Commercial Activity of the I. Ladyzhnikov Publishing Company in Berlin (1905—1931)

The author reveals the commercial aspects of activity of the I. Ladyzhnikov publishing company in Berlin in the first decades of the twentieth century. This paper clarifies the company’s concept and fills in a number of gaps in the study of Russian-language foreign book publishing in the first decades of the twentieth century, due to the small number of comprehensive studies in this area. Getting acquainted with Russian-language emigrant book publishing is of great interest, since it reflects the large-scale processes of the post-revolutionary breakdown of the cultural life of Russia. The source base of the research is the documents of a number of Russian archives, as well as the archive of the I. Ladyzhnikov publishing company, discovered by the author at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam (Netherlands). The author introduces into scientific circulation a number of new, previously unpublished data about the I. Ladyzhnikov publishing company. The article reveals the circle of people who stood at its origins: on the one hand, these are the leaders of early Bolshevism (V.I. Lenin, L.B. Krasin, V.D. Bonch-Bruevich), on the other — the central figures of the writing group “Znanye” [Knowledge] (M. Gorky, К.P. Pyatnitsky). The author presents all the names under which the publishing company operated in different years, accurately dates the stages of its existence from the moment of its origin (5th August, 1905) to the beginning of the 1930s and proposes periodization. The archive of the publishing company preserved 40 contracts with the authors; therefore it was possible to determine the circle of writers and playwrights who collaborated with it: M. Gorky, S.S. Yushkevich, S.G. Petrov (Skitalets), A.N. Kuropatkin, S.N. Rabinovich (Sholom Aleichem), Sh. Ash and other writers. The author notes that among other tasks, the publishing house defended the copyright of Russian writers abroad. The article analyses the total annual circulation of publications, the number of authors, as well as the total annual turnover of the company. For the first time, the author considers the role and place of the “Novaya Russkaya Kniga” [New Russian Book] magazine in the activities of the I. Ladyzhnikov publishing company. The author established that the 1920s were the most successful in terms of commercial activity for the publishing company. Thus, from February to March 1924, the company “absorbed” three of the major competitors: “Helikon” publishing company, “Russian Universal Publishing Company” and “Epoch” publisher. The article presents the exact dates of the contracts for the purchase of publishers, the data on the sales value and the features of the agreements concluded. In particular, I. Ladyzhnikov company bought the publishers with the preservation of their trademarks, purchased their warehouses with commodity stocks, contracts concluded with authors, as well as debt obligations to banks. The author concludes that for almost the entire first third of the twentieth century, the I. Ladyzhnikov publishing company was the most powerful commercial enterprise among all the publishing companies of “Russian Berlin”.

I. Ladyzhnikov publishing company, I. LadyschnikowVerlag G.m.b.H, book publishing, Russian abroad, Russian Berlin, Helikon, Epoch, Russian Universal Publishing House, Novaya Russkaya Kniga, New Russian Book

1. Bazanov P.N. Printing of the Russian Diaspora in Studies and Documents: Materials for a Bibliography (compiled by O.A. Korostelev): review, Berega: informatsionno-analiticheskii sbornik o russkom zarubezh’e [Shores: information-analytical collection of Russian emigration]. St. Petersburg, Informatsionno-Kul’turnyi Tsentr “Russkaya Emigratsiya” Publ., 2005, issue 5, pp. 66—69 (in Russ.).

2. Pronin A.A. Rossiiskaya emigratsiya v otechestvennykh dissertatsionnykh issledovaniyakh 1980—2005 gg. [Russian Emigration in Native Dissertation Researches in 1980—2005], doct. hist. sci. diss. Chelyabinsk, ChGPU Publ., 2016, 872 p.

3. Dinershtein E.A. Sinyaya ptitsa Zinoviya Grzhebina [The Blue Bird of Zinovy Grzhebin]. Moscow, Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie Publ., 2014, 427 p.

4. Antropov V.I. I.P. Ladyzhnikov: biographical essay. Chelyabinsk, Yuzhno-Ural’skoe Publ., 1972, 125 p. (in Russ.).

5. Dun A.Z. On the History of the I.P. Ladyzhnikov Book Publishing, Uchenye zapiski Leninabadskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo instituta im. S.M. Kirova. 1970 [Scientific Notes of the S.M. Kirov Leninabad State Pedagogical Institute. 1970], issue 36, pp. 96—110 (in Russ.).

6. Shomrakova I.A., Barenbaum I.E. Vseobshchaya istoriya knigi: uchebnoe posobie [General Book History: study guide]. St. Petersburg, Professiya Publ., 2005, 368 p.

7. Bazanov P.N., Shomrakova I.A. Kniga russkogo zarubezh’ya: iz istorii knizhnoi kul’tury XX veka: uchebnoe posobie [The Book of Russian Emigration: From the History of Book Culture of the 20th Century: textbook]. St. Petersburg, Sankt-Peterburgskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet Tekhnologii i Dizaina Publ., 2013, 96 p.

8. Kataeva A.G. Russkaya izdatel’skaya deyatel’nost’ v Germanii 1920-kh gg. [Russian Publishing in Germany of the 1920s], cand. hist. sci. diss. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 2000, 254 p.

9. Dimyanenko A.A. Detskaya kniga russkogo zarubezh’ya v Evrope, 1920—1956 gg. [Children’s Book of the Russian Emigration in Europe, 1920—1956], cand. philol. sci. diss. St. Petersburg, SPbGIK Publ., 2018, 331 p.

10. Anisimov A.O. The Dutch Archive of the I.P. Ladyzhnikov Publishing House: A New Set of Sources on the Russian Diaspora’s Publishing in Germany (1905—1932), Odinnadtsatye Makushinskie chteniya: materialy nauchnoi konferentsii (Tomsk, 29—30 maya 2018 g.) [Proceedings of the Scientific Conference “Eleventh Makushin Readings” (Tomsk, May 29—30, 2018)]. Novosibirsk, GPNTB SO RAN Publ., 2018, pp. 17—24 (in Russ.).

11. Anisimov A.O. The Origins of the “Russian Berlin” (The Russian-Language Publishing in Germany in 1901—1918), Kniga: Sibir’-Evraziya: trudy I Mezhdunarodnogo nauchnogo kongressa (Novosibirsk, 01—03 sentyabrya 2016 g.) [Proceedings of the 1st International Scientific Congress “Book: Siberia-Eurasia” (Novosibirsk, September 01—03, 2016)], vol. 1. Novosibirsk, GPNTB SO RAN Publ., 2017, pp. 146—151 (in Russ.).

12. Anisimov A.O. I.D. Sytin and the Bolshevik Publishing House of I.P. Ladyzhnikov: The History of Relationships, Gumanitarnye nauki v Sibiri [The Humanities in Siberia], 2018, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 76—80 (in Russ.).

13. Anisimov A.O. Publisher I.P. Ladyzhnikov and the “Party” Book Project of the RSDRP(b) in 1905—1914, Kniga: Sibir’-Evraziya. Informatsionnoe obshchestvo: novye prioritety knizhnoi kul’tury: sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Book: Siberia-Eurasia. Information Society: New Priorities of Book Culture: collected scientific papers]. Novosibirsk, GPNTB SO RAN Publ., 2019, pp. 25—37 (in Russ.).

14. Anisimov A.O. Literary Heritage of L.N. Tolstoy in the Activities of the Ladyzhnikov Publishing House (Berlin, 1912—1925), Bibliografiya [Bibliography], 2019, no. 3 (422), pp. 126—133 (in Russ.).

15. Zeman A.B., Scharlau W.B. The Merchant of Revolution: The Life of Alexander Israel Helphand (Parvus), 1867—1924. London, New York, Toronto, Oxford University Press Publ., 1965, 306 p.

16. Katalog knigoizdatel’stva I.P. Ladyzhnikova [Catalog of the I.P. Ladyzhnikov Book Publishing]. Berlin, J. Ladyschnikow Publ., 1912, 8 p.

17. Katalog izdatel’stva I.P. Ladyzhnikova za 1922 [Catalog of the I.P. Ladyzhnikov Publishing House for 1922]. Berlin, 1922, 40 p.

18. Katalog knizhnogo magazina i biblioteki I.P. Ladyzhnikova. 1930/1931 [Catalog of the Bookstore and Library of I.P. Ladyzhnikov. 1930/1931]. Berlin, 1930, 63 p.

19. Struve G.P. Journals of the Russian Diaspora: “New Russian Book”, Russkaya literatura [Russian Literature], 1990, no. 1, pp. 108—131 (in Russ.).

20. Mikheeva G.V. A.S. Yashchenko’s Journal “Russian Book” (“New Russian Book”), Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy [Book. Researches and Materials]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1992, coll. 64, pp. 99—114 (in Russ.).

21. Ermolova M.A. The Journal “Russian Book” (“New Russian Book”) as a Source for Studying the Repertoire of Books of the Russian Diaspora, Russkaya pechat’ XIX—XX vekov: sbornik statei [Russian Press of the 19th—20th Centuries: collected articles]. Moscow, RGB Publ., 1994, pp. 90—107 (in Russ.).

22. Gutkina A.M. “Russian Book”, “New Russian Book” (Berlin, 1921—1923), Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki. Otechestvennaya literatura. Seriya 7: Literaturovedenie. Referativnyi zhurnal [Social Sciences and Humanities. Russian Literature. Series 7: Literary Studies. Abstract Journal]. Moscow, 1995, no. 4, pp. 112—117 (in Russ.).

23. Kubanova L.G. Zhurnaly “Russkaya kniga” i “Novaya russkaya kniga” v dialoge literatur metropolii i emigratsii [The Journals “Russian Book” and “New Russian Book” in the Dialogue of Literatures of the Mother Country and Emigration], cand. philol. sci. diss. abstr. Moscow, 1996, 21 p.

24. Yakovlev A.N. (ed.) Lubyanka. Stalin i VChK — GPU — OGPU — NKVD. Yanvarʼ 1922 — dekabrʼ 1936 [Lubyanka. Stalin and the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission — State Political Directorate — Joint State Political Directorate — Peopleʼs Commissariat for Internal Affairs. January 1922 — December 1936]. Moscow, MFD Publ., 2003, 912 p.

25. Russkii Berlin 1921—1923: po materialam arkhiva B.I. Nikolaevskogo v Guverovskom institute [The Russian Berlin: Based on Materials from the B.I. Nikolaevsky Archive at the Hoover Institution]. Paris, YMCA-Press Publ., Moscow, Russkii Put’ Publ., 2003, 422 p.

26. Struve G.P. Russkaya literatura v izgnanii [Russian Literature in Exile]. Paris, YMCA-Press Publ., Moscow, Russkii Put’ Publ., 1996, 446 p.

27. Vainberg I.I. “Beseda” (Berlin, 1923—1925), Literaturnaya entsiklopediya russkogo zarubezh’ya (1918—1940): v 3 t. T. 2. Ch. 1 [Literary Encyclopedia of the Russian Diaspora (1918—1940): in 3 volumes. Volume 2. Part 1]. Moscow, INION RAN Publ., 1996, pp. 60—81 (in Russ.).