Financial and economic activity of Grigory I. Spassky in order to support the publication of Sibirskiy vestnik and Aziatskiy vestnik

In the period from January, 1818 to June, 1827, there was the first periodical in Russia published in Saint Petersburg, which was dedicated to the investigation of Siberia and "some countries adjacent to it" - Sibirskiy Vestnik [Siberian Herald], which was renamed into Aziatskiy vestnik [Asian Herald] in 1825. Its publisher Grigory I. Spassky devoted his 14 years of being on Siberian service to the collection of materials on the ancient and modern state of Siberia, conducting archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic studies, having made dozens of geographical, statistical and historical descriptions of different counties of Tomsk Province and the Altai and the peoples inhabiting them. The total number of publications for 10 years was more than 440 printed pages. But the publication was suddenly interrupted in the middle of 1827, and the reasons of the cease of this publication remain unknown. However, it is known that after the cease of Sibirsky (Aziatskiy) vestnik publication, Grigory I. Spassky continued the publication of the articles on the "Siberian" topic in external magazines. There are a large number of documents in the State archive of Krasnoyarsk Krai, fund 805, which also confirm that Spassky did not exhaust the "collection" of gathered Siberian materials, and the cease of the publication was caused by external reasons. The subject of the article is the financial and economic side of the publishing activity of Grigory I. Spassky in 1818-1827. The aim of the investigation is to clear up the question as to whether financial difficulties were the reason for the cease of the publication. A rough calculation of expenses on the publication, made by Grigory I. Spassky, and the amount of profits he earned on the realization of Sibirsky (Aziatskiy) vestnik ("Siberian (Asian) Herald") became possible in the result of the analysis of correspondence between Grigory I. Spassky and Vasily V. Dmitriev, who is considered to be his co-publisher (at least of the first part). The correspondence came around in the period from October, 1817 to March, 1818, at the opening stage of the magazine publication organization, and contains unique details of relationships between the co-publishers; particularly, it imparts the understanding of the reasons of the break between the partners. Generally, the investigation disproves the popular opinion that the publication of Sibirsky (Aziatskiy) vestnik was attended with a financial loss for Grigory I. Spassky, and suggests that this business was at least run without a loss.

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