Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin (russian: Ива́н Дми́триевич Сы́тин; 5 February 185123 November 1934) was a Russian publisher. The son of a

Soligalich Soligalich (russian: Солига́лич) is a town and the administrative center of Soligalichsky District in Kostroma Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kostroma River. Population: History It originated as an important center ...

peasant, he built the largest publishing house in pre-revolutionary Russia. Sytin went from his village to Moscow at the age of 13 and opened his own book shop in 1883. He made a fortune through printing millions of almanac-type

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...

s containing miscellaneous practical information. They were cheap and attractively illustrated. This venture was followed by the very cheap editions of Pushkin's, Gogol's and Tolstoy's works. After their authors' rights expired, Sytin compressed their entire works into one volume that cost as little as 90 kopecks. He was the first publisher to reach the peasants all over Russia and to shape popular taste in the entire country. Maxim Gorky called Sytin the de facto "minister of people's education" whose calendars and leaflets "cut down at least by half the number of relapses into illiteracy". Leo Tolstoy proposed to edit "a cheap, simplified series that would reflect his moral teachings and not be copyrighted". Between 1887 and 1916, Sytin's printing house in Zamoskvorechye brought out more than 400 primers and textbooks. He later expanded into the publication of popular encyclopaedias such as ''The Military Encyclopaedia'' in eighteen volumes, ''The Encyclopaedia for Children'' in ten volumes, and the ''Napoleonic Wars'' encyclopaedia in seven volumes. By the early 20th century, Sytin dominated the publishing industry in the Russian Empire. It was he who revived the '' Vokrug sveta'' geographic magazine (still published today). He commissioned numerous translations of adventure fiction by such authors as

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

and H. G. Wells. ''

Russkoye Slovo ''Russkoye Slovo'' (Русское слово, Russian Word) was a Russian weekly magazine published in Saint Petersburg in 1859-1866 by its owner, Count Grigory Kushelev-Bezborodko. History The magazine's first editors were Yakov Polonsky, Apol ...

'', an obscure conservative newspaper, was transformed by Sytin into Russia's most popular (and cheapest) daily; its circulation surpassed one million copies in 1917. After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

, Sytin's printing house was nationalized but he decided against emigrating and died in obscurity in his small flat on Tverskaya Street at the age of 83. This apartment has been designated a national museum since 1989. In 1990, McGill-Queen's University Press published a study by Charles A. Ruud, ''Russian Entrepreneur: Publisher Ivan Sytin of Moscow, 1851-1934''.)

References

External links

*
Sytin Museum in Moscow

List of Sytin publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sytin, Ivan Dmitrievich 1851 births 1934 deaths People from Soligalichsky District People from Soligalichsky Uyezd Publishers (people) from the Russian Empire Russian mass media owners Russian newspaper publishers (people) Russian book publishers (people) Burials at Vvedenskoye Cemetery