The idea of slavdom in the prerevolutionary Russian encyclopedias of the late XIX century

Russia occupies one of the leading places in a world encyclopedistica, being an owner of many largest encyclopedic editions, which uniqueness was shown, first of all, in their pithiness and thematic variety of material. The idea of Slavdom over the past two centuries has attracted the attention of many scholars and researchers. Special interest was focused on the place of the Slavs in history, understanding the problems of the development of Slavic peoples, the formation of their socio-historical experience, spiritual identity and their contribution to the world culture and history. The purpose of this article is to analyze encyclopedic publications as a source on the Slavic issue. The idea of the unity of the Slavic peoples was popular in the public consciousness in the 19 century. The idea of Slavdom was rather full in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of A.F. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron and the “Great Encyclopedia” ed. by S. N. Yuzhakov. These publications have a number of specific features, consisting in the fact that the author's publishers not only disclose the Slavic question through an abundance of factual, statistical and biographical material, but also through a system of bibliographic references to literature. An important feature was that individual authorship in the creation of vocabulary and encyclopedic work, especially noticeable in the first half of the nineteenth century, was replaced by collective authorship. In general, the coverage of the Slavic issue is seen in attempts to display the Slavic culture in its dictionary and encyclopaedic literature, its specificity and identity. The appearance of full-fledged encyclopedic publications in prerevolutionary Russia promoted the dissemination of scientific knowledge and the enhancement of the education of Russian society, responding to its needs and demands of the time. Conclusion. In Russia, this century can be considered an era of laying the foundation of the Russian encyclopedist, when the necessary internal preconditions for the development of encyclopedic affairs, combined with the impact of external factors, were created. Encyclopedic works reflected the origins of Slavic studies as an integral part of Russian culture. This paradigm subsequently embodied in the work of scientists of the early 20 century.

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