Smirdin's bookstore. Gallery of bookplates - book monuments of Karelia

The very first bookstore in St. Petersburg appeared in 1714

Among the attractions of St. Petersburg, a worthy place is occupied by the Writers' Book Shop, which is comfortably located in an old house at number 66 on Nevsky Prospekt. The name “bookstore” may seem old-fashioned to a modern person, but it is historically justified, if only because book trade in St. Petersburg was carried out in bookstores that appeared in the Gostiny Dvor system at the end of the 18th century.

These were poorly lit, unheated retail outlets, and they differed from hardware, textile and haberdashery stores in being more cramped and dark.

The very first bookstore in St. Petersburg appeared in 1714. It was located on Trinity Square in Gostiny Dvor, next to the first printing house. The history of this shop is described in the story by A. V. Arsenyev “The First Book Shop in St. Petersburg under Peter the Great.” After the closure of the printing house, the shop, which until 1722 sold the products of the sovereign printing house - calendars, alphabet books, textbooks, military and naval literature, also ceased to exist.

In January 1813, on Sadovaya Street, in the house of Colonel Balabin, a bookstore of Vasily Alekseevich Plavilshchikov opened. This shop, which was later located on the Moika embankment, corner of St. Isaac's Square, became the first commercial structure where “scientists and writers gathered to make corrections, extracts and consult with each other.”

Plavilshchikov's bookstore can be called the first club of St. Petersburg writers, scientists and artists. In the same year, 1813, Ivan Vasilyevich Slenin began selling books. His bookstore was located on Nevsky Prospekt, near the Kazansky Bridge, in the house of Kusovnikov, and later in the house of the pharmacist Imzen. Famous St. Petersburg writers were regular guests of the bookseller. Alexander Efimovich Izmailov, a famous fabulist at that time, left a poetic testimony about this:

I’m sitting on chairs in Slenin’s shop,
I look sadly at books and portraits -
Here is our bard Derzhavin, here is Dmitrev, Krylov!
And here is Catalani, with Khvostov under her.
There is a portrait of Timkovsky the censor right there.
There is even Gerakov, but there is no Izmailov!
Maybe I’ll live to see a bright day!
Maybe they'll hang me in the bookstore!
Chu! Chu! the bell in the entryway rang;
The owner flew to the door with a smile...
Ryleev, Bestuzhev and Grech arrive,
The latter’s language should be suppressed.
Here Somov runs in, here comes Kozlov,
But Khvostov came from the Senate...

Y. ZAKREVSKY, film director and book lover.

Portrait of A. S. Pushkin (watercolor 20.5x17 cm). 1831 Artist unknown.

Book publisher and bibliophile Alexander Fedorovich Smirdin. Portrait of the mid-19th century.

V. Gau. Portrait of Natalia Nikolaevna Pushkina. 1842

The title page of the almanac "Housewarming" with the image of Smirdin's Shop, located on Nevsky Prospekt next to the Lutheran Church.

A. P. Bryullov. "Lunch on the occasion of the opening of Smirdin's new bookstore." 1832-1833.

A. P. Sapozhnikov "In the bookstore of A. F. Smirdin."

In watercolor by N. G. Chernetsov - St. Petersburg, Academy of Arts. 1826

Title page of the first issue of the magazine "Library for Reading".

About dear companions who are our light
They gave life with their companionship,
Don’t speak with sadness: they don’t exist!
But with gratitude: there were.
V. Zhukovsky

St. Petersburg, Moika Embankment, building 12. January 1837. On the second floor lies the seriously wounded Alexander Pushkin. At the bedside are doctors - Spassky and Dal, friends - Vyazemsky, Danzas, Zhukovsky, Arendt, Zagryazhskaya. In the next room are his wife and children - Pushkin did not want to disturb them. The staircase and the hallway are full of people, people of all conditions.

The dying person is tormented by pain and even more by death-bed anguish. A few minutes before his death he tried to get up. “I dreamed that I was climbing up these books and shelves with you!” Zhukovsky recalls the poet’s words. It may very well be that Pushkin was saying goodbye to his book friends as well. Didn’t finish it, didn’t finish reading it, didn’t return the books to the library... On each there is a sticker: “From the library of A. Smirdin. Those who wish to use it are welcome to subscribe and pay: for the whole year - 30 rubles, and with magazines in addition - 20 rubles. ". Pushkin was her regular, although he made fun of the owner:

No matter how you come to Smirdin,
You can't buy anything
Or you will find Senkovsky,
Or you will step on Bulgarin.

Alexander Filippovich Smirdin idolized the poet, but he laughed it off:

Smirdin got me into trouble,
The merchant has seven Fridays a week,
Its Thursday actually
There is "after the rain on Thursday."

Why did this “huckster” annoy Pushkin? Did you pay for your poems a little late? So after all, the poet was in his debt more than once.

Who is A.F. Smirdin?

He is a little older than Pushkin (born in 1795), but his childhood also passed in Moscow. He did not belong to the noble class; from the age of fifteen he served in a bookstore. The product was motley: from “The History of Vanka Cain” and “The Tale of the English Milord” to the magazines “Drone”, “Hell Mail”, “Northern Bee”, “Useful and Pleasant”, “Both This and That”... Future writer Stendhal , finding himself together with Napoleonic army in Moscow, was amazed at the abundance of books. And Sasha Smirdin, together with his friends, had to save them from fires. I wanted to join the militia, but they didn’t take me, and the enemy had already “gone away.” In the late autumn of 1812 he headed to St. Petersburg. I had never been there before, but I knew a lot about Northern Palmyra from books and magazines.

Vasily Alekseevich Plavilshchikov (1768-1823) was then known as a venerable St. Petersburg bookseller and publisher. Together with his brother, he rented the Theater Printing House from the beginning of the 19th century, expanded trade, and created a library at the store. Lyceum student Pushkin also visited them; in one of his first poems he wrote:

Virgil, Tass with Homer,
Everyone is coming together.
Here Ozerov is with Racine,
Russo and Karamzin,
With Molière the giant
Fonvizin and Knyazhnin.
You are here, careless lazy person,
A sincere sage,
Vanyusha Lafontaine.

Of course, Sasha Smirdin dreamed of working for Plavilshchikov. And he took him, on the recommendation of the bookseller P. Ilyin, as a knowledgeable scribe, as a clerk, and then made him the manager of the store.

“From his face, he was a constantly serious, focused person, extremely attached to his work and hardworking to the point of being ridiculous,” one of his contemporaries wrote about Smirdin. Almost all the writers, historians, and artists came to the store and the library. They were attracted not only by books, but also by an honest, courteous clerk striving for enlightenment. Krylov and Karamzin, Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, Fyodor Glinka and Karl Bryullov later became his friends. And Plavilshchikov, bequeathing his trade to the clerk, sold him the library for a small sum. True, he also left behind considerable debts: about three million rubles in banknotes had to be paid to Smirdin in order to save the bookstore near the Blue Bridge.

The year was 1823. Over Russia, “from the cold Finnish waters to the fiery Colchis,” “Pushkin’s sun” rose. From southern exile, the poet sent a poem - they called it either “The Key” or “The Fountain”. The poem was circulated in copies, and was soon published with a drawing on the title. Having received the book, Pushkin wrote to his friend Vyazemsky: “... I am beginning to respect our booksellers and think that our craft, truly, is no worse than others.”

The obvious merit of this is the publishers of the Glazunov brothers, Shiryaev and Smirdin. On the works of Derzhavin and Kapnist, on the beautifully illustrated fables of Krylov, a company stamp appeared: “Published by the support of A.F. Smirdin.” At the same time he was “enlisted in the St. Petersburg merchants.”

A kind of “Smirdin’s signature” emerged - the quality and excellent taste of the publisher. The community of writers and poets with Smirdin guaranteed that the book would quickly be sold out and the author’s work would be adequately paid. The publisher was especially generous towards Pushkin’s works: he perfectly understood the poet’s desire to live off his literary work. Smirdin was one of the first to realize the enormous importance of the poet’s work for the spiritual life of Russia. That is why he became a voluntary mediator between the “Creator” and the “People”. In 1827, for a considerable sum at that time - 20 thousand - he bought three poems from Pushkin. Pays regardless of how they are sold. He published the poems in separate books with illustrations. In "Ruslan and Lyudmila" a portrait of the poet by Orest Kiprensky appears for the first time. A little later, Smirdin published “Boris Godunov”, “Belkin’s Tales” and seven chapters of “Eugene Onegin”.

But Pushkin is far from happy with everything. He was indignant, for example, because Smirdin published O. Senkovsky and F. Bulgarin. Natalya Nikolaevna may have also influenced the poet’s relationship with the publisher later. Avdotya Panaeva in “Memoirs” (Academia publishing house, 1929) cites Smirdin’s own story about this:

"- Characteristic, sir, lady, sir. I happened to talk to her once. I came to Alexander Sergeevich for the manuscript and brought money; he made it a condition for me that I always pay in gold, because their wife does not want to take anything other than gold other money. Alexander Sergeevich says to me: “Go to her, she wants to see you herself.” I don’t dare cross the threshold, so I see a lady standing at the dressing table, and the maid is lacing her satin corset.

I called you to my place in order to announce to you that you will not receive the manuscript from me until you bring one hundred gold coins instead of fifty... Farewell!

She said all this quickly, without turning her head towards me, but looking in the mirror... I bowed, went to Alexander Sergeevich, and they told me:

There’s nothing to do, you need to please my wife, she needed to order a new ballgown.”

On the same day, Smirdin brought the required money.

Housewarming

In 1832, the Smirda “Lavka” and the library moved to Nevsky Prospekt (next to the Lutheran Church). Only for the rent of the mezzanine 12 thousand banknotes were paid. The store, luxurious for that time, was perceived by everyone as an unprecedented leap in the history of the Russian book trade.

Before the opening of the store, “Northern Bee” reported: “A.F. Smirdin, who earned the respect of all well-meaning writers with honesty in business and a noble desire for the success of literature and the love of the public..., wanted to give a decent shelter to the Russian mind and founded a bookstore like no other happened in Russia... The books of the late Plavilshchikov finally found a warm store... Our Russian literature was honored." Previously, book trade took place in the open air or in unheated rooms. Smirdin moved her “from basements to palaces.”

His attitude towards literature is all the more surprising because he himself was not a widely educated person, and was not even very strong in reading and writing. But his clerks had bibliographic knowledge, the bibliophiles Nozhevshchikov and Tsvetaev, the translator and poet Vasily Anastasevich were friends with him - with his participation, the so-called “Painting” was subsequently compiled, that is, the catalog of the Smirda collection. Four volumes of this Painting have survived to this day in the Russian Fund of the St. Petersburg Public Library.

The grand opening of the store and library took place on February 19, 1832. In the large hall, in front of massive cabinets filled with beautiful tomes, the dining table was set. About a hundred guests gathered. Then the “Northern Bee” published their names with its comment: “It was curious and funny to see here representatives of past centuries, expiring and coming; to see magazine opponents expressing feelings of respect and affection for each other, critics and criticized...” In the chairman’s place - librarian and fabulist Krylov, next to him are Zhukovsky and Pushkin, on the other side are Grech and Gogol, a little to the side is Smirdin, humbly bowing his head. This is how the artist A.P. Bryullov captured them on the sketch of the title page of the almanac “Housewarming” (1832-1833).

The venerable veteran of poetry, Count D. I. Khvostov, read poems to the owner:

The saint of Russian muses,
celebrate your anniversary,
Champagne for guests
for housewarming lei;
You are Derzhavina for us,
Karamzin from the coffin
He called again to immortal life.

Finally, the champagne began to foam in the glasses and a toast was made to the health of the Emperor. Then - for the owner. They also drank to his guests and friends. “Cheerfulness, frankness, wit and unconditional brotherhood animated this celebration,” Grech recalled. The cozy "Smirdin's shop" very soon became a meeting place for St. Petersburg writers - the ancestor of writers' clubs.

At the same gala dinner, it was decided to create an almanac through common efforts. They came up with a name - "Housewarming" - and asked Smirdin to head it. In addition to poems and essays, the first issue of the almanac included a dramatic opus by the historian Pogodin and part of Gogol’s “Mirgorod”. "Housewarming" was published until 1839.

Smirdin's journals

At the same time, Smirdin began publishing the magazine “Library for Reading”. He was criticized for the “variegation” of his content, but many people liked him precisely because of his diversity - the number of subscribers quickly reached five thousand.

The Smirdinsky magazine is named, perhaps unsuccessfully - “Library for Reading” (and what are libraries for if not for reading?), but its various sections: “Poems and Prose”, “Foreign Literature”, “Sciences and Arts ", "Industry and Agriculture", "Criticism", "Literary Chronicle", "Mixture" - were invariably present in all issues (at times only "Fashion" with colored pictures was added; the volume also increased: from 18 to 24 printed sheets).

Following the example of the Library and Otechestvennye Zapiski, Pushkin's and Nekrasov's Sovremennik, as well as our thick magazines, were later published.

It is unknown whether Pushkin was directly involved in Smirdin’s publishing activities, but apparently he could not do without mutual advice.

Smirdin’s most serious reform can be considered the reduction in prices for books and magazines by increasing their circulation. In 1838, A.F. Smirdin undertook the publication of works by contemporary writers - “One Hundred Russian Writers”, “so that the public could see the features of each and judge his style and characteristics.” I also had the opportunity to leaf through these three voluminous volumes, printed on high-quality paper with portraits of writers and engravings.

Even then, a true democrat, an admirer of Pushkin and Gogol, Vissarion Belinsky wrote about the new period in Russian literature, calling it “Smirdinsky”. He defended his activities from attacks by aestheticians: “There are people who claim that Mr. Smirdin killed our literature by seducing its talented representatives with profits. Is it necessary to prove that these people are malicious and hostile to any disinterested enterprise.” And as if confirming Belinsky’s thought, one of the newspapers of that time wrote: “We owe it to Smirdin that literary pursuits now provide a means of living... He is a truly honest and kind man! Our writers own his pocket like rent. ".

Smirdin's selflessness is obvious. For example, by publishing Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State,” he was able to reduce the cost of its twelve books by five times. Thanks to Smirdin, books became accessible to the class of people who needed them most. The second component of his activity is also obvious: the more people who read, the more educated the society. Smirdin put a lot of effort into publishing the collected works of those who are still close to us today - I. Bogdanovich, A. Griboyedov, M. Lermontov.

Smirdin now has competitors who are far from unselfish. One of the main ones is Adolph Plushar, who started by printing posters and announcements about entertainment in the capital, and then moved on to publishing the Encyclopedic Lexicon, which was a success. Intrigues began, which led to a quarrel between Smirdin and Plushar.

Alexander Filippovich started publishing “A Picturesque Journey through Russia”; he ordered engravings for it in London. I waited a long time for them, but for some reason I received them from Leipzig and they were very bad. In order not to go bankrupt, Smirdin organized a book lottery. However, there was not only a commercial intent in it, but also a desire to attract the population of many regions of Russia to reading. At first the lottery was successful, but by the third year thousands of tickets remained unsold. The general crisis in the book trade, caused by a sharp increase in the number of booksellers and publishers, had its effect: many random people appeared in this business. Almost the entire book industry is taking on a market-speculative character.

One way or another, Smirdin (like Plushar) went bankrupt. He wrote then: “In my old age I remained as naked as a falcon - everyone knows this.” But he managed to preserve the books with a complete bibliographic description. However, after the death of Smirdin (in 1857), and then his heirs, the Smirdin library disappeared - 50 thousand volumes! Bibliophiles of the early twentieth century tried to find her, but in vain...

The paths of books are mysterious

In 1978, a tiny note by the editor-in-chief of the Bibliophile's Almanac, Evgeniy Ivanovich Osetrov, appeared in Evening Moscow, who was on the trail of that library. He managed to find out that a book dealer named Kimel had bought it from someone cheap and sent it to Riga. He sold some to second-hand book dealers, and most of the books were sold by his heirs in the twenties of the twentieth century to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.

The story is almost detective, but not so unusual: books get to travel. I also traveled a lot, filming geographical films and essays in the Almanac of Film Travel. Evgeniy Ivanovich and I met and decided to write an application for a film about the fate and search for Smirdin’s library. At my studio they looked askance at the application: if only there was something about technical progress... They sent the application to the Prague film studio “Kratki Film”. There they readily agreed to the joint production and sent their representatives to sign the contract.

A literary script was written and sent to “Kratki Film”. And then it was time for filming... Fabulous hundred-towered Prague! The chimes at the Old Town Hall have been counting down time for more than five centuries. The toy rooster still crowed, and the apostles appeared in the windows, just as at the time when Pushkin admired the white nights on the distant banks of the Neva, and Smirdin hurried to his shop. And here and there, the love of books and wisdom is eternal. The alphabet created by the “Thessalonica brothers” Cyril and Methodius - those who stand in bronze on the Charles Bridge - helped unite the Slavs. And the Strahov Monastery became a treasury of Czech and other writings: books from the seventeenth, sixteenth, fourteenth, twelfth centuries!

In the Clementinum, a Dominican monastery, schools and a printing press were opened at the beginning of the 17th century. Now libraries are located here: national, music, technical. One of the largest collections of books in Slavic languages, and the main thing in it is Russian literature.

Yes, this is Smirdin’s bookplate! So here it is, the Smirda library!

No, this is only half of it,” the dear Jiri Vacek, head of the Russian sector, answers me, smiling.

Then he told how these books came to them.

We even have ancient Russian manuscripts, some published by Ivan Fedorov-Moskvitin. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, almost all of your magazines and almanacs have been sent to us. And when the Smirda library was purchased in Riga, it turned out that much was missing from it. By painting they obtained what was missing throughout Europe - this is how the Smirdinsky Foundation was formed.

There were also second copies - they were sent to Brodzyany, where our film crew decided to go. Once upon a time, the sister of Pushkin’s wife Alexandra Goncharova lived in Brodzyansky Castle, who became the wife of the Austrian envoy to Russia Gustav Friesengoff. Pushkin's children and grandchildren visited the castle - they are depicted in the drawings of the family album. In the dining room there are traditional family portraits and watercolors of Natalia Goncharova, Pushkin and his friends. They appeared here already in our years: when a museum of Russian literature was created in the castle, they were brought here along with Smirda books.

It was late autumn days, the paths were covered with fallen leaves, the sun was playing in the crowns of oaks and elms. "Autumn time is a delight!" But I also remembered the poems of N. Zabolotsky:

Oh, it was not for nothing that I lived in this world!
And it’s sweet for me to strive
out of the darkness,
So that, taking me in your palm,
You, my distant descendant,
Finished what I didn't finish.

And I thought: after all, Alexander Smirdin was thinking about his descendants, doing a noble, most important thing. Customs, mores, and ideologies change, but Russian literature remains alive for us. And if you, dear reader, happen to visit the St. Petersburg Public Library, ask the Russian Fund to show the only painting portrait of A. F. Smirdin. For me, bow to his memory.

Among a number of names of people who have made a worthy contribution to the history of our country, the name of an outstanding person stands out - a publisher and distributor of books, whose life and work occurred in one of the brightest periods of our history - the first half of the 19th century.

Smirdin Alexander Filippovich (1785 - 1857)

The name of A. F. Smirdin significantly entered the literary life of the first half of the 19th century. V. G. Belinsky, half-jokingly and half-seriously, in 1834, in his thoughts about the four periods of Russian literature, wrote: “... it remains to mention the fifth, ... which can and should be called Smirdinsky ... for A.F. Smirdin is the head and manager of this period.” .

The “Smirda period” in the history of the development of book publishing in the country coincided with the “golden age” of Russian literature V. G. Belinsky dedicated several large articles to him, A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. wrote and spoke about him. A. Krylov, P. A. Vyazemsky, V. A. Zhukovsky and many other writers and critics.

He was born in Moscow, in the family of a small linen merchant. The father could not provide his son with an education due to lack of funds and sent him as a “boy” to the shop of the Moscow bookseller Ilyin. In a short time he achieved the position of clerk. During the Patriotic War of 1812, he fails to enlist in the Moscow militia, despite his ardent patriotic desire, and he, with great danger, on foot, reaches St. Petersburg, where he meets the famous bookseller Vasily Plavilshchikov. This meeting determined the future fate of Smirdin. In 1817, Plavilshchikov invited him to the position of chief clerk of his book trade. With his honesty, devotion and love for books, Smirdin so wins over Plavilshchikov that he leaves a spiritual will, according to which he grants Smirdin, for his honest service, the right to buy all the book goods and the library at the price at which he pleases. In fact, everything was not so simple. Plavilshchikov's book trade and library were burdened with debts, and only Smirdin's good name, which aroused the trust of creditors, helped him become the owner of an enterprise without a penny of money. Smirdin was talented, with practical, purely folk ingenuity, which was his main capital. In 1829, he published his first independent publication - F. Bulgarin's novel "Ivan Ivanovich Vyzhigin", which brought material success, and moved to luxurious premises on Nevsky Prospekt. It housed an extensive reading library and a bookstore, which soon turned into a fashionable literary salon in St. Petersburg.

The opening and further activities of the bookstore and library of A.F. Smirdin played a special role in the development of literature and bookmaking. A.F. Smirdin invited the entire literary world of that time to the housewarming party. He wanted to unite all artistic and literary forces, and his first experience was the two collections “Housewarming”, published one after the other. They included works that the guests presented to the host as a gift. Among the authors of the collections are famous and famous people - V. A. Zhukovsky, A. S. Pushkin, I. A. Krylov, E. A. Baratynsky, P. A. Vyazemsky, N. I. Gnedich, N. V. Gogol, V. F. Odoevsky, D. I. Yazykov, F. V. Bulgarin, N. I. Grech and a number of other names.

But the unification under one cover of such different representatives of the literary society of that time could not mean the unification of the ideological and the personal. This was a period of literary confrontation, when the antagonism that existed between the different camps of literature became acutely evident.

N. Grech describes very characteristically the incident that occurred at the housewarming celebration of Smirdin’s bookstore: “Bulgarin and I happened to be sitting in such a way that between us sat the censor Vasily Nikolaevich Semenov, an old lyceum student, almost a classmate of Alexander Sergeevich. This time Pushkin was somehow especially in shock, he chatted incessantly, made clever jokes and laughed until he dropped. Suddenly, noticing that Semyonov was sitting between us, two journalists... he shouted from the opposite side of the table, addressing Semyonov: “You, brother Semyonov, today are like Christ on Mount Golgotha. "These words were immediately understood by everyone. I laughed, of course, louder than everyone else..." It is unlikely that this laughter was sincere. Christ was crucified on Mount Golgotha ​​between two thieves.

Both collections ended up in the Taganrog library from the first days of its opening, as evidenced by the stamps on the books - (Taganrog Public Library), (Taganrog City Library), (Don District Central Library named after A.P. Chekhov), (Central Library Reading Room named after A.P. . P. Chekhov), (Library named after A. P. Chekhov. Book depository). These stamps correspond to the period from 1876 to the mid-twentieth century.

Smirdin sincerely, to the point of self-forgetfulness, loved the artists of words, regardless of their ideological and literary affiliation, and with all his simplicity and naivety he tried to unite Russian literature, all writers. The publication of the collections Housewarming, the magazines "Library for Reading", "Son of the Fatherland" and his other enterprises testify to an attempt to reconcile the creative, talented people of that time.

Alexander Filippovich's hopes were not justified. The gulf between the opposing camps of literature grew deeper and deeper.

Particular mention should be made of the role of A.F. Smirdin in the history of the development of journalism. The publication of the magazine “Library for Reading,” which V. G. Belinsky spoke of as a new era in Russian literature, contributed to the strengthening of strong ties between writers and the book trade. Until that time, journalism was the lot of a narrow circle of amateurs, but Smirdin’s publications became accessible and interesting to society. He was the first to pay for literary work, which at that time was considered entertainment, and assessed it unusually generously. For the publication of fables, he paid I. Krylov 40 thousand rubles in banknotes, for each poetic line of A. Pushkin he paid a “chervonets”, and for the poem “Hussar”, published in the magazine “Library for Reading”, he paid him 1200 rubles. This was a lot of money for that time. In 1934, A. F. Smirdin for the first time concluded with A. S. Pushkin a condition for a monopoly right to publish his works.

The publication of the magazine “Library for Reading” for A.F. Smirdin was a continuation of his intentions to attract and unite the best literary forces. Brilliant works were published on its pages for the first time. Issues of the journal "Library for Reading" have been stored in the library's collections since 1834 and represent lifetime editions of the works of A. S. Pushkin, V. A. Zhukovsky, I. I. Kozlov, M. Yu. Lermontov, P. P. Ershov, F. V. Bulgarin, A. A. Marlinsky. N.V. Gogol, E.A. Baratynsky, N.V. Kukolnik, N.I. Grech, V.I. Grigorovich, D.V. Davydov, M.N. Zagoskina, I.A. Krylov, V. F. Odoevsky, V. I. Panaev, I. A. Pletnev, M. P. Pogodin, A. A. Pogorelsky, N. A. Polevoy and other authors.

Without thinking or caring about himself, Smirdin boldly embarked on any publishing enterprise if he saw in it the benefit of the literature he loved. Another of his merits was the publication of works by Russian classics and modern writers, not only of high quality and beauty, but also at an accessible price.

In 1840, Smirdin A.F. began publishing the Complete Works of Russian Authors, which contemporaries spoke of as a significant achievement, the most important event in the literary life of the country. This publication has not lost its historical significance even today.

Books in this series are also presented in the library.

The attitude of contemporary writers towards Smirdin was of the nature of sincere friendship. People visit him constantly and spend hours talking to him. For his part, Smirdin treated them with remarkable cordiality and constantly provides various services. At the same time, these relationships were the most opposite: from adoration, respect, love, servility, to irritable discontent, offensive attitude and use. He had to deal with outright deception, shameless robbery, squabbles and intrigues.

The best intentions of A.F. Smirdin collapsed under the pressure of personal ambitions and the mercantile interests of the writers around him - F.V. Bulkarin, O.I. Senkovsky, N.I. Grech, P.P. Svinin and others. They openly discredited the progressive initiatives of the publisher, pulled him into their net, and actually took advantage of his pocket.

N.V. Kukolnik is offended that Smirdin does not appreciate him, while he is one of the most published writers, and is a regular author in the magazine “Library for Reading”.

Smirdin’s favorite A.S. Pushkin, whose works were always very generously paid for on demand, dreams of his own publication: “Smirdin is already offering me 15,000 so that I would give up my enterprise and become an employee of his Library again. But although this would be It’s profitable, but I can’t agree to it. But Senkovsky is such a beast, and Smirdin is such a fool, that it’s impossible to get involved with them.”

E Even during the heyday of Smirdin, A. Nikitenko wrote in his diary: “Smirdin is a truly kind and honest person, but he is poorly educated and, worst of all for him, has no character. Our writers own his pocket like rent. their honor. This would be a real misfortune for our literature."

Smirdin continues to remain true to himself. From the beginning of 1839, he made another attempt to unite all Russian writers and began publishing “One Hundred Russian Writers.” This publication, unheard of in luxury, with engraved portraits and illustrations, is an example of the typographic art of that time. “...I ordered the best artists in England to engrave and print portraits and pictures for the publication...” wrote A.F. Smirdin in the address “From the Publisher”.

Despite the already acquired experience and publishing scope, instead of uniting all Russian writers, the result was a neighborhood that was horrifying in bad taste - Pushkin - Bulgarin, Krylov - Markov, Zotov - Denis Davydov. Smirdin became a victim of the impracticability of his idea - the publication ended on the third volume. From that time until his death, the publisher began a period of struggle with ruin and collapse.

The political and economic crisis that began in the 20s could not but affect literary events, as well as his activities. At that time, the triumph of the new “natural school” was replacing the outdated literary school, which was represented by Senkovsky, Grech, Bulgarin, Polevoy, and Zagoskin. Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, and later Belinsky, Herzen, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Grigorovich, Nekrasov captured the minds and tastes of readers. Smirdin continued to publish obsolete writers, retired fiction writers, in whom reader interest was falling every day. All attempts to avoid ruin only delayed it for some time. In 1845 he stopped the book trade, but still tried to continue publishing books. This supported him for several more years. Obsessed with a love of books, he lived with the knowledge that he was still benefiting Russian literature. He died in 1857. The Northern Bee reported that the funeral was more than modest; even those who owed so much to this man did not attend.

Literature

• Smirnov-Sokolsky Nick. Bookstore of A.F. Smirdin: To the 100th anniversary of the death of the publisher-bookseller

A. F. Smirdina. 1785-1857-1957/ Nick. Smirnov-Sokolsky - M.: Publishing House of the All-Union Communist Party, 1957. - 80 p.

• Encyclopedic Dictionary of the brothers A. and I. Granat
• Encyclopedic Dictionary. F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron

Years of existence: 1825 - 1857

Description:

Illustrations:

Bookplate monogram of A.F. Smirdin

In Smirdin’s store Cover of the almanac “Housewarming” (engraving, Galaktionov)

Portrait of A.F. Smirdin and bookplate affixed to the books of his public library.

Smirdin Alexander Filippovich(January 21, 1795 - September 16, 1857) was born in Moscow (now Bakhrushin Street) in the family of linen merchant Philip Sergeevich Smirdin. The father of a man whose name would later, from the light pen of the critic Vissarion Belinsky, give the name to an entire period of Russian literature (“the Smirda period of Russian literature” - article “Literary Dreams”), for some reason only known to him, decided not to involve his son in the family business, but, Having taught him to read and write, he assigned him (13 years old) to work in the bookstore of his relative, the bookseller Ilyin.

Then Smirdin served as a clerk in Shiryaev’s bookstore in Moscow. In 1817 he entered the service of a St. Petersburg bookseller Vasily Alekseevich Plavilshchikov, who showed him boundless trust and soon entrusted him with the management of all his affairs. Plavilshchikov died in 1825; there are two versions of how the merchant’s spiritual will was drawn up. According to one, he offered Alexander Filippovich two options: either to take over the entire enterprise, aggravated by debts that the heir was obliged to pay, or to profitably sell the company’s goods and go home. Alexander Filippovich chose the first. According to another version, Smirdin received the privilege to buy Plavilshchikov’s business at the price he himself wanted to set. As one literary legend says, the noble Smirdin did not use this right, but called his capital colleagues to an auction meeting, where he offered the highest price.

From this time on, Smirdin’s independent bookselling and publishing activities began. His first publication was the novel “Ivan Vyzhigin” by Thaddeus Bulgarin. Not without good reason, Bulgarin was “lucky” to become the hero of numerous caustic epigrams of his great contemporaries, but by a strange irony of fate, unloved and despised by many Bulgarin, whose surname became a household name with a minus sign in the history of Russian literature, wrote the first Russian adventure novel, which did not slow down become our first bestseller. The adventures of the main character of this book were published in a large circulation for those years and captivated the Russian reader so much that they were instantly sold out and made both its author and publisher popular.

Soon Smirdin expanded his trade - he moved from Gostiny Dvor to the Blue Bridge, and then to Nevsky Prospekt, to the house of the Peter and Paul Church. At this time, he was already in close acquaintance with many modern writers, and Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Krylov and other writers were present at his housewarming celebration. In memory of this holiday, the collection “Housewarming” (1833) was published, compiled from the works of the guests who were present at this housewarming party and printed in Printing house of A. Plushar

The fruit of Smirdin’s long and tireless publishing activity was a wide range of very diverse publications: scientific books, textbooks, works of fine literature - he published works by Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Krylov and other outstanding contemporaries, as well as some such writers who, perhaps, would never have been published if it were not for Smirdin. In 1834, Smirdin founded the magazine “Library for Reading,” which was the most widespread magazine of its time and marked the beginning of the so-called “thick” magazines. After Smirdin’s death, one publication calculated that during his entire publishing career he published books worth 10 million rubles, with about 2 million spent on preparing and printing publications and about 1.5 million on paying royalties. Such unheard-of generosity, often bordering on selflessness, according to many, was one of the reasons for the publisher’s ruin.

Smirdin's generosity in terms of fees attracted the best modern writers to participate in his magazine, and their relationship with Smirdin was of the nature of sincere friendship. Appreciating him as a well-read and educated person in many respects, almost all the famous writers of his time constantly visited him, spending whole hours in conversation with him. For his part, Smirdin, devoted to the interests of literature, treated its representatives with remarkable cordiality and did not miss an opportunity to provide them with this or that service. Every good work found a publisher in him, every budding talent could count on his support.

For quite a long time, Smirdin’s publications were widely distributed and his enterprise was successful, but then his business began to falter. The reason for this was his excessive gullibility and disinterestedness in trade transactions, and most of all his extraordinary generosity in remuneration for literary work. Thus, he paid Pushkin “a chervonets” for each line of poetry, and for the poem “Hussar” placed in the “Library for Reading” for 1834, he paid 1,200 rubles. In total, according to the calculations of the famous writer, bibliographer and book historian Nikolai Pavlovich Smirnov-Sokolsky, over the years of cooperation Alexander Filippovich paid Pushkin 122 thousand 800 rubles. - almost half of the amount that the poet earned throughout his life through literary work and, at the same time, meeting him halfway in literally everything - see. Printing house of the Department of Public Education .

Smirdin paid Krylov 40,000 rubles for the right to publish forty thousand copies of his fables. Today, Smirdin’s commercialization of writing is considered one of his greatest achievements, but in the 19th century this step was not taken so clearly. Detractors accused the altruist Smirdin of ruining Russian literature with his unheard-of fees, forcing creative people to work for money.

In addition to the “Library for Reading”, since 1838 Smirdin published “Son of the Fatherland” (edited by Polevoy and Grech). Bibliography was Smirdin’s favorite pastime - with his close assistance, Anastasevich compiled “A List of Russian Books for Reading from A. Smirdin’s Library” (1828-1832), which for a long time served as the only reference book on Russian bibliography. Until the very last days of his life, Smirdin did not stop compiling additions to this bibliography. The main merit of Smirdin, who devoted his entire life to selfless service to the book business, is to reduce the cost of books, to adequately evaluate literary works “as capital,” and to strengthen the strong connection between literature and bookselling. His activities played a significant role in the history of Russian education.

In 1841-1843, the collections “Russian Conversation, a collection of works by Russian writers, published in favor of A.F. Smirdin” saw the light of day - a desperate attempt by domestic writers to help Alexander Filippovich. In the preface to the first collection there is an emotional article by V.G. Belinsky, where there were the following lines: “The very way he turned to the support of the public he lent him is a great honor to Smirdin. He asks the public not for benefits, but for attention to the publication, which should bring him benefits if everything sells out. Russian writers have done their job: forgetting about any partiality, they hasten to combine their feasible works in one book. Now the public only has to pay its debt to Smirdin and maintain the glory of Russian society.”. However, this good initiative was not successful - the public remained indifferent to it. The authorities, who favored him and valued his merits, also tried to help Smirdin - the state issued a loan of 30 thousand rubles to the publisher. silver But this does not help, and in 1847 Smirdin sells part of his business - the premises and funds of his library - to his trusted clerk Peter Ivanovich Krasheninnikov, in which he opens his own bookstore.

In the end, Smirdin lost all the capital he had accumulated and came to complete ruin. He was forced to gradually reduce and then completely stop his book trade. Burdened with heavy debts, he did not lose hope of paying them and resorted to the most ruinous means for himself, starting one thing or another. During this period, Smirdin began to publish the works of Russian writers, starting with Lomonosov, Tredyakovsky, etc., in as complete a form as possible, but in the smallest possible format and in a neat font, in order to be able to sell each volume at a cheap price. A total of 70 books by 35 authors were published. “The Complete Works of Russian Authors” turned out to be in demand and quickly sold out, but the proceeds from the series, as one would expect, were not enough to pay off the debts.

Even the support of the government did not help, which took an unprecedented step, allowing Smirdin in 1843 to organize a win-win lottery from books in his favor. A lottery ticket cost a ruble, its owner received the right to purchase books worth from 1 to 50 rubles in Smirdin’s bookstore, one lottery ticket had a large cash win - 1 thousand rubles. The first edition of the book lottery was successful, and in 1844 Smirdin started a second lottery. However, her tickets were never completely sold out. In total, Alexander Filippovich managed to earn about 150 thousand rubles from two lotteries. - this was catastrophically not enough to cover all his debts and he was declared an insolvent debtor. Most of his books went to the merchant L.I. Zhebelev, but by 1864 they were added to the library at the “Zemlya Volsky” Serno-Solovyevich bookstore .

The last years of the life of the publisher and educator were sad. Poverty and an unsuccessful struggle with failures undermined his health. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Smirdin’s state of mind at that time was extremely difficult. Alexander Filippovich Smirdin died on September 16 (28), 1857 in poverty and almost complete oblivion, he was 62 years old. The publisher was buried at the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg. Money for the monument, as well as to help the family of the educator, was collected by St. Petersburg booksellers, who started a publication for this purpose “A collection of literary articles dedicated by Russian writers to the memory of the late bookseller-publisher Alexander Filippovich Smirdin”.

Smirdin’s business was attempted to be continued by his eldest son Alexander, heir to what was left of his father’s enterprises. In 1854, he and the publisher V.E.Genkel founded a famous company A. Smirdin and Co.. In his early days, Alexander succeeded in something, but by the early 1860s he, too, went bankrupt.

Note:

In 1823-1832, the bookstore and library of A.F. Smirdin were located on the Moika embankment, 63 in Gavrilova’s house near the Blue Bridge (the building has been preserved and added to). In 1832 they moved to Nevsky Prospekt, the home of the Lutheran Church (the building has been preserved and added to).

The publishing house ceased to exist.

220 years since the birth of the outstanding St. Petersburg publisher A. F. Smirdin (1795-1857) .

“The heart is consoled by the thought that, finally, our Russian literature has entered into honor and moved from the basements to the halls. This somehow inspires the writer,” wrote the newspaper “Northern Bee” regarding the relocation of A.F.’s bookstore and library. Smirdin to a new, luxurious for those times premises on Nevsky Prospekt at the end of 1831. And in 1833, in memory of this event, the almanac “Housewarming” was published, which V.G. Belinsky called it “the best Russian almanac.” Thus, Smirdin’s activity gave the name to another (fifth) period of Russian literature according to the classification of Belinsky, who in “Literary Dreams”, discussing the periodization of Russian literature, wrote like this: “... it remains to be mentioned about the fifth, ... which can and should be called Smirdinsky, ... for A.F. Smirdin is the head and manager of this period.” Of course, this important event was preceded by others, no less important, and most of the life of Alexander Filippovich Smirdin.

Who is he, A.F. Smirdin, why was his name not lost among a number of names of figures in the book business, why is it that memory remains about him? Galina Fortygina, Librarian of the Fiction Literature Library, will tell readers of the blog “VO!Circle of Books” about this.

Alexander Filippovich Smirdin was born on February 1, 1795 in Moscow, in the family of a small linen merchant. The father could not provide his son with an education due to lack of funds and sent him as a “boy” to the shop of the Moscow bookseller Ilyin. In a short time, the “boy” achieved the position of clerk. Thus, having started working in the book trade, Smirdin did not change his occupation until his death. Later, Smirdin’s fateful meeting took place with St. Petersburg bookseller V.A. Plavilshchikov, to whom he entered the service. Talent, hard work and practical ingenuity led to the fact that Smirdin, having started working as a simple clerk in the shop of V.A. Plavilshchikov, later became the owner of a book business and developed a wide bookselling and publishing activity.

The success of Smirdin the publisher began with the release in 1829 of “the moral and satirical novel by F.V. Bulgarin "Ivan Vyzhigin". A huge circulation for those times, about 4 thousand copies, was sold out in three weeks. This was one of the first novels in Russia written on the material of Russian life, and therefore was perceived by contemporaries almost as the first “Russian” novel. Smirdin’s prosperity was facilitated by the publication of A.S.’s poem. Pushkin’s “Bakhchisarai Fountain”, which had unprecedented success with the reader. In the early 1830s, Smirdin acquired the right to sell all previously published works of Pushkin, but for this the book publisher paid unusually high fees for those times.

And at the end of 1831, Smirdin took a new step in the field of book trade - he moved his bookstore to a more spacious premises on Nevsky Prospekt. Smirdin’s bookstore and reading library on Nevsky Prospekt, opposite the Kazan Cathedral, very soon became a kind of literary salon, where writers of different directions gathered. Pushkin was a frequent visitor and participated in the opening in February 1832. Somewhat later, together with Sobolevsky, he composed a comic epigram for the regulars of the salon:

If you go to Smirdin,

You won't find anything there

You won't buy anything there

You can only push Senkovsky

Or you will step on Bulgarin

At the bookstore, Smirdin opened a library, from which books could be borrowed for a small fee. Thus, commercial and cultural principles were successfully combined in one enterprise. This system worked perfectly, but commercial success is not the most important thing; such activities of Smirdin served to popularize reading; those people whose income was very modest began to come to the library. In addition to all this, Smirdin created a printed catalog “Painting Russian books for reading from A. Smirdin’s library,” which retained the role of a most valuable reference book. This catalog, published in 1828, together with additions (in 1829, 1832, 1852 and 1856) has always been and remains one of the main bibliographic reference books on Russian literature of the previous time.

Another interesting and important cultural initiative of A.F. Smirdin, which also had commercial success, was the publication of the magazine “Library for Reading”. The first book of the new magazine was published in January 1834. This was the first Russian thick encyclopedic magazine, recognized as a literary fact.

So, now it has become clear why the name A.F. Smirdin was not lost among a number of names of figures in the book business. Here are some more facts and results.

Thanks to the activities of A.F. Smirdin's work significantly expanded the circle of the Russian reading public. High-quality, but inexpensive books thanks to mass circulation (3-4 thousand copies) poured from the capital to the provinces. Reading has ceased to be the preserve of wealthy people. Thanks to Smirdin, noted V.G. Belinsky, “the acquisition of books has become more or less accessible to that class of people who read most and, therefore, need books the most.”

The paid library at the bookstore also played an outstanding cultural role.

Smirdin's activities contributed to the popularization of Russian literature. He published Karamzin, Lomonosov, Derzhavin, Pushkin, Gogol, Krylov, initiated the publication of the “Complete Works of Russian Authors” series, within which he published over 70 volumes (small format) of works by more than 35 Russian writers, including K.N. Batyushkova, D.V. Venevitinova, A.S. Griboyedova, M.Yu. Lermontov, M.V. Lomonosov, D.I. Fonvizin, as well as Empress Catherine II.

Smirdin, as the publisher of the first Russian “thick” magazine “Library for Reading,” laid the foundation for the existence of “thick” magazines in Russia. V.G. Belinsky wrote: “Before him, our journalism existed only for a few, only for the elite, only for amateurs, but not for society.”

A.F. Smirdin was the first in Russia to introduce permanent payment for author's work.

So, in history, Alexander Filippovich Smirdin will forever be remembered as a book publisher who made a revolution in the Russian book trade and, as a result, in Russian literature.

Sources:

Barenbaum, I.E. History of the book: textbook for universities / I.E. Barenbaum. – M.: Book, 1984. – 248 pp.;

Zakrevsky, Yu. In the footsteps of the book publisher Smirdin / Yu. Zakrevsky // Science and life. – 2004. – No. 11. – P. 30–34.

Chereysky, L.A. Contemporaries of Pushkin: documentary essays / L.A. Chereisky. – L.: Det. lit., 1981. 270 p.

The review was prepared by Galina Fortygina, librarian of the fiction lending department.