The image of a publisher and literary process in late 18th and early 19th centuries: A.G. Reshetnikov

The literary process of the last decades of the 18th and early 19th centuries is closely connected with the activities of Russian printers who made the "writing exercise" an industry. A.G. Reshetnikov worked as a typographer; he provided authors with different social status with printing services. The chronological principle of analyzing the books published in A.G. Reshetnikov's Moscow printing house allows for additional interpretation of the typographer's publishing strategy and his reputation of a "commercial" publisher. The emerging picture of the literary routine is complemented by a number of interesting biographical details of individual participants in the dialogue "author - publisher - reader". In particular, it has been found that the main range of literature from the first year of Reshet-nikov's printing house activities was texts for compulsive reading focused on the taste of a grass-roots urban reader. Apparently, Reshetnikov saw a possibility of commercial success in this direction. Books, with rare exceptions, were published at the expense of the authors or were financially supported by Moscow merchants. In the following years, the printing house also focused on publishing fiction. The authors of the published works tended to use the same scheme of artistic imagination, stringing turns of events predictable for the reader, coloring them with attractive details. It is thought that this was how grass-roots authors themselves perceived the craft of writing; therefore, in the context of book production of the time different texts differed only slightly in their narrative structure and writing methods. In the 1790s, the printing house had new clients. A.I. Golitsyn, A.M. Belosel-skiy-Belozerskiy, I.M. Dolgorukov, lovers of literature from eminent noble families, turned to Reshetnikov. At the same time the printing house publishes student works, mainly translations, thus facilitating the careers of new authors and giving them an opportunity to earn additional money. Desires of the owner of the printing house were expressed in publications of a different type. After the 1890s, having reached success in his business, Reshetnikov set to work on the textbook. His interests were related to the literature on teaching reading and writing, yet most of the books he published were entertaining fiction. Popularity among readers of a number of fictional works and unflattering criticism of the artistic merits of these texts impacted the reputation of the talented and successful publisher A.G. Reshetnikov.

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