Literature publishing situation in Tomsk at the turn of the 20th century in the context of publishing industry development in Siberia

The research is held within the book studies trend in philology. The description and analysis of the material are made within one of the most up-to-date and productive methodologies, i.e. the "local approach". The main feature of the work is a systematic analysis of the materials studied. The materials for this study are drawn from the period of the formation of literary and art journals and collections in Tomsk at the turn of the 20th century. They reflect both the features common with the literature of the center and specific features characteristic of the Siberian region. During this period, two main factors - the activity of the largest book publishing company in Siberia, Makushin's firm, and the existence of the university - made it possible to turn a peripheral city into a large publishing center which actively used a tradition worked out by Tobolsk and Irkutsk. Along with that, Tomsk had undergone significant modernization of printing equipment by that time. A sign of this was a widest possible repertoire which was available for regional publishing. This repertoire emerged due to large printing capabilities, and both of these processes, in their turns, were actively enhanced by the expanding needs of the readership of the university town. In the literature publishing process at the beginning of the 20th century a significant role belonged to the first private Tomsk magazines of a generally universal character which aimed at attracting local literary authorship. Editions of P. Makushin, V. Dolgorukov, V. Romanov etc. played a major role. Particular importance is attributed to the establishment of collective works and anthologies, as they not only united, but identified and discovered new names of Siberian writers, poets and critics. The most interesting in this respect are the charity Sbornik vpol'zu Tomskikh vosk-resnykh shkol i Gogolevskogo narodnogo doma ([Collection in favor of Tomsk Sunday schools and Gogol People's House]), Pervy literaturnyy sbornik sibiryakov ([The First Literary Collection of Siberians]) and Vtoroy literaturnyy sbornik sibiryakov ([The Second Literary Collection of Siberians]) created in the format of literary anthologies. The periodicals of the literary group Young Siberia (headed by Grebenshchikov) turned out innovative in terms of content and concept, which was conspicuos in their most successful publishing project Altayskiy al'manakh ([The Altai Anthology]). In summary, the main feature of the literary and publishing situation at the turn of the century in Tomsk turned out to be its active involvement into the nationwide process.

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