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 Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

. Sytin went from his village to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

at the age of 13 and opened his own book shop in 1883. He made a fortune through printing millions of

almanac An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and other ...

-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 Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

's,

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

's and

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

's works. After their

authors' rights "Author's rights" is a term frequently used in connection with laws about intellectual property. The term is considered as a direct translation of the French term ''droit d’auteur'' (also German ''Urheberrecht''). It was first (1777) promote ...

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 Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

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 Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

". 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 Zamoskvorechye District (russian: райо́н Замоскворе́чье) is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population: The district contains the eastern half of historical Zamoskvorechy ...

brought out more than 400 primers and textbooks. He later expanded into the publication of popular

encyclopaedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article ...

s 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 The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

. It was he who revived the ''

Vokrug sveta ''Vokrug sveta'' (russian: Вокруг света, literally: "Around the World") is a Russian geographic magazine. It is the longest running magazine in the Russian language. The first issue was printed in Saint Petersburg, in December 1861, al ...

'' 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 Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. '' Russkoye Slovo'', 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 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 adopt a socialist form of government ...

, Sytin's printing house was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

but he decided against emigrating and died in obscurity in his small flat on

Tverskaya Street Tverskaya Street ( rus, Тверская улица, p=tvʲɪrˈskajə ˈulʲɪt͡sə), known between 1935 and 1990 as Gorky Street (russian: улица Горького), is the main radial street in Moscow. The street runs Northwest from the ...

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