Publishing and literature sale in Russian and foreign languages as a means of modernization of Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century

RELEVANCE. The problem of studying the relationship between the originality of Russian culture and the degree of foreign influence on its development is currently acquiring significant relevance. At the same time, the culturological approach, which describes the development of domestic social thought in the paradigm of “progressive – reactionary”, “ours – not ours,” gives way to an analysis of the specifics of the Russian reality of culture as an object of transfer, adaptation and reception of ideas and concepts taking place at different stages of social development. and reception of ideas and concepts taking place at different stages of social development. The purpose of the study is to comprehensively characterize the publishing business and the sale of literature in Russian and foreign languages in the first quarter of the 18th century.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. In our opinion, for a comprehensive study of the problem of modernization in Russia in the 18th century, it is necessary to take into account hidden factors that reveal the experience of transmitting Western ideas. The most important of them include the practice of distributing European literature, which ensures the formation of a certain cultural environment.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION. Purchasing foreign publications from foreigners living in Russia became an extremely common practice. It was in this way that the “Universal and Historical Lexicon” in German arrived in the library of Peter I. The autocrat personally ordered the purchase of this publication from foreign guests of St. Petersburg and a Russian translation of this work. Those books that could not be purchased personally were purchased by enterprising readers in the Baltic states or ordered from abroad through foreign merchants and Russian travelers.

CONCLUSION. A study of the issues of book printing and book sales of Peter the Great’s time shows the enormous importance of published literature for the dissemination of progressive ideas and scientific knowledge in all layers of reading society. In a short period of time, Peter I was able to organize the production of a huge number of printed works and create conditions for their distribution throughout the country.

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