My life for the book : the memoirs of a Russian publisher

Available at long last, this volume is the posthumous memoir of a peasant from the depths of old Russia who rose to great wealth and influence as his country's most successful publisher. Though never fully literate, Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin (1851-1934) was a shrewd businessman who made millions by publishing books for all manner of readers. My Life for the Book makes available the full text of Sytin's unpublished memoir, along with various writings by those who knew him. Through sharp and unremittingly ironic observations, Sytin describes with insight and amusement or dismay Tsarist Russia's bureaucracy, the Orthodox Church, the Imperial court, and a number of the country's most renowned writers, including Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, and journalist Vlas Doroshevich. Sytin's memoir, a tale of Great Russian society voiced by a parvenu, depicts a pre-Revolutionary Russia of small shops, churches, convents, deep religious faith, and flawed rulers. While the Revolution eventually deprived Sytin of all means to continuing publishing, his resilience and enterprise remain a lasting legacy.

• Introduction p. vii Charles A. Ruud and Marina E. Soroka
• Part I Memoirs Ivan D. Sytin
• 1 By Way of Introduction p. 3
• 2 Parting with Sharapov and the Birth of Mediator p. 15
• 3 The Demise of the Itinerant Peddlers p. 27
• 4 How Russian Word Was Born p. 37
• 5 Acquiring the Complete Works of L.N. Tolstoy p. 50
• 6 Encounters with PA. Stolypin and Others p. 58
• 7 The North p. 81
• 8 The All-Russian Council of People's Deputies p. 89
• 9 Meetings with Gorky and Lenin p. 99
• Part II RECOLLECTIONS ABOUT SYTIN BY OTHERS
• 10 Evdokia Ivanovna Sytina and Bersenevka by Sergei Sokolov p. 111
• 11 Letters from Vlas Doroshevich to Sytin about Editing Russian Word p. 130
• 12 Reminiscences about Sytin by Altaev, Motylkov, lablonovsky, and Utevsky p. 142
• Notes p. 165
• Bibliography p. 199
• Index p. 201