Organization of book trade in Leningrad. Book business in the ussr. post-war soviet publishing

23.3. THE BOOK TRADE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 1990S The development of market relations in the book business led to the fact that the 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

Book trade. The first bookstore in St. Petersburg was created in 1714 in Gostiny Dvor. In 1728 the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences opened the Book Chamber for the sale of its publications and foreign books. Private book trade has been developing since the end of the 18th century. (in 1768 there was 1 private bookstore in St. Petersburg, 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 activity of NI Novikov. In the early 80s. XVIII century. T.A. Polezhaev, I.P. Glazunov, N.N. Kolchugin, V.S.Sopikov, and others became its commissioners in St. Petersburg. Foreign bookstores were located on Millionnaya Street (now Khalturin Street), Bolshaya Morskaya Street (now Herzen), St. Isaac's Square, the shops of Russian merchants - in Gostiny Dvor, on Nevsky Prospect and Sadovaya Street. The center of the book trade on Vasilievsky Island was the Andreevsky Market, in the St. Petersburg part - the Sytny Market. Some publishers and booksellers of the 1st quarter of the 19th century were associated with the Decembrists (among them V.A.Plavilshchikov and I.V.Slenin; the first owned a bookstore, at which one of the first paid libraries in St. Petersburg was created, the Slonin's shop on Nevsky Prospect, 30 was a meeting place for future Decembrists). In 1825, Plavilytsikov's firm passed to A.F.Smirdin, his shop and library (22 Nevsky Prospect) is a traditional meeting place for Petersburg writers. In the 40-50s. XIX century. many small firms went bankrupt, only large ones survived (N. A. Isakova, F. V. Bazunova, etc.). In an atmosphere of social upsurge in the early 60s. XIX century. NA Serno-Solovyevich at the end of 1861 opened a bookstore on Nevsky Prospekt, 24, which became one of the centers of social life in St. Petersburg (in fact, the stronghold of the organization "Land and Freedom"). After the arrest of Serno-Solovievich (July 1862), his work was continued by A.A. Richter, from 1867 - by A.A. Cherkesov. In the 70s and 80s. the first specialized antique and second-hand bookshops appeared in St. Petersburg (see Second-hand booksellers). The largest booksellers of the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. In St. Petersburg there were publishers M.O. Wolf, A.S.Suvorin, I.D.Sytin (St. Petersburg branch of his Moscow firms), I.I. Glazunov. Many booksellers in the conditions of growing competition took the path of specialization of the book trade: K. L. Rikker traded medical and technical literature, AF Devrien - agricultural and natural science books, PI Yurgenson - sheet music and music literature. At the end of the XIX century. In St. Petersburg, bookstores for nonresident people appeared (they sent books on advance orders by mail), subscription stores. A special place in the book trade system was occupied by the book warehouses of the publishers E. N. Vodovozova and A. M. Kalmykova: through them Marxist literature (including the first books of V. I. Lenin) and literature for workers were distributed. During the revolution of 1905–07, social democratic literature was distributed by the book warehouses of the publishing houses Vperyod, Zhizn i Znanie, Zerno, and the Trud bookstore of S. A. Skirmunt. At the beginning of the XX century. there was a tendency to monopolize the book trade (ID Sytin was able to subjugate many bookselling firms), but the devastation caused by World War I brought the book trade to the brink of crisis. At the beginning of 1918, the first state bookstores were opened in St. Petersburg (in Smolny and at the printing house of the Red Army headquarters). In August 1918, a bookstore was opened at 116 Nevsky Prospekt (since December 1919 - at 28 Nevsky Prospect, see House of Books). In the conditions of the "book hunger" on December 20, 1919, the Petrosoviet municipalized large warehouses and shops (AF Marx, Devrien, Brockhaus - Efron, Wolf, Glazunov, Sytin, etc.). The books were distributed free of charge to enterprises, institutions, and military units. With the introduction of the NEP in November 1921, paid printing was restored, and in December 1921 private and cooperative publishing houses were allowed to operate, which began to open their stores in St. Petersburg. In January 1922 the trade sector PetroGIZ opened bookstores at 13 and 24 Nevsky Prospekt. In the early 1920s. The House of Arts had a bookstore at 14 Herzen Street, the Writers' House at 11 Baseinaya Street (now Nekrasov Street), 51 Liteiny Avenue, 26 Officer Street (now Dekabristov Street). The specialization of the book trade was developing: in 1927 on Liteiny Prospect, 64, a Gostekhizdata store "Technical Book" was opened; other publishing houses also had their own stores in Leningrad. In 1930, all private and cooperative shops in Leningrad were nationalized and transferred to the jurisdiction of LenKOGIZ, and departmental book trade apparatuses were also created (Akademkniga, Voenknigotorg, Soyuzpechat, etc.). To train personnel in the book trade, an educational combine, a technical school for book trade, a school of trade apprenticeships, and pedagogical courses were formed in 1930 (they trained teachers and management for the book trade). Scientific methods of book trade were developed by a special laboratory of the Institute of Books, Documents, Letters of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1930, the first collector of public libraries was opened at 53 Liteiny Prospect. By 1940, 60 LenKOGIZ stores were operating in Leningrad. During the blockade, 20 bookstores in Leningrad continued to operate. In 1949 the department of book trade was created - Lenknigotorg. In 1954, the pre-war level of the book trade was restored. In 1962, Lenoblknigotorg was separated from the Leningrad Trade Union, and in 1974 they were merged (see Lenknig). In 1990, over 120 Lenkniga stores were operating in Leningrad, as well as 4 Akademkngi, Writers' Bookstore, War Book House, the Music Store of the Leningrad branch of the Musical Fund of the USSR Composers Union, over 20 Soyuzpechat agency stores.

In 1926, the Spring Book Bazaar was organized for the first time in Leningrad (it was held annually until 1934 on Sofya Perovskaya Street, in 1927 - on Ostrovsky Square; until 1932 books were sold at a discount). In April - May 1946, to mark the 1st anniversary of the Victory, a book market was held in the park near the Trinity Cathedral. The tradition of annual Spring Book Bazaars was renewed in 1957 (during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Leningrad); in 1958–65 they were held on Peace Square, and since 1966 - on Ostrovsky Square (42nd Book Bazaar took place in 1990).

Literature:

Lavrov N.P., Book World of Leningrad, L., 1985;

Barenbaum I.E., Kostyleva N.A., Book Petersburg - Leningrad, L., 1986.

Publishing during the first five-year plans. - Bookselling this decade. - Writers' bookstores in Moscow and Leningrad. Bibliophile organizations in Moscow and Leningrad in the 30s. - Libraries of V. A. Desnitsky, I. N. Rozanov and M. Gorky.

The program of an unfolded 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 publishing and bookselling. Further consequences of these changes were new forms of activity of Soviet bibliophile organizations and, in general, the existence of Soviet bibliophiles.

During the 1920s, state publishing houses became ideologically and materially stronger and gradually ousted private publishing houses that had existed since the NEP; gradually small departmental publishing houses, publishing houses of city councils and various scientific institutions were poured 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 publishing houses and the streamlining of the book distribution network ", otherwise called the" Decree on the typification of publishing houses. " This decision helped to streamline the publishing business, but did not bring its reorganization to the end. Therefore, in 1930, followed by 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). 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 OGIZ board. 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 antique second-hand books.

Changes in the publishing industry of the RSFSR naturally affected the development of Soviet bibliophiles. The most significant in this respect was the role of Goslitizdat, the State Publishing House fine arts (Izogiz), later - "Art", publishing houses "Academia" (until 1938), "Soviet writer" (from 1938; before that the Moscow Association of Writers and "Publishing House of Writers in Leningrad").

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

One of the important aspects of Goslitizdat's activity 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 undertaking such experiments as mass subscription editions of classics and major Soviet writers. At the same time, individual private and cooperative publishing houses in the late 1920s published the collected works of some contemporary writers. In the second half of the 1920s, the Leningrad branch of the State Publishing House undertook the publication of the collected works of Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, works of art by L. Tolstoy, etc. Subscription to them was a huge success. Since the 30s, the OGIZ subscription publications sector has received even greater development, which has continued steadily in the future.

Some bibliophiles, who collected the old, especially the first, editions of writers, treated with disdain, even contempt for those whom they called "subscription 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, socio-educational role. They inspired millions of people to read, spread a love of literature and books, increased the artistic tastes of readers and made many of them bibliophiles, lovers of good books. In addition, as a rule, Soviet subscription editions in textological terms are incomparably higher than any pre-revolutionary ones: large scientific forces must necessarily participate in their preparation, ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the reproduced texts of classics and other writers, whose works were previously distorted by the 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 Soviet books and contributed to the growth of Soviet bibliophiles.

However, among the phenomenon of book publishing in the 1930s, two directly and immediately reflected on the bibliophile hobbies of contemporaries and even the following decades. We mean the activities of the Academia publishing house 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 unexpected - of the Academia publishing house, which existed since 1921 as a publishing house of the Leningrad State Institute of Art History, into the first row of publishing houses of the RSFSR.

The Academia publishing house was conceived in the early 1920s by a number of Petrograd university professors specifically for the release of Plato's works in Russian translation, and precisely for the reason that this ancient Greek philosopher conducted his studies with his students in the garden that belonged to the Athenian Academy, and the school of Plato therefore 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 had an openly idealistic character and, probably, was conceived as a counterbalance to the materialism of Soviet ideology. Then, for 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 the old and new art foreign literature, since it could not publish the works of Russian authors, nationalized by the decree of December 30, 1917. After the creation of OGIZ, the Academia publishing house received the right to publish works of Russian writers in an artistic form, as opposed to the mass editions of Goslitizdat. The energetic and educated bibliophile and bibliophile AA Krolenko, who led the publishing house during the Leningrad period, was able to do business, and the Academia publishing house began to publish elegantly designed and textually good books, which immediately became a collectible. In 1932, the publishing house issued a beautifully printed “Catalog of editions 1929–1933 with the attachment of the publication plan for the three-year period 1933–1935”, which immediately, like all printed products of the publishing house, was snapped up and became, as it were, a guide for collectors. Soon "Academia" was transferred from Leningrad to Moscow, and its publishing scale took on even greater proportions. This is evidenced by a small-format booklet entitled "Academia". Publishing house, for the XVII Congress of the CPSU (b). Tasks, list of editions, plan “, (M. -L., 1934, 120 p.).

Back in 1930, IS Yezhov in these words described in the "Literary Encyclopedia" (vol. I) the work of the publishing house "Academia": "... in the publication of literary works" Academia "often seeks to satisfy the demand of the" refined "philistine. The editions of "Academia" are especially distinguished by their external design: selection of fonts, format, cover, binding - all this is done with great taste. "

If we leave aside the vulgar sociological judgments about the allegedly existing desire of the Academia publishing house to satisfy the demand of the “refined” philistinism, then the main part of the given characterization is fair. The management of the publishing house paid serious attention to the typographic design of their products. It began to use the Elizabethan script, 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 the illustrations of published books. Publications such as "A Thousand and One Nights" translated by M. A. Salie, designed by N. A. Ushin, "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" with drawings from the Paleshan and many other things, undoubtedly, are among the serious achievements of Soviet typographic art at the beginning of the -s.

The interest in the Academia publications was, as already mentioned, extremely high. “Everything that came out in the edition of Academia,” wrote second-hand bookseller M. I. Puzyrev in the magazine “Moscow Book Book” in 1932, “has been sold out ... Meanwhile, the demand for these publications is extremely high” (138). But foreign lovers of elegant books also showed attention to the publications of "Academia". This was taken into account by the International Book, and already in 1932 released the Catalog of Books. Editions "Academia" "(M., 1932, 29 p.).

As already mentioned, there was a “Writers' Publishing House in Leningrad” in the 1930s. 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". It began to appear in 1933 and also immediately became the subject of the collection of numerous Soviet poetry lovers. Later, after the 1st Congress of Soviet Writers, "Writers' Publishing House in Leningrad" merged with the "Soviet Writer" publishing house, which continues to publish both series of "Poet's Library" to this day.

Thus, the subscription and art editions of Goslitizdat, the series of the Academia publishing house and the Poet's Library of the Soviet Writer were the qualitatively new material that influenced the formation of the tastes of Soviet bibliophiles in the 1930s.

Now these, once new, editions are diligently searched for by our modern bibliophiles - like rare old books!

Moving from the issues of book publishing in the 30s to the issues of the book trade in general and trade in second-hand and antique books in particular, we should note in this area one important phenomenon, which began to appear in the late 20s, then in the 30s acquired a sharp pronounced forms and has not yet disappeared and constantly makes itself felt and felt. The point is that, despite the disproportionately larger print runs than in pre-Soviet times, since the end of the 1920s, a new, especially interesting in some way, book has become increasingly difficult to get. A prominent Soviet literary critic and book-lover Ya. E. Elsberg wrote on this occasion, however, somewhat later, in 1951, the following: “Everyone who loves and collects a book knows what alarming interest is aroused in readers by the news of a new book. Alarming - 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 made a decision to organize a writers' bookstore in Moscow. “It was motivated,” we read in the brochure “Writers' Bookstore. May 3, 1931 - August 15, 1934 To the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers "(M., 1934), - by the need for the best supply of books for writers and writers' organizations". Soon, writers' bookstores appeared in Leningrad, Kiev and other cities.

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

The problem of acquiring new books was not limited to bibliophile issues of the book trade in the 1930s. Trade in second-hand and antique books also had its own specific difficulties.

As one of the leaders of the Mosknigotorg wrote in the magazine Moskovskii kniknik, in 1932, “over the 15 years of the existence of Soviet publishing houses, a number of books have completely gone out of sale and have become a bibliographic rarity” (138).

This primarily applied to the earliest publications of the Soviet period - 1917–1922. Their historical and, consequently, bibliophilic meaning is cleverly and warmly said by the remarkable writer and no less remarkable bibliophile V. G. Lidin in the essay “Search and Protect” from the book “My Friends - Books” (1962–1965).

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

The demand for these and other Soviet publications of the period of war communism and the 1920s, on the one hand, and the cessation of the activities of private second-hand booksellers and antiquaries at the end of the 1920s, on the other, forced the Book Center to pay special attention to the organization of the state antique-second-hand book trade. From the beginning of the 30s in Moscow - in Leningrad, as we have seen, somewhat earlier - a number of second-hand and antique stores were opened; some of them, for example, shop No. 18 in the passage of the Art Theater, etc., still exist. Old scribes - A.G. Mironov, D.S.Aizenshtadt, M.I.Puzyrev, E.F. Tsipelzon, and others were involved in the work in these stores, as well as in the Bookstore of Writers. second-hand booksellers-antique dealers. In the course of their work, many questions arose that required a solution, in particular, the question of a rare book, the sale price of books sold out and became a bibliographic rarity of Soviet editions, etc. Interesting materials on these issues can be found in the magazine "Moscow Book" for 1932: articles by L. Khaikin "Used books in MOGIZ" (No. 15-16), A. Mikhailov "Regarding the article" Used books in MOGIZ "(For discussion)" (No. 23-24), M. I. Puzyrev to determine the denomination of second-hand books "(No. 13-14) and responses to this article - L. Kalinina" Once again about the face value of second-hand books "(No. 17-18) and A. Mikhailov" You cannot increase the face value of Soviet editions "(No. 21-22 ).

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

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

These rules, which had the aim of eliminating the difficulties in the sale of second-hand and antique books, only partially helped the cause, since it was not finally determined what was considered a bibliographic rarity and what the principles of the 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 antique-second-hand assortment.

Another problem was considered differently - acquaintance of new cadres of sellers of second-hand and antique books and new bibliophiles with a rare book.

In the 30s, as far as we know, apart from the reports of A. I. Kondratyev that were mentioned and had no practical significance in the Moscow section of collectors of books and ex-librises, there were no attempts in the press to theoretically define the concept of "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 new scribes and book lovers. Therefore, the question was solved not theoretically, but practically. The categories of books that P. P. Shibanov identified as rare in the “Looking to buy” catalog served as a starting point for new antiquarian practitioners.

However, this did not exhaust the solution of the issue. Life suggested another way.

In the history of Soviet bibliophilia in the second half of the 1930s, the magazine Knizhnye Novosti (1936-1938) presented an interesting phenomenon. Conceived as a publication to inform scribes and readers of newly published, printed and upcoming books, this journal provided a widely annotated and regis- tered current bibliography. However, along with this informational task, the editors of Knizhniye Novosti set as their 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 sections, many issues of the "Book News" - especially in the pre-jubilee 1936 and in the jubilee year of Pushkin's 1937 - had a "Pushkinian" section. All departments of the journal are of interest for the history of bibliophilia, but especially, as is natural, the "Rare Books" section. Here were published articles and notes by an 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 Kniga", 1938, No. 12; "Collection works of Valery Bryusov ", 1938, No. 21, etc.), V. Baranov (" Who is the author of the Manuscripts from the Green Portfolio ", 1836-1936-1936, No. 33), O. E. Volzenburg (" Biography of a 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; "O. A. Kozlova's Album", 1938, No. 4, etc.), G. Zalkind ("" Encyclopedic Dictionary "S. I. Selivansky", 1938, No. 13), A. G. Mironov ("The first art magazine in Russia" - about the "Journal of Fine Arts" in 1807, 1937, No. 13, etc.), V. Nazarov ("Archival values" - the prices at which P. P. Shibanov sold the great prince. Oleg Konstantinovich Pushkin's letters: 2000–3000 rubles., 1937, No. 13; "The rarest autograph" - about the drawings of 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, NV Zdobnov, Vl. Kunin, D. S. Likhachev, S. A. Reiser, B. and Vl. Smirensky, I. G. Yampolsky. In foreign chronicles, P. D. Ettinger was often published, who placed, along with small informational notes, articles on autographs, on Gorky bookplates, Pushkin's publications abroad, etc.

The bibliophile material of "Book News" is not equivalent: along with interesting, new materials, articles and notes were published in the magazine that did not add anything to what was already known. However, the editors should not be blamed for this: the circle of readers of "Book News" was so large and grew so rapidly that it was simply necessary to popularize information about rare books among new second-hand booksellers, antiquaries and bibliophiles. Interesting responses from readers, placed in No. 17 for 1937. All 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 booksellers-antiquaries explains the appearance on the pages of "Book News" of popular articles by B. Evgeniev ("Painter" Novikov, 1937, No. 18), V. Snegirev ("Edition of N. I. Novikov" - about "St. Petersburg scholarly vedomoste" 1777, 1937, No. 23-24) and others.

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

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

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

Closing 1929-1931 bibliophilic societies in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk affected the further activities of their participants-book lovers in different ways. Members of UBT and BTB made no attempt to organize their work within other collectors' 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-librisists. Thus, legally legal forms were found that allowed bibliophiles and ex-librisists of Moscow and, as we will see later, Leningrad, to conduct their research, organizational and practical work for almost all of the 30s - in 1931 the Section of Collectors was established books and ex-libris of the Moscow Department of the All-Russian Society of Philatelists (SSK and E MO VOF) and the Section of Bibliophiles and Ex-librisists of the North-West Department of the VOF (SB and E S.-Z. OVOF), which since 1933 have become the same sections of the Moscow and Leningrad Societies of Collectors ... 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 association with the ex-librisists, which began even before the liquidation, affected the nature of the bibliophile activities of the newly formed sections. They nevertheless became less numerous, a significant number of old members of closed societies did not want to enter the newly emerged organizations; new participants appeared among the members of the sections, mainly from among the ex-librisists. Suffice it 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 Exlibrises of the Ministry of Education and Science of the USSR and the Section of Bibliophiles and Exlibrisists S.-Z. OVOF ”(M., 1932), on the other hand, to make sure of the changes that have taken place. So, in the RODK as of November 15, 1927, there were 115 members (honorary, active and employees), in the SSK and E MO VOF as of March 9, 1932 - 57 members. Secondly, the character naturally changed. scientific work these sections. It has lost the intensity and tension that characterized the activities of bibliophile organizations in the 1920s.

Therefore, the history of bibliophilic organizations in Moscow and Leningrad in the 1930s can in no way be compared with their history in the previous decade.

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

The section bureau, elected on March 26, 1931 and finally taking shape in the future, consisted of chairman K.I.Dunin-Borkovsky, comrade chairman N.N. Orlov, secretary S.A. Silvansky, who soon left at his own request and was replaced by A. A. Tolokonnikov, members of the bureau - A. M. Makarov, P. D. Ettinger and F. F. Fedorov, and candidates for membership in the bureau - A. I. Anopov and I. N. Zhuchkova. Already in the first year of the section's work, the preponderance of the ex-libris studies interests of members of the SSK and E was indicated: out of 28 read reports, 12 were devoted to ex-libris studies, 7 - to bibliophilia, and in the other 9 various questions of the history and theory of bibliology were considered, for example, N.V. Zdobnov made a report on Russian book statistics, N. Yu. Ulyaninsky - "From the history of the Russian print", IN Rozanov - "The main functions of the Russian book cover", etc. The same preference for ex-librisists manifested itself in the organization of auctions: from 22 collections, at which the auctions were held, 12 were devoted to bookplates, 9 - books and 1 - 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 section's publishing activities began: programs of the proposed meetings for the next month or two, meeting memos, annual reports, etc. were printed. In the first year of the SSC and E activity, 17 issues of similar publications were published, including the abstracts of the mentioned reports. V. Zdobnov, N. Yu. Ulyaninsky, as well as the report of A. I. Kondratyev "Evolution of the doctrine of book rarities (Experience of the Marxist analysis of the subject and literature)". The circulation of the section's editions ranged from 18 copies (brand SSK and E for the 1st anniversary, the work of MV Matorin) and up to 150-200. The most high-circulation editions are N. M. Somov's books “The essence of bibliology. A bibliological sketch "(M., 1933) and PD Ettinger's" Book signs of V. A. Favorsky "(M., 1933) - were issued in quantities: the first - 400, the second - 300 copies.

In 1933, the chairman and assistant 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. Sil'vansky, I. N. Zhuchkov and A. I. Kondratyev. Trying to add some variety to the traditional forms of SSC and E activities, the Bureau held presentations by the members of the section on the theme “Three best books of my library” at the annual meeting. According to IN Zhuchkov, who compiled a report on the activities of the SSC 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 E MO VOF and, in particular, its printed products, we consider it necessary to dwell on the above-mentioned book by N. M. Somov “The essence of bibliology. Bibliological essay ". We do this not because this work represents some particularly valuable contribution to Soviet bibliology, 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), deserves attention. He was an amazingly original person, very well-read, unusually hardworking and able-bodied, who did not lose a lively and active interest in the science of books 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, NM retired and devoted himself entirely to work in bibliology. Attentively, perhaps more attentively than any other of the bibliologists of those years, Somov followed everything that appeared in print on questions of Soviet science about books. Somov carefully classified all these materials and published his works one after another: “Bibliography of the Russian public. (On the question of the intelligentsia) "(Moscow, 1927)," Critical bibliography. Essay on newspaper and magazine bibliography "(Moscow, 1928)," Composition of bibliology. Bibliophilia - bibliography - journalism. On the construction of a system of bibliology "(Moscow, 1931)," Bibliography of the Russian public. (On the question of the intelligentsia). Part two ”(Moscow, 1931) and the already mentioned“ Essence of bibliology. A bibliological sketch "(M., 1933).

In each work of Somov, a huge, but critically unprocessed material was 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 large. So, for example, in the "Composition of Bibliology" N. M. Somov completely reprinted the theses of A. I. Kondratyev's report "Basic premises of the doctrine of book rarities", published in 1925 in the amount of 100 copies and almost completely lost by the author-publisher. Especially 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 of reports, 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 the consideration of 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 there only one thing that should be noted in The Essence of Bibliology — that NM Somov decisively distinguishes bibliophilia as a collection of books in general and rare books, in particular, from bibliophilia or bibliophilism as a doctrine of book rarities. NM Somov loved to create pseudo-scientific terms, for example, bibliographer, bibliophilist (as opposed to bibliophile - book collector).

Who knew NM Somov for about half a century, prof. BS 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, he took a lot from these people and, above all, an ardent devotion to his views.

“According to his inner qualities,” wrote BS Bodnarsky, “N. M. was an exceptional person in the full sense. The main feature of his character was modesty, which involuntarily amazed everyone who came into contact with N.M. The feeling of resistance was precisely atrophied in him, and this quality was so extraordinary that to others N. M. seemed even “strange”. Another thing was just as amazing: an unexpected and rare metamorphosis, when, when NM's convictions were tested, the children's softness suddenly disappeared, and he became hard as a rock.

"The 'will' left by him - adds BS 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 great respect for the memory of this toiler in the field of Soviet bibliology 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 VOF, we have to state that basically we meet here names familiar from the RODK - P. D. Ettinger, who, as before, informed about Western and Soviet literature in graphics and mainly ex-libris, N. I. Orlova , A. A. Sidorov, I. N. Zhuchkov and some others. Among the new members of the section, I should mention the engineer S. A. Sil'vansky, 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). In the SSK and E MO VOF, he made a number of reports on ex-libris (in 1931: "Library sign in Russia and the USSR", "Lenin in the ex-libris", "Ex-libris studies (Terminology and subject matter)", 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 SSK and E is the brochure “Bibliography of the section publications for three years. 1931 - March - 1934 "(Moscow, 1934, 100 copies). The bibliographic works of S. A. Sil'vansky do not meet the strict requirements for describing such publications, but they occupy a well-deserved place in our poor bibliophile literature. In addition to the bibliographies of the LOB and SSK and E, he was the author of the brochure "Ex-libris (Popular Sketch)" (Moscow, 1932). Upon his arrival in Moscow, S. A. Silvansky began to sell his collection of books and ex-librises and in 1935 completely liquidated it. He died in Moscow in 1937. "Bibliography of Section Publications in Three Years" was the last (No. 60) edition of SSK and E. In May 1934, the All-Russian Society of Philatelists with all its departments and sections became a part of the All-Russian Society of Collectors. The 139th meeting of the SSK and E MO VOF was held 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 Ex-libris of the All-Russian Society of Collectors. In this last capacity, it 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, from October 1935, the Section for the Study of Graphics and Books began to work at the VOK, the activities of which 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 to the meetings of the SSC and E VOK it can be concluded that bibliophile and even ex-libris topics have almost completely disappeared from the section's program of activities. So, the meeting on May 15, 1934 was devoted to the work of the artist-engraver I. N. Pavlov (report by A. A. Sidorov), on February 3, 1935, the report "Trademark" was held (speaker not specified), on February 16 - the report by L. E. Aleeva "A pictorial sign in the service of socialism", March 16, 1935 - the report of Professor A. I. Larionov "Methods of drawing up trade union signs" ... Only two reports made by A. D. Silin on February 26, 1935 and January 8 1936 justified the title of the section in which they were read - "Modern Book Illustration" and "My Work on Book Signs."

SSC and E VOK, as far as we were able to establish, did not leave any printed materials for a year and a half of its existence.

Perhaps, the departure of SSK and E from bibliophile and ex-libris studies and caused the creation of the Section for the Study of Graphics and Books (SIGIK) under the same VOK.

Of the reports that took place over the 8 months of SIGIK existence, we note the following: A. I. Kondratyev "Art publications in connection with the 20th anniversary of October" (October 16, 1935), M. S. Bodnarsky and V. N. Andrianov "History and technique of printing geographic maps ”(November 16), MA Zelikson“ Xylography and its technique in historical coverage ”(December 16),“ Mast on the publication of the poet V. Kryukov ”(speaker not specified; December 26); N. G. Mashkovtsev "Soviet graphics" (8 and 16 February 1936), L. A. Ureklyan "The state of bibliology in the Transcaucasus" (16 March), his report "Graphic creativity and ex-librises of the artist E. E. Lancere" (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 stood at the head of the SSC 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 SIGIK.

Publishing activity of SIGIK was expressed in the publication of a memo to the report of MA Zelikson "Xylography and its technique in historical coverage" (Moscow, 1935, 8 p., 200 copies). The memo is well-formed, contains reproductions of 6 Chinese and Japanese woodcuts and two European ones; in addition, some copies were accompanied by a reproduction of F. Pannemaker's engraving.

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 during. 30s bibliophile organization of Leningrad.

LOB was not closed, like the RODK; its activities developed without interruption until May 1931, when the Leningrad Department of Public Education decided to annex the Leningrad Society of Bibliophiles as a section to the Leningrad Society of Library Science. At a meeting of the LOB Council on June 10, 1931, the chairman of the society, MN Kufaev, and the secretary, BM Chistyakov, announced the upcoming reorganization. NN Orlov, deputy chairman of the SSC and E of the Moscow Department of the All-Russian Society of Philatelists, who were present at the meeting of the council, spoke about the organization and activities of the Moscow section and recommended that Leningrad bibliophiles make a similar decision. The LOB Council accepted the recommendation of N.N. Orlov and drew up a special memorandum on the desirability of entering the society as a section into the All-Russian Society of Philatelists. The request of the LOB Council was satisfied by the Board of the SAF, and in September 1931 the Leningrad Society of Bibliophiles self-liquidated and entered as a section in the North-West Department of the SAF.

In the new society, the former LOB began to be called the Section of Bibliophiles and Ex-librisists (SB and E SZO VOF). It was chaired by M.N. Kufaev, first by V.V.Dobrovolsky, then L. B. Modzalevsky. SB and E existed for a little more than a year: from January 1, 1933, like the entire SZO VOF, it 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. Beginning in December 1931, the section began publishing the programs of the proposed meetings for the next month or two months. On the basis of these programs, one can form a clear idea of \u200b\u200bthe nature of scientific meetings of the Security Council and E. So, from the very beginning it was decided that one meeting a month would be devoted to bibliophile or - more broadly - to bibliological topics and one to ex-libris; the rest of the sessions were devoted to the organized exchange of books and bookplates. Thus, in December 1931 P. K. Simoni read a report “I. P. Karataev is a collector and researcher of old printed books "(the memo reproduces the only known portrait of Karataev), in January 1932 LB Modzalevsky gave a report" Pushkin's inscriptions on books donated by him to different persons ", in February O. E. Wolzenburg 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 of MN Kufaev "Goethe and Bibliophilia", EF Hollerbach "Goethe - art critic, artist, collector"; Sun 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 BM Chistyakov "I. I. Kuris and his collection ”. Of the reports of the second half of 1932, of interest were 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 in 1732 from the Yaroslavl factory of 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 dedicated to the memory of V. Ya. Adaryukov was held, with reports by V. K. Lukomsky, O. E. Wolzenburg, V. S. Savonko, E. F. Hollerbach and P. E. Kornilov. In the brochure "In memory of Vladimir Yakovlevich Adaryukov (1863-1932)" (L., 1932, 16 p., 100 copies), published for the meeting, summaries reports.

In comparison with the same memorable brochure of the SSK and E MO VOF, the Leningrad edition is undoubtedly higher both in content and design.

In the list of members of the Security Council and E of the SZO VOF, there are only two or three new bibliophiles among the names we know from the LOB. Of these, LB Modzalevsky deserves attention.

Lev Borisovich Modzalevsky (1902-1948), Doctor of Philology, a prominent Soviet literary critic, Pushkin scholar and Lomonosov scholar, inherited from his father, the famous Pushkin scholar, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences B.L. Modzalevsky (1874-1928), love for the auxiliary disciplines of literary criticism : bibliography, paleography, textual criticism, and literary biography, and passionate bibliophiles. The obituaries dedicated to LB Modzalevsky describe in detail his work on the study of Pushkin and Lomonosov. In this book, we want to note one amazing feature of L.B. Modzalevsky, which the authors of obituaries bypassed by - a rare knowledge of the handwritings of all any major figures of Russian literature and science of the 18th - early 19th centuries. LB read any manuscript of this period with complete freedom and at first glance unerringly determined by whom it was written; if the manuscript was from the archives of the Academy of Sciences, in which he served, LB immediately and just as unmistakably determined which of the clerks of the 18th century. it was manufactured. He possessed one more rare ability of a palaeographer-practitioner: he could fluently read the manuscript “upside down”. From childhood, LB Modzalevsky was well acquainted with his father's large library, which was well-known in the circles of Russian bibliophiles. By the end of the 1920s, it numbered up to 15 thousand units and was especially rich in books on bibliography, heraldry and genealogy, as well as on Pushkin studies and everyday history of Pushkin and Pre-Pushkin times. While his father was still alive, LB began to collect his own library in approximately the same sections; after the death of BL Modzalevsky, the library of the latter passed to his son, who continued to replenish the collection according to the previous sections and supplemented it with books on Russian literature and history of the 18th century, especially on Lomonosov.

In the life of bibliophilic organizations in Leningrad, LB Modzalevsky really began to take part 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, LB Modzalevsky published an obituary of a member of the Security Council and E, Valentin Vasilyevich Dobrovolsky (1892-1932), 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 infinitely devoted to bibliophilia.

In 1947 LB Modzalevsky defended his doctoral dissertation "Lomonosov and the Academy of Sciences", and a year later he died tragically, having fallen out at a sharp turn of the train from the open door of the carriage, at which he stood. His library was acquired by the Institute of World Literature. A.M. Gorky (Moscow).

On January 1, 1933, the Section of Bibliophiles and Ex-librisists, retaining its name, became part of the Leningrad Society of Collectors. MN Kufaev continued to be its chairman, O. E. Voltzenburg, and its secretary, LB Modzalevsky. The SB and E bureau included its permanent treasurer BM Chistyakov and members: VA Kenigson, VE Shevchenko, FG Shilov and AA Saveliev. After LB Modzalevsky left, VM Losev was elected secretary, who worked until the end of 1935, when he was replaced by AG Bisnek.

Throughout its activities, the SB and E met regularly, usually three times a month; occasionally, together with other LOK sections, for the fourth time. The number of reports on bibliophile and ex-libris topics, perhaps, even increased in comparison with the previous year. Among the most interesting reports I should note: V. M. Losev "The Book in the Works of Russian Poets" (January 6, 1933), P. E. Kornilov "Portraits of V. Lenin in Engraving and Lithography" (January 16), meeting " In memory of A. M. Litvinenko "(February 16), L. R. Podolsky" Should I collect books? "(March 6), meeting" In memory of K. Marx "(with V. A. Desnitsky's report" K. Marx in fiction "(March 16), meeting" In memory of S. A. Mukhin "(May 26), Ya. L. Barskov" Editions of "Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow" A. N. Radishchev, 1790-1922) "(July 6), V. Ye. Shevchenko “To the bibliography of publications of the Committee for the popularization of art publications (1928–1930)” (September 6); meeting "In memory of I. S. Turgenev" with reports by O. E. Wolzenburg "Illustrations of Russian artists to the works of I. S. Turgenev", V. M. Losev "Library of I. S. Turgenev" and with a report by F. G. Bernshtam "The funeral of I. S. Turgenev in St. Petersburg in 1883 from personal memoirs" (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), MN Kufaev" The first printer Ivan Fedorov "(December 16).

During 1933 SB and E issued seven editions: four programs of the proposed meeting (January - February, No. 1; March - April, No. 3; May - June, No. 4; July - September, No. 6), programs of meetings "Memory A. M. Litvinenko "(with the artist's obituary written by O. E. Volzenburg), a leaflet for the meeting" The first printer Ivan Fedorov "," The end of the catalog of publications of the Committee for the Popularization of Fine Publications (1928-1930) "(reprint from program No. 6, p. the addition of the Committee's publishing mark, the work of N.M.Brimmer).

The scientific and publishing activity of the section in 1934 slightly decreased in comparison with 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 "About 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 "A Book about the Adventures of Vasily Baranshchikov" (November 3), B. N. Klopotov "About Some Editions", honoring P. K. Simoni ( December 6).

Of the printed editions 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 noteworthy reports were read: M. N. Kufaev "In memory of V. I. Medkov" (February 6), A. N. Leskov "From the memoirs of my father, the writer N. S. Leskov" (6 March and 6 April), A. A. Davydov "The Yaroslavl Scribes" (March 16), Tsenger "L. F. Melin - bookseller or book collector? " (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 "Academia" edition (June 6), Yu. A. Mezhenko "Portuguese Ex-libris" (June 16), VM Losev "Analysis of the book" Ivan Fedorov - the first printer "" (July 6) , I. M. Stepanov "Publishing activity of the Committee for the popularization of art publications" (August 6), Yu. A. Mezhenko "Publications of Shevchenko's works", O. E. Volzenburg "Iranian editions" (October 6), A. I. Savinov " My works on book graphics ", NV Zdobnov" New milestones in bibliophile bibliography "(October 16), MN Kufaev" The October Revolution and its creation - the State Book Fund "(November 4).

From the editions issued by the section in 1935, we know the following: “Chronicle of the Section of Bibliophiles and Ex-librisists. October - December 1933 " (L., 1935, 24 p., 200 copies, No. 7), "Dear Comrade" (a leaflet-offer to take part in the exhibition of ex-librises of 1933-1934, No. 11), "In memory of Augusta Vladimirovna Meziere" (speech by M N. Kufaeva at a meeting of the Security Council and E on June 6, 1935. L., 1935, 7 non-issue. P., 300 copies, No. 12), Invitation card to the meeting on September 6, 1935 on the occasion of the 100th session of the section ( 75 copies, no number).

In 1936, questions of bibliophilia were almost completely dropped out of the section's program: apart from 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. NK Nikolsky "(April 6) and MV Sokurova" Work plan 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. From the reports on ex-libris studies, the message of prof. I. Ya. Depman "The first mention in Russian literature of the ex-libris" (February 16). The agenda for the meeting on May 26, 1936 is the last evidence we know of the activities of the Security Council and E.

There were apparently no printed editions of the section for 1936.

The last manifestation of the SB and E activities was an exhibition in memory of Pushkin from 6 to 18 February 1937 at the LOC in the Winter Palace. However, this event was held under the trademark not of the section, but of the Leningrad Society of Collectors.

In presenting information about the activities of the Security Council and E LOC, one should say not only about what it has done, but also about the publications prepared. So, in terms of editions of the LOC for 1936, the release of the collection "In Memory of Turgenev" was planned, 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 prints. sheets) and "Index of literature on the ex-libris" (6 prints. sheets). Unfortunately, the names of the compilers are not indicated in the draft plan, and the degree of preparation and the fate of the manuscripts of these works are unknown to us.

From the written, printed and oral materials we have collected, it can be concluded that since June 1936 the regular scientific meetings of the Security Council and the Election Commission ceased, but it continued to exist for some time and could even realize such a significant event as the Pushkin Exhibition of 1937. Of the new bibliophiles , which 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 ethnographer VM Losev was secretary of the Old Petersburg - New Leningrad Society for a number of years. During a short time of his stay in SB and E LOC, V. M. Losev made several of the above-mentioned reports, of which the most interesting is "The Book in the Works of Russian Poets." In a brief summary of the report, after mentioning IA Shlyapkin's anthology "Praise to the Book," VM Losev reported on unknown and unrealized attempts to continue and expand Shlyapkin's work. These are the collections "Wreath to the Book" and "The Power of the Book" prepared by I. R. Belopolsky for the publishing house "Kolos" F. I. Vityazev-Sedenko. According to the materials of V.M. Losev, it turns out that since the end of the 18th century. until 1917 in Russian poetry there are up to 60 works, either completely devoted to the book, or containing statements about it. From 1917 to 1932, according to V. M. Losev, there were over 30 of them; they belong to 27 poets, among whom there are only a few major ones: V. Bryusov, V. Mayakovsky, D. Bedny, S. Yesenin. V. M. Losev described the ode of AA Sidorov "Praise to the Ex-libris" 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. VM Losev compiled the already mentioned "Chronicle of the Section of Bibliophiles and Ex-librisists of the LOC. 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 to visit the Pamirs in the post-revolutionary period, and upon retirement began to work energetically in the field of bibliography of the Pamirs and Tajikistan. Together with K. I. Shafranovsky A. G. Bisnek published "Bibliography of bibliographies of Central Asia" (M.-L., 1935-1936) and a 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 named after M.E.Saltykova-Shchedrin. As the last secretary of the Security Council and E LOC, A.G. Bisnek, after the cessation of the section's activities, moved its library and archive to his apartment. In 1942, during the blockade of Leningrad, he died.

We already had to note above that in each separate period of the history of Soviet bibliophilia there were large collectors who either did not take part at all in the life of bibliophile organizations, or who occasionally appeared at meetings to read one or two reports or deliver them to one or another exhibition, for example, Pushkin's , materials from their collections. Libraries of these generally careless bibliophiles are usually of particular interest to the historian of Soviet bibliophiles.

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. Their classification as one of the largest Soviet bibliophiles of the 1930s is conditional: they have been collecting books from the beginning of the XX century, if not from the end of the XIX 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 Yuryevsky (Derpt, now Tartu) University. From his youthful years he took part in the revolutionary labor movement in Sormovo and Nizhny, and organically, and not in a book-room, he assimilated the philosophy of Marxism. Materialist-dialectic by worldview, historian by education, literary critic by specialty, V.A.Desnitsky played a significant role in the history of Russian culture in the 20th century. Until 1908, he was actively involved in the RSDLP (b). Since the beginning of the 20s, he devoted himself entirely to work at the Pedagogical Institute. AI Herzen (Leningrad), of the founders and long-term professor of which he was. The friendly relations between V. A. Desnitsky and M. Gorky continued until the death of the great writer.

As a literary Marxist V. A. Desnitsky was one of the organizers of Soviet literary science. His contribution to it is not fully understood by anyone, and filling the gap in the history of Soviet literary criticism - writing a monograph about V. A. Desnitsky, the founder of Marxist literary science - is an urgent and obligatory task.

VA had a sharp, flexible natural mind, perfectly honed by Marxist-Leninist philosophy. He was a man of a very large culture - both inherited by tradition and acquired.

Back at the beginning of the XX century. with great danger to himself, the young Desnitsky collected a rich collection of underground revolutionary publications - rare proclamations, newspapers, books, brochures, magazines, published 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 bibliophile libraries in the USSR (after the library of D. Bedny; after the liquidation of the latter, the library of V. A. Desnitsky took the first place.

It is now impossible to determine the volume of his collections, since during his lifetime the scientist did not compile a library catalog, and the catalog prepared by the staff of the V.I.Lenin State Library of the USSR, where Desnitsky's collection was sold by the heirs in 1963, does not give a complete idea of \u200b\u200bthe value and even the volume of this unique library.

There is no exact count of the books received by the VI Lenin Library from the VA collection in official sources: in one place, “about 11 thousand volumes” are dimly indicated (130); the library report for 1963 states that Desnitsky's collection contained 6020 volumes of books, 3708 issues of magazines, and 500 units of graphic materials. But from the words of 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. One can think that in general, V. A. Desnitsky's library consisted of more than 15 thousand books, brochures, prints, etc.

The typewritten catalog of a part of the V. A. Desnitskiy library, which has been transferred to the V. II Library, has been put at our disposal. Lenin, consists of Russian and foreign departments. The first contains 2968 numbers, but this figure is not accurate: for example, under No. 2518 there is a total of 370 books on literary criticism, under No. 2677 - 100, under No. 2690 - 70, etc. In general, the Russian section of the catalog is poorly compiled: suffice it to point to No. 979, which reads "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow," attributed to Griboyedov. The foreign department of the catalog (1556 №№) is better done, but it, like the Russian one, is teeming with typos.

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

Therefore, we will restrict ourselves to indicating only those "pearls" ("cymeliums") from the collection of V. A. Desnitsky, which are especially noted in the literature about his library. This is the Leninist leaflet "To the Workers and 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 on french... This is E. M. Korneev. "The peoples living in Russian Empire”(St. Petersburg, 1812), previously unknown in the bibliography. This is a set of the French magazine "Literary Starover" ("Conservateur littéraire"), published by 17-year-old V. Hugo and appeared on the French antiques market only twice; for the last time in 1934 at an auction at which the famous collection of French President P. Doumer, who was killed in 1933, was sold. Among the rarest books in Desnitsky's collection were: "A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" by Radishchev (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 Lay 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 Smotritsky (Moscow, 1648), "Not everything and 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 rarities of Gennadiy, like "Descriptions of a chicken that had a human profile." But he willingly collected books such as "The Real Auditor. A comedy in 3 days or acts, serving as a continuation of the comedy "Resizor", composed by Gogol "(St. Petersburg, 1836)," Boots of Karl Marx "Trnka (St. Petersburg, 1899), which was told by V. G. Lidin (" books "); as "Duel of Purishkevich with a student of the course in Maryina Roshcha" (Moscow, 1913).

In the literature about the library of V. A. Desnitsky, one group of books is not noted, which he treasured and which, it seems, he "discovered": these are counterfeiting (in the bibliophilic sense - books published without the prior consent of the authors) of works of 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 VA told me that these editions are unknown to French bibliophiles - "romanticists" and are not included in the bibliography of French romanticism.

Not reflected in the literature about the collection of V. A. Desnitsky and another, - similar in character, - collection of books - "Rossica", books about Russia, in particular, the rare edition "One Brief Reasonable Science for Demand", published in Tübingen (Germany ) in 1642, a selection of early anthologies of Russian poetry in foreign translations. Note, by the way, that in many of his works on Russian literature of the XVIII-XX centuries. he relied on rare provincial editions of his library, for example, on the book of the Nizhny Novgorod poet of the late 18th century. Yakov Orlova.

V.A.'s dialectical mind, a rare ability to penetrate people, colossal erudition and 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 office, he became, as it were, different, and especially when it came to books. Like many old bibliophiles, he knew a huge number of stories of individual copies of rare books. Showing his copy of the book from the library of Napoleon (with the super-exlibris of the emperor), V.A. added that the "little Corsican" had ordered his favorite books to Moscow and, when retreating, took it with him in a sleigh, from where, to speed up the escape, he threw out onto the road especially large editions to keep small. When asked how he got this or that rarity, for example, N. G. Chernyshevsky's dissertation "Aesthetic relations of art to reality" with a personal inscription of the author, V. A. with the conviction of an old bibliophile said: "The book is looking for its owner" and, ironically laughing , added "If, of course, the owner is looking for a book."

About the library of Professor Ivan Nikanorovich Rozanov (1874–1959), it cannot be said that in terms of its volume, composition and character it can be compared with the libraries of D. Bedny and V. A. Desnitsky. It was a library dedicated to one topic only - Russian poetry from its inception to the 20th century. Of course, IN 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 had been collecting for about seventy years, which he was proud of and which was and is at the same time the pride of Moscow, - were editions of works by Russian poets from the "Psalter of Rhyme" by Simeon Polotsky, "Satyr" Antiochus 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 Ivan Nikanorovich,” writes I. L. Andronikov in the article “A High Deed”, dedicated to the transfer of the library to I. N. Rozanov, his widow K.A.Martsishevskaya State Museum of A.S. Pushkin.

In the collection of I. N. Rozanov there were eight thousand volumes of poetry, which he collected from the age of thirteen and "in more than seventy years has compiled the best collection of Russian poetry in the world, covering more than two centuries" (4). “For him,” writes V.G. Lidin in his essay “The Gatherer of Rozanov,” “there were not only exquisite flowers in the immense poetic field; your herbarium ". “In this,” adds VG Lidin, “there was not only love for the book, but also sympathy for the personality of an unknown writer with his often difficult fate” (83, p. 87).

In the 40s, IN finished the work of his life, unfortunately, not yet published, "History of Russian Poetry". There are pages here dedicated to great and significant Russian poets, but there are also lines about those who left only one poem, like “It was a long time ago ... I don't remember when it was ...” S. Safonov or some one song, for example, "The Moscow fire was humming and humming" by NS Sokolov. I remember how upset IN Rozanov was when, despite all the measures taken, he was unable to find biographical information about the Siberian poet E. Milkeev, who published a collection of poems in the late 1830s.

I. N. Rozanov's book collection is not just a library of Russian poetry for more than two centuries, not only "a collection of books that has no value", as I. L. Andronikov said about him, 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 be considered in this chapter only with certain reservations - it was compiled at different times, disintegrated, partially preserved and re-emerged. We have already had occasion to write in Russian Bibliophiles that there is much less information in the press about M. Gorky's library than we should have and could have expected. At the same time, there is more material about the Gorky library of the Nizhny Novgorod years and even about his library on Capri than about the last collection of the great writer, which is now in the Gorky Museum in Moscow on ul. Kachalova, 6.

Characteristic feature Gorky's library was that it was, as bibliophiles say, a "fluid library", that is, one whose owner is very interested in the book he needs for work and knowledge replenishment, but after reading it, he willingly gives it to some some public library or donates 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 a passionate reader. However, already in a report on Gorky the bibliophile, which was read at the LOB in 1928, V.A.Desnitsky, who had known 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 valued as a real bibliophile and which he would not let anyone read.

About the composition of the last, Moscow, library, numbering about 11 thousand books, it is known that it has a "paternalistic" 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: “Reading is a great pleasure for a cultured person, - I appreciate the book is my dear habit ”(69, p. 30).

It may seem unexpected that this restrained review of AM Gorky after his well-known eulogies to 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 with all his characteristic fervor against the growing fascism and "internal emigrants", Gorky could not so indifferently praise the book, the book "in general." 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, understand the desires of people and the true motives of their actions." It seems to us that it is precisely in these words that the voice of the creator of socialist realism sounds, and not in the romantic exaggerations of early Gorky.

Book trade

The first bookstore in St. Petersburg was created in 1714 in Gostiny Dvor. In 1728 the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences opened the Book Chamber for the sale of its publications and foreign books. Private trade in t. Developed from the end of the XVIII century. (in 1768 there was 1 private bookstore in St. Petersburg, 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 activity of NI Novikov. In the early 80s. XVIII century. T.A. Polezhaev, I.P. Glazunov, N.N. Kolchugin, V.S.Sopikov, and others became its commissioners in St. Petersburg. Foreign bookstores were located on Millionnaya Street (now Khalturin Street), Bolshaya Morskaya Street (now Herzen), St. Isaac's Square, the shops of Russian merchants - in Gostiny Dvor, on Nevsky Prospect and Sadovaya Street. The center of K. t. On Vasilievsky Island was the Andreevsky market, in the St. Petersburg part - Sytny market. some publishers and booksellers of the 1st quarter of the 19th century were associated with the Decembrists (among them V.A.Plavilshchikov and I.V.Slenin; the first owned a bookstore, at which one of the first paid libraries in St. Petersburg was created, the Slonin's shop on Nevsky Prospect, 30 was a meeting place for future Decembrists). In 1825, Plavilytsikov's firm passed to A.F.Smirdin, his shop and library (22 Nevsky Prospect) is a traditional meeting place for Petersburg writers. In the 40-50s. XIX century. many small firms went bankrupt, only large ones survived (N. A. Isakova, F. V. Bazunova, etc.). In an atmosphere of social upsurge in the early 60s. XIX century. NA Serno-Solovyevich at the end of 1861 opened a bookstore on Nevsky Prospekt, 24, which became one of the centers of social life in St. Petersburg (in fact, the stronghold of the organization "Land and Freedom"). After the arrest of Serno-Solovievich (July 1862), his work was continued by A.A.Rikhter, from 1867 - by A.A. Cherkesov. In the 70-80s. the first specialized antique and second-hand bookshops appeared in St. Petersburg (see Second-hand booksellers). The largest booksellers of the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. In St. Petersburg there were publishers M.O. Wolf, A.S.Suvorin, I.D.Sytin (St. Petersburg branch of his Moscow firms), I.I. Glazunov. Many booksellers, in the face of growing competition, took the path of specialization of K. t .: K. L. Rikker traded medical and technical literature, A. F. Devrien - agricultural and natural science books, P. I. Jurgenson - sheet music and music literature. ... At the end of the XIX century. In St. Petersburg, bookstores for nonresident people appeared (they sent books on advance orders by mail), subscription stores. The book warehouses of the publishers E.N.Vodovozova and A.M. Kalmykova occupied a special place in the system of book publishing: through them Marxist literature (including the first books of V.I. Lenin) and literature for workers were distributed. During the revolution of 1905-07, social democratic literature was distributed by the book warehouses of the Vperyod, Life and Knowledge, Zerno publishing houses, and the Trud bookstore of S. A. Skirmunt. At the beginning of the XX century. there was a tendency to monopolize book books (ID Sytin was able to subjugate many bookselling firms), but the devastation caused by World War I pushed book books to the brink of crisis. At the beginning of 1918, the first state bookstores were opened in St. Petersburg (in Smolny and at the printing house of the Red Army headquarters). In August 1918, a bookstore was opened at 116 Nevsky Prospekt (since December 1919 - at 28 Nevsky Prospect (see House of Books)). In the conditions of the "book hunger" on December 20, 1919, the Petrosoviet municipalized large warehouses and shops (AF Marx, Devrien, Brockhaus - Efron, Wolf, Glazunov, Sytin, etc.). The books were distributed free of charge to enterprises, institutions, and military units. With the introduction of the NEP in November 1921, paid printing was restored, and in December 1921 private and cooperative publishing houses were allowed to operate, which began to open their stores in St. Petersburg. In January 1922 the trade sector PetroGIZ opened bookstores at 13 and 24 Nevsky Prospekt. In the early 1920s. The House of Arts had a bookstore at 14 Herzen Street, the Writers' House at 11 Baseinaya Street (now Nekrasov Street), 51 Liteiny Avenue, 26 Officer Street (now Dekabristov Street). 1927 at 64 Liteiny Prospect a shop of Gostekhizdat "Technical Book" was opened; other publishing houses also had their own stores in Leningrad. In 1930, all the private and cooperative stores of Leningrad were nationalized and transferred to the jurisdiction of LenKOGIZ, and departmental apparatus of K. t. Were also created (Akademkniga, Voen-knigotorg, Soyuzpechat, etc.). For the training of cadres in the field of education, a training center, a technical school for a technical education, a school of trade apprenticeship, and pedagogical courses were formed in 1930 (they trained teachers and management personnel for a technical education). Scientific methods of K. t. 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 Avenue. By 1940, 60 LenKOGIZ stores were operating in Leningrad. During the blockade, 20 bookstores in Leningrad continued to operate. In 1949 the department of book trade was created - Lenknigotorg. In 1954, the pre-war level of book production was restored. In 1962, the Leningrad Book Trade Union was separated from the Leningrad Book Trade Center, and in 1974 they were merged (see Leningrad book). In 1990, over 120 Lenkniga stores operated in Leningrad, as well as 4 Akademkngi stores, the Writers' Bookstore, the House of Military Books, the Music Store of the Leningrad branch of the Musical Fund of the USSR Composers Union, over 20 stores of the Soyuzpechat agency.

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

During the prewar five-year plans, Soviet trade developed significantly in Leningrad. In 1940 there were 6828 shops and stalls in the city (in 1931 - 4116 shops and stalls) and 3002 catering establishments. Trade turnover from 1934 to 1940 increased 2.7 times. In the total turnover, 68% fell on food products and 32% on non-food products.

Over the years of the Great Patriotic War and the blockade of Leningrad, the city's trade network was greatly reduced.

At the beginning of 1945, there were 1,254 stores.

After the end of the war, trade began to develop rapidly. By 1947 the number of stores had doubled, and by 1955 the development of trade had significantly exceeded the pre-war level; physical volume retail turnover in comparable prices increased in relation to 1940 by 20%. The volume of retail trade in 1956 amounted to 20.6 billion rubles against 12 billion rubles in 1940. The share in the turnover of non-food (industrial) goods increased from 32% to 40%.

In 1955 public catering enterprises produced 489 million dishes, 40% more than in 1940.

During the fifth five years, the sale of meat products increased 2.7 times, sausages 2 times, animal oil 2.4 times, dairy products 1.9 times, sugar 1.7 times, silk fabrics 3.5 times, TVs 30 times. The network of stores has expanded. Over the five years, 331 new stores were built. In addition, about 400 new stores were opened by vacating previously misused retail premises and converting other premises for retail purposes.

At the same time, over 400 stores located in unsuitable and small premises were liquidated, and 94 stores were enlarged.

In 1956, 3268 stores operated in Leningrad and its suburbs, including 1838 grocery stores and 1344 manufactured goods stores; in addition, 1884 tents worked.

The catering network consisted of 3,071 enterprises.

The city has 12 large department stores, including department stores: the House of Leningrad Trade (DLT), Passage, Frunzensky, Kirovsky, etc. Work is underway to reconstruct Gostiny Dvor, where instead of 87 small stores, the largest Department store in Leningrad is being created, the first stage of which is already open. Specialized trades have been created: Lenodezhda, Lenobuv, Lentekstil, Lengalantereya, Lenkulttorg, Gastronom, Prodtorg, Khlebtorg, Rybtorg, Molokotorg, etc.

More than two thirds of grocery stores and 80% of non-food stores are specialty stores.

Most of the existing stores during the post-war period were reconstructed or overhauled and replenished with the latest trade equipment... If in 1950 stores had 640 refrigeration units, then by 1956 their number increased to 5372 units.

About 80% of public catering establishments are fully equipped with refrigeration units.

The stores were significantly replenished with scales of the latest systems, cash registers, universal drives for meat grinders, etc. Conveyors with mechanical drives for loading and unloading vegetables, lifts, installations for sale are introduced vegetable oil and carbonated water, vending machines for perfumes, pencils and other goods.

Centralized delivery of goods from a supplier to trading network and circular delivery of goods to stores from regional distribution warehouses of trade organizations. By the beginning of 1956, over 80% were imported into the distribution network in a centralized manner. food products and about 60% of industrial products; in the summer of 1957, almost all goods were imported centrally. More than 2 thousand trucks worked daily on the centralized delivery of goods to stores.

New forms of customer service are being introduced: shops without sellers, delivery of goods by advance orders and by phone, self-service in canteens, etc. At the beginning of 1957, 1957 shops without a seller and 2,050 self-service catering establishments operated in the city.

Meals by subscription have been introduced in 500 canteens, 400 canteens offer meals at home with a discount.

Trade in packaged goods is becoming widespread.

Together with the development of state trade, collective farm trade is expanding. In 1955, 4 times more vegetables were sold in the city markets than in 1940, 5 times more eggs, 80% more potatoes, 58% more sour cream, 35% more cottage cheese. For the development of collective farm trade during the postwar period, the Haymarket, Sytny and Hawaiian markets were restored or reconstructed. New comfortable markets were built: Kalininsky, Troitsky, Primorsky. New markets are under construction in Moskovsky, Dzerzhinsky (on the site of the former Maltsevsky market) and in Vasileostrovsky districts.

The rise in the material well-being of the working people, a significant increase in the production of food products and industrial consumer goods are reflected in the growth of food consumption and the purchase of industrial goods by the Leningrad population. This is shown by the data of a statistical survey of the budgets of 1285 families of workers and employees of Leningrad, conducted by the Central Statistical Administration of the USSR and its local bodies.