "Union of Struggle" in connection with the strike of 500 weavers that broke out at the factory in November 1895. This is the first edition of Marx's Capital in French. This is E. M. Korneev. "Peoples living in the Russian Empire" (St. Petersburg, 1812), previously unknown in the bibliography. This is a set of the French magazine "Literary Old Believer" ("Conservateur littéraire"), published by 17-year-old V. Hugo and appeared on the French antique market only twice; for the last time in 1934 at an auction that sold the famous collection of French President P. Doumer, who was assassinated in 1933. Among the rarest books in Desnitsky's collection were Radishchev's Journey from Petersburg to Moscow (published by P. A. Kartavov, 1902 - a copy sent by the censorship committee to the "omnipotent" Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev), "Chronological list of Russian writers" by P. A. Pletnev, the first edition of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "Dreams and Sounds" by N. A. Nekrasov, "Dictionary of Foreign Words" by N. Kirilov (edited by M. V. Petrashevsky; 3 copies .); “Grammar” by Melety Smotrytsky (Moscow, 1648), “Not everything and not nothing. In 1786" F. Krechetov; books from Napoleon's library, etc.

It is characteristic that in the collection of V. A. Desnitsky there were almost no Gennady rarities, such as “Description of a chicken that had a human profile”. But he willingly collected such books as “The real auditor. Comedy in 3 days or actions, which serves as a continuation of the comedy "Rezizor", composed by Gogol "(St. Petersburg, 1836)," Karl Marx's Boots "Trnka (St. Petersburg, 1899), which was told by V. G. Lidin ("My Friends - books"); as "Purishkevich's duel with a female student in Maryina Roshcha" (M., 1913).

In the literature about the library of V. A. Desnitsky, one group of books was not noted, which he greatly valued and which, it seems, he “discovered”: these are counterfeit (in the bibliophilic sense, books printed without the prior consent of the authors) of works by French romantics , published in Russia in the late 20s - early 30s of the XIX century. enterprising owners of French bookstores in St. Petersburg and Moscow. I remember that V. A. told me that these editions are unknown to French "romantic" bibliophiles and are not taken into account in the bibliography of French romanticism.

Not reflected in the literature about the collection of V. A. Desnitsky is another, close in character, collection of books - “rossica”, books about Russia, in particular, the rarest edition “One Brief Reason for Science on Need”, printed in Tübingen (Germany ) in 1642, a selection of early anthologies of Russian poetry in foreign translations. We note, by the way, that in many of his works on Russian literature of the 18th–20th centuries. he relied on rare provincial editions of his library, for example, on a book by a Nizhny Novgorod poet of the late 18th century. Yakov Orlov.

The dialectical mind of V.A., the rare ability of a penetrating understanding of people, colossal erudition and a rich personal past, his special, surprisingly eloquent manner of speaking (with an old Nizhny Novgorod accent) - made conversations with Desnitsky instructive, interesting and aesthetically impressive. In public, he seemed mockingly skeptical, incredulously ironic; on the other hand, in conversations in his study, he seemed to become different, and especially when it came to books. Like many old bibliophiles, he knew a huge number of histories of individual copies of rare books. Showing his copy of the book from Napoleon’s library (with the emperor’s super ex libris), V. A. added that the “little Corsican” ordered his favorite books to Moscow and, when retreating, took with him in a sleigh, from where, to speed up his flight, he threw out especially large ones on the road editions to keep small. When asked how he came across this or that rarity, for example, N. G. Chernyshevsky’s dissertation “The Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality” with the author’s personal inscription, V. A., with the conviction of an old bibliophile, said: “The book is looking for an owner” and, chuckling ironically , added "Unless, of course, the owner is looking for a book."

It cannot be said about the library of Professor Ivan Nikanorovich Rozanov (1874-1959) that in terms of volume, composition and character it can be compared with the libraries of D. Bedny and V. A. Desnitsky. It was a library devoted only to one topic - Russian poetry from its inception to the 20th century. Of course, I. N. had many books by Russian poets - his contemporaries, and, moreover, a huge number with the most friendly respectful autographs; however, the library of I. N. Rozanov, the library that he collected for about seventy years, which he was proud of and which was and is at the same time the pride of Moscow, was made up of editions of the works of Russian poets from Simeon Polotsky's Rhyming Psalter, "Satire" Antioch Cantemir, "Works and Translations" by Vasily Trediakovsky and ending with the smallest poets of 1900 - the limit of his collecting searches.

“There was no book written in Russian in verse - brilliant, talented, mediocre, weak - that would have passed by Ivan Nikanorovich,” writes I. L. Andronikov in the article “High Deed”, dedicated to the transfer of the library to I. N. Rozanov by his widow K. A. Martsishevskaya to the State Museum of A. S. Pushkin.

In the collection of I. N. Rozanov there were eight thousand volumes of poetic works, which he collected from the age of thirteen and “for more than seventy years he compiled the best collection of Russian poetry in the world, covering more than two centuries” (4). “For him,” writes V. G. Lidin in the essay “Rozanov Collector”, “there were not only exquisite flowers in the vast poetic field, he also collected the most modest wild flowers, and the more modest and inconspicuous the flower was, the more economically Rozanov put it in your herbarium. “This,” adds V. G. Lidin, “was not only love for the book, but also sympathy for the personality of the unknown writer with his often difficult fate” (83, p. 87).

In the 1940s, I. N. completed the work of his life, unfortunately not yet published, The History of Russian Poetry. There are pages here dedicated to great and significant Russian poets, but there are also lines about those who left just one poem, like “It was a long time ago ... I don’t remember when it was ...” by S. Safonova or some one song, for example, “The Moscow fire roared and roared” by N. S. Sokolov. I remember how upset I. N. Rozanov was when, despite all the measures taken, he did not manage to find biographical information about the Siberian poet E. Milkeev, who published a collection of poems in the late 1830s.

The book collection of I. N. Rozanov is not just a library of Russian poetry for more than two centuries, not only “a collection of books that has no price,” as I. L. Andronikov said about it, but also a monument of high philanthropy and boundless respect for creative beginning in man.

The library of M. Gorky, like the libraries of V. A. Desnitsky and I. N. Rozanov, can only be considered in this chapter with certain reservations - it was compiled at different times, crumbled, partially preserved and re-emerged. We have already written in Russian Book Lovers that there is much less information about M. Gorky's library in the press than one should and might have expected. At the same time, there are more materials about Gorky's library of the Nizhny Novgorod years and even about his library in Capri than about the last collection of the great writer, which is now in the Gorky Museum in Moscow on st. Kachalova, d. 6.

A characteristic feature of the library of M. Gorky was that it was, as bibliophiles say, a “fluid library”, that is, one whose owner is very interested in the book he needs to work and replenish knowledge, but, having read it, willingly gives it to some public library or gives to acquaintances or even not very familiar people, if he knows that they need this book. Such information about Gorky's library is very often found in biographical works about him and even more often in the memoirs of Soviet writers. From such materials one might get the impression that the great writer was not a book lover, but was only an avid reader. However, already in a report on Gorky the bibliophile, which was read at the LOB in 1928, V. A. Desnitsky, who knew Gorky closely for more than 30 years, argued that the great writer divided books into two categories - into books that he appreciated for their usefulness at the moment, and for those that he cherished as a real bibliophile and which he did not allow anyone to read.

About the composition of the last, Moscow, library, numbering about 11 thousand books, it is known that it has a "father studies" character: Gorky acquired books not only on the history of Russia, the history of Russian culture and literature, but also on the history of Russian life, art, science. In the 1930s, he was especially interested in books on the history of Russian regions, cities, factories, villages, etc. In the “book of reviews and wishes” of the Moscow Bookstore of Writers, Gorky wrote: book - it is my dear habit" (69, p. 30).

This discreet review of A. M. Gorky may seem unexpected after his well-known panegyrics on the book, usually cited by everyone who writes on the topic “Gorky and the book”, about the book as a miracle, that he owes all the best in himself to the book, and etc. The point, obviously, is that over the years Gorky began to look at the book more soberly than he looked at it in his younger years, when he wrote the above hymns to the book. In the 1930s, fighting against growing fascism and "internal emigrants" with all his characteristic fervor, Gorky could not praise a book, a book "in general" so indiscriminately. It is to this last period of his life that the wise, balanced, classic words of Gorky belong: “You need to read and respect only those books that teach you to understand the meaning of life, to understand the desires of people and the true motives of their actions.” It seems to us that it is in these words that the voice of the creator of socialist realism sounds, and not in the romantic exaggerations of the early Gorky.