A. A. Bestuzhev’s so-called Yakutian almanac as a commercial project (1829)

• Published in: Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Language and Literature
• Main Author: Polyakova, Anna Alexandrovna
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Russian
• Published: St Petersburg State University 2019
• Subjects: A. A. Bestuzhev; Russian literature of the first half of 19th century; almanac; book publishing; bookselling; Yakutsk; Polar Star
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu09.2019.109; http://hdl.handle.net/11701/15698

The article is dedicated to the history of one unrealized publishing project of A. A. Bestuzhev. We are talking about the author’s almanac, which was schemed by the writer in early 1829 while staying in Yakutsk. The reason why Bestuzhev during his exile thought about publishing his texts is obvious: in letters to his relatives, he often complained about his tight financial situation, which was undermined by pirated reprints of his texts. Unfortunately, we know virtually nothing about the possible content of the publication. But from Bestuzhev’s letters to his relatives, it is easy to rebuild the financial side of the idea. Considered in the context of the book publishing practice of the 1820s, the writer’s project raises doubts. So, Bestuzhev, apparently inspired by the recent phenomenal success of the Polar Star, conceived the idea to publish an almost doubled edition of the author’s almanac. But it is known that by the beginning of 1829 the “almanac” market was full, so hoping for the commercial success of this kind of publication was very reckless. In addition, judging by letters, Bestuzhev at some point decided to abandon the services of a professional commission agent and assign all the worries about publishing the future almanac and further selling the circulation on the shoulders of his sister Elena who was rather far from the subtleties of book sales. It seems that such a short-sightedness of Bestuzhev can be explained by his forced isolation. Despite the interest in literary novelties, the writer obviously had a little knowledge of the real position in the book market and the extent to which his own project would have been appropriate. But anyway, the project will stop already at the stage of negotiations with the publisher, who frankly stated the unprofitability of the project.