The name of the first Russian newspaper under Peter 1. Where and when did the first printed newspapers appear

On January 13, Russia celebrates the Day of the Russian Press. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR of December 28, 1991 N 3043-1 "On the Day of the Russian Press" reads:

Paying tribute to historical justice - the release of the first issue Russian newspaper Vedomosti in January 1703, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR decides:

However, there is every reason to doubt the validity of this date.

The history of Russian journalism begins on December 16, 1702 (December 27, 1702 according to the new style), when the first issue of the Vedomosti newspaper was published. The day before, the emperor issued a decree "Vedomosti be!". However, the earliest preserved newspaper number - dated January 2, 1703 ( January 13, 1703 new style). It was this date that became memorable thanks to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation.

This priceless, shabby rarity, about the size of half a school notebook (how big are modern newspapers?), contains several references to earlier published issues. On this basis, it can be assumed that the very first issue was published not on January 2, 1703, but on December 16, 1702.

The newspaper came out irregularly, as God puts on the soul. The frequency of Vedomosti varied. In 1703 and 1704 39 issues were published, in 1705 - 46 (this is the largest figure). Over the years, the release dates are increasingly stretched: for example, only three issues for 1717 and one for 1718 are known. The issue consisted of a different number of pages - from 2 to 22, which also determined its price. The format was set to an eighth of a sheet (about half the width of a school notebook), but individual numbers were also printed in sheet format. From No. 3 for 1711, the first page (page) of the newspaper receives an engraving, which depicts a view of St. Petersburg with the Neva and the Peter and Paul Fortress and flying Mercury with a pipe and a rod - a caduceus. The interval was daily, monthly and very different.

Vedomosti constantly changed its name: Vedomosti Moskovskie, Vedomosti Moskovsky Gosudarstvennost, Vedomosti Rossiyskiye, Vesti, Relyatsia, Genuine Report, and at one time the newspaper came out under such an amazing headline: Vedomosti o military and other affairs worthy of knowledge and memory that happened in the Muscovite state and in other surrounding countries. However, this is not surprising, because in the 18th century there were a lot of long titles of printed publications. At first, the newspaper was published in Moscow, and since 1711 it began to be published in St. Petersburg. The volume of Vedomosti was regular - 22 pages. The circulation of the newspaper experienced great fluctuations - from several tens to several thousand copies. Data, for example, for 1708 show that individual issues of Vedomosti were printed in the amount of 150, 200, 400, 700 and even 1000 copies, and in 1724 the circulation dropped to 30 copies. The news about the Battle of Poltava was printed in the amount of 2,500 copies and sold out in its entirety, but a number of issues did not find distribution and remained at the Printing House.

The newspaper was made for very wealthy people, and cost from two to eight money (money - a Russian coin, equal to half a kopeck of those times). For example, a compositor then received from three to four money, working at the hardest work.

The first Russian newspaper propagated the point of view of the authorities. At that time, Vedomosti wrote about the Northern War and Peter's cultural policy. Then came the beginning of censorship. The first journalists were, firstly, Peter himself, as well as his officials. The first editor of Vedomosti was Fedor Polikarpov, director of the Printing House in Moscow, a literary educated man who wrote poetry. He prepared newspaper materials, processed translations from foreign press, which were supplied by officials of the Posolsky Prikaz, obtained news from other departments and offices, monitored the location of notes in the issue and kept proofreading. When Vedomosti was transferred to St. Petersburg, the director of the capital's printing house, Mikhail Abramov, began to deal with it. Yakov Sinyavich - clerk of one of the orders, the most famous of the first journalists in Russia, "reporter".

Vedomosti began to be read less and less. First, I'm tired North War lasting over twenty years. Secondly, they came out irregularly. Thirdly, they were very expensive. Already after the death of Peter, in 1727, having become completely uninteresting, they died. In the same year, another newspaper "picked up the baton" - "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti", which can be bought today. One year she went to German, and from 1728 - became in Russian. Therefore, today in the headline of this newspaper it appears that it has been published not since 1727, but since 1728. The first editor-in-chief of the Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti was the German Gerhard Friedrich Miller. This is the first Russian regular newspaper. She went out twice a week, on the so-called postal days (twice a week, horses delivered mail - along with a newspaper to the houses). The first issue of the "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti" for 1728 was printed on four pages in the fourth part of the sheet, the rest came out in the same format. On the first page, under the headline of the newspaper, there was a vignette depicting a double-headed eagle with a chain of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. Below is the publication date. The content of the issue was news from Hamburg, London, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, Paris and other European cities, as well as the court chronicle - messages about the congratulations of the sovereign on the new year, about promotions and awards. The new newspaper had several sources of information:

1. foreign newspapers;
2. Traveling officials;
3. Opening letters of major diplomats;
4. Rumors and gossip;

Nowadays, perhaps, only letters are not opened to obtain information in the newspaper. And on the basis of paragraph 4, there are more than a dozen modern Russian newspapers.

In 1728, together with the "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti", an appendix-dictionary "Monthly Historical, Genealogical and Geographical Notes" began to appear, but it did not last long - until 1742. This application served to explain to the illiterate words they did not understand. Now the newspaper published ethnographic and other scientific articles. "Notes" had an independent character, articles flashed on their pages that were not at all attached to newspaper reports, and they turn into a kind of scientific digest, a magazine published together with Vedomosti twice a week. The newspaper began to be published monthly. Lomonosov worked here, and wrote a brilliant article "Reasoning about the duties of journalists", which became a moral and ethical code. This is the first article about what a journalist should be like. Here are Lomonosov's main requirements for a journalist:

1. Competent;
2. Modest;
3. Respectful of the opinions of others;
4. Knowing the phrase "It's a shame to steal other people's thoughts";

Long before the advent of writing, people had a need to exchange news. Special people walked around the cities and villages, who announced around the birth, death and other life events. Later in ancient Rome there were prototypes of handwritten newspapers - acta. With their help, the Romans received information about events in their country. There were also news sheets in China.

It is worth saying that by the end of the 15th century, printing already existed. This was facilitated by the appearance of the printing press in Italy. In turn, newspapers were published, albeit handwritten ones. They remained so until the end of the 16th century. Basically, their functioning was in Italy, in some places there were handwritten newspapers in Germany. There were even special people responsible for writing news, the so-called "news scribes".

As the story goes, the first printed newspaper appeared in Venice in the early 16th century. Prior to that, there were weekly handwritten publications and special people called “avizzotori” who specialized in writing news articles.

However, in the form in which modern readers are accustomed to seeing, the French introduced it to the world. This happened on May 30, 1631. The printed edition was called "La newspaper". It was released in thousands of copies. The owner of "La newspaper" was Renaudo.
However, the palm in the publication of a printed newspaper belongs to Germany. As early as 1609, the Strasbourg newspaper Relation: Aller Furnemmen appeared. Its publisher and printer was Johann Carolus. It's worth saying that exact year edition of this newspaper is unknown.

Russian Vedomosti

Russia, as always, lagged behind Europe, and in this matter too. The first Russian printed newspaper, Vedomosti, began to function in 1703, when Peter I was on the throne. The period of handwritten newspapers did not pass the country. In particular, the Chimes, created on the model of a Western European newspaper, were popular among the literate population.

The first Russian printed newspaper was small in size - less than a notebook sheet. Unlike the French La Gazeta, which was published weekly, Vedomosti appeared less frequently than once every 23 days.

Interestingly, Tsar Peter himself edited the first issues. According to statistics, 39 issues of this printed edition were published in 1703. Subsequently, the newspaper was renamed "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti".

THE ORIGIN OF THE RUSSIAN MEDIA

The forerunners of the first Russian newspaper were chimes or messenger letters, which were drawn up in the embassy order with extracts from foreign newspapers and were submitted to the tsar and some of his entourage. On December 16, 1702, the foundation of an official newspaper was laid, and on January 2, 1703, the first sheet of Vedomosti was published. However, as early as December 27, 1702, the "Journal or Daily Painting, which, during the past siege, under the fortress of Noteburh, was repaired on September 26, 1702," was published in Moscow. Peter took an active part in the compilation of Vedomosti, marked with a pencil places for translation from Dutch newspapers and corrected proofs; the Moscow Synodal Library keeps the proofs of Vedomosti with its amendments. Vedomosti was published in Moscow in the first year of its existence church font; they were published indefinitely in total 39 nos., 2–7 sheets in 8°, in the amount of 1000 copies. The contents of Vedomosti were: 1) information related to Russia and 2) foreign news, probably borrowed from the newspapers Breslauer Nouvellen and Reichs-Post-Reuter, as well as from others. In the form of special additions, sometimes reports of military operations came out. For the first year of publication, only two complete copies are known in the Imperial Public Library, where there are also complete copies for 1704 (No. 35), 1705 (No. 47), 1706 (No. 28 and 6 appr.) ; since 1707 there are no complete annual copies. The font in Vedomosti until 1710 was used exclusively ecclesiastical, from 1710 it was either ecclesiastical or civil, and from 1717 - one civil, except for the relations that were printed by the church. At first, Vedomosti was published in Moscow, but on May 11, 1711, we have a sheet printed in St. Petersburg, and since that time Vedomosti has been published first in St. Petersburg, then in Moscow. Some issues of 1711 are decorated with a vignette, which depicts Peter-Pavel's Fortress, the Neva, covered with courts, and Mercury hovering above it with a caduceus and a pipe. The volume of Vedomosti especially increased in 1719, when the number consisted of up to 22 pages. In 1727, the publication ceased. The right to publish the newspaper passed to the Academy of Sciences, which released on January 2, 1728 No. 1 of Petersburg Vedomosti, and Moskovskie Vedomosti began to be published only on April 26, 1766. In addition to itself, they assume participation in Vedomosti as an editor, Count Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin. It is also known that around 1719 they were headed by M. Avramov. In 1720, a translator Yakov Sinyavich was appointed to compile statements in a foreign collegium. In 1723, Vedomosti was "ruled" by Mikhail Volkov, whose signature M. W. is also found earlier.

The Grand Sovereign pointed out: according to the statements about military and all kinds of affairs that are necessary for declaring the Moscow and neighboring States to people, print chimes, and for printing those chimes, statements in which orders, about which there are now and will continue to be sent from those orders to The monastic order without delay (without delay, without delay), and from the monastic order, those statements should be sent to the Printing House. And about that in all orders to send from the Monastic order of memory.

Complete collection of laws Russian Empire Volume 4 (1700–712) No. 1921 http://www.nlr.ru/e-res/law_r/search.php

THE FIRST ISSUES OF VEDOMOSTI

It is no coincidence that the decree on the publication of the newspaper dates back to 1702. The Northern War began unsuccessfully for Russia. Having suffered a defeat near Narva, the Russian army lost all artillery. And now, when Russia was exerting all its strength to repulse the troops of Charles XII, it was necessary to convince the people of the need to continue the war with the Swedes, to explain the significance of certain government measures, for example, the confiscation of bells from churches for pouring them into cannons. Finally, it was necessary to inform the population of the country that the factories were increasing the production of weapons and ammunition, that the tsar, in addition to the Russian troops, had support from the peoples of Russia ...

Very characteristic in this respect is the content of the issue of December 17, 1702. First of all, it reports on the solemn, after successful military operations, the entry of Peter I into Moscow, that the tsar "brought a large number of conquered Swedish altileries, which he took in Marienburg and Slyusenburg." Further we are talking about the promise of the "great owner of Ayuki Pasha" to deliver 20 thousand of his armed soldiers, about the discovery of deposits of iron ore, sulfur, saltpeter, that is, materials necessary for further waging war with the Swedes.

The next issue (dated January 2, 1703) is sustained in the same spirit. He informs readers: "In Moscow, again, 400 copper cannons, howitzers and mortars have been poured ... And now there are 40,000 pounds of copper in the cannon yard, which is prepared for a new casting." Further, the chimes report on the development of natural resources, "from which the Muscovite state expects a considerable profit."

Under Peter the Great, a newspaper appeared in Russia

The idea of ​​publishing printed political bulletins for the public belongs to Peter the Great, who is considered the founder of the Russian newspaper. He was also the first editor of Vedomosti. Proof of this is the fact that he himself appointed passages from Dutch newspapers with a pencil for translation and insertion into them, even he himself was engaged in proofreading. As a precious monument, the Synodal Library stores several Nos. with proofreading notes by his sovereign hand.

On December 16, 1702, Emperor Peter the Great indicated “according to the statements about military and all kinds of affairs that are subject to the announcement of Moscow and the surrounding States to people, print chimes, and for printed chimes, statements in which Orders about what is now as it is and will continue to be sent from those Orders to the Monastyrsky order, without delay, and from the Monastic order to send those statements to the printing yard.

The desire of Peter the Great was not slow to come true: on January 2, 1703, the first sheet of printed Russian statements appeared in Moscow - the first Russian newspaper printed in Church Slavonic font. It came out under the following title: “Vedomosti, on military and other matters worthy of significance and memory, which happened in the Moscow State and in other surrounding countries”, Then during the year 39 issues appeared, published at indefinite dates, from 2 to 7 sheets , each number with a separate numbering, and sometimes no numbering at all.

In order to familiarize ourselves with the nature of the contents of the Petrine Gazette, we will abbreviate the first number of them.

Moscow Vedomosti

“Today, 400 copper cannons, howitzers and mortars have been poured in Moscow. Those cannons are 24, 18 and 12 pounds each; howitzers with a bomb pound and half a pound; bomb mortars of nine, three and two pounds and less. And many more forms of ready-made, large and medium-sized cannons, howitzers and mortars for casting. And copper now in the cannon yard, which is prepared for a new casting, is more than 40,000 pounds.

By command of His Majesty, Moscow schools are multiplying, and 45 people are studying philosophy and have already graduated from dialectics.

More than 300 people study in the mathematical navigation school and accept science well.

From Persia they write: the Indian king sent as gifts to our great sovereign an elephant and many other things. From the city of Shemakha he was released to Astrakhan by land.

They write from Kazan: a lot of oil and copper ore were found on the Soku River; copper was smelted fairly from that ore, which is why they expect no small profit for the Muscovite state.

They write from Siberia: in the Chinese state, the Jesuits were not much loved for their cunning, and some of them were even executed by death.

From Olonets they write: the city of Olonets, priest Ivan Okulov, having gathered hunters on foot with a thousand people, went abroad to the Sveyan border and defeated the Svei - Rugozen and Hippo, and Sumer, and Kerisur outposts. And at those outposts he beat a lot of Swedes ... and burned the Solovskaya manor, and near the Solovskaya manor many other manors and villages, with a thousand households, burned it ...

They write from Lvov on December 14: the Cossack forces by Lieutenant Colonel Samus are multiplying daily; having knocked out the commandant in Nemirov, they took possession of the city with their military men, and there is already an intention White Church mine, and they hope that he will take possession of that town, how Paley will unite with him with his army ...

Fortress Oreshek - high, all around deep water surrounded by 40 miles away, heavily besieged by Moscow troops and already more than 4,000 shots from cannons, suddenly 20 shots each, more than 1,500 bombs were thrown, but so far they have not caused a great loss, and they will still have a lot of work, for now the fortress will be taken...

On the 20th day of September, the cities write from Arkhangelsk that, as His Royal Majesty sent his troops in various ships to the White Sea, then he went further and sent packs of ships back to the Arkhangelsk city, and 15,000 soldiers are found there, and on the new fortress, on Dvinka betrothed, 600 people work daily.

As can be seen from the above sample, at that time the newspaper was printed without any system: there was no subdivision of the content of the newspaper into headings; there were no "leading articles", no "feuilletons", etc. The facts were recorded in the newspaper without any connection, they were not properly assessed by their significance. A major fact or event from public life was placed next to some small note.

Sheets were printed in the number of 1000 copies; after 1703 various changes were gradually introduced into them. From 1705, they began to place a number at the bottom of the first page of numbers indicating the order of publication; in 1710, the number of statements appeared for the first time, printed in civil type; from that year until 1717, the statements were printed either in Church Slavonic or in civil type; and since 1717, exclusively in one civilian font, except, however, for extraordinary additions that contained the reports of military operations, which were still typed in Church Slavonic letters.

On May 11, 1711, the first sheet of the Petersburg Gazette appeared, printed in St. Petersburg. From that time on, nos. of sheets were published sometimes in St. Petersburg, sometimes in Moscow.

In 1727, the publication of the Gazette ceased - their editorial board came under the jurisdiction of the Academy of Sciences, which on January 2, 1728 issued the first issue of the Petersburg Gazette. The publication of special statements in Moscow resumed in 1756.

All numbers of the first statements now represent the greatest bibliographic rarity: only 2 complete copies of them have survived in Russia, and both belong to the Imperial Public Library. In 1855, the authorities of the Imperial Public Library reprinted them not only page by page, but also line by line.

This reprint with a preface, which outlines the original history of the statements, was published under the title: “The first Russian statements printed in Moscow in 1703. New edition in two copies; kept in the Imperial Public Library. This edition, dedicated to the Imperial Moscow University, on the day of the celebration of the centenary since its founding on January 12, 1855, was printed in the amount of 600 copies, which were all sold out within 2 months, so that in our time this edition itself has become a bibliographic rarity.

Printed newspapers appeared several centuries ago and quickly gained popularity. The oldest appeared in the east. This “fashion” came to Russia from Europe. Among the newspapers there are also very unusual ones.

The oldest newspaper in the world

Newspapers seem to be losing their popularity. The reader is increasingly turning to the Internet for information, considering it more relevant. The newspaper being the oldest in the world is now on the Internet.

We are talking about a newspaper that was published in Sweden in a circulation of a thousand copies, being established by the Queen in 1645. Its name is "Post-och Inrikes Tidningar", which means "Post and Domestic News". The publication was free, it was distributed to residents of cities in order to inform them about the affairs of the state. Also, copies of newspapers were posted on a kind of "bulletin boards" in the busiest places where everyone could read them.

Almost without changing its content, this old edition was published until 2007. It was filled with official information and government news. The publication was published daily, each issue contained almost one and a half thousand official documents. There were fewer and fewer people wishing to buy this newspaper, and by the end of 2007 there were less than a thousand of them. As a result, the printed version has become obsolete. It was decided to continue publishing online.

Despite the fact that Post and Domestic News is a newspaper that can no longer be read in paper version, it still remains the oldest in the world of those that have survived to this day. She has changed hands today. Formerly it was the Swedish Academy, now it is the Swedish Company Registrar. The transition of the newspaper to the Internet can be called a cultural disaster.

most old newspaper the printed edition of the Capital Bulletin, which appeared in the eighth century in China, is also considered. In order to print these newspapers, it was necessary to cut out hieroglyphs on boards, cover them with ink, and then make impressions.

In Europe, the beginning of newspaper periodicals is considered the year 1605, when the first printed edition was published in Strasbourg. The publisher and editor was Johann Carolus, who had previously compiled handwritten newspapers.

The oldest newspapers in Russia

Newspapers were originally written in Russia by hand, they were called "Messages". They first appeared in 1613. Outwardly, these handwritten editions looked like long ribbons. To this day, it was possible to save such a copy. It was written in the year 1621 and was called "The Chimes". Handwritten versions were issued until the beginning of the eighteenth century, until, at the direction of Peter I, the printed version of the Vedomosti newspaper saw the light of day. This innovation was brought by him from Europe, and the first printed newspaper appeared in 1702. The king personally made a selection of information. The name of the newspaper changed, but the word "Vedomosti" was always present in it.

At first, the circulation was one thousand copies, the newspaper was the size of half a notebook sheet and was published irregularly. To this day, one such issue, printed in January 1703, has been preserved. This date is considered the birthday of journalism in Russia. The first newspaper was publicly available, its price and circulation varied, sometimes reaching four thousand, but it was not popular. Vedomosti was published until 1725.

The boom of newspaper business in Russia began in the second half of the nineteenth century. Clear distinctions in periodicals on the subject of announcements, news, summaries of global information appeared only towards the end of the nineteenth century.

The most unusual newspapers

Despite the fact that newspapers are in crisis, handwritten editions still exist. It's about the newspaper "Musalman Daily". Every day, its text is written by four calligraphers in Urdu and pasted onto photographic sheets, after which this sample is reproduced by means of a printing press.

The smallest newspaper known is Terra Nostra, which was released in a limited edition in Portugal in 2012. With dimensions of eighteen by twenty-five millimeters, its weight was only one gram. The Guinness Book of Records did not leave such a newspaper unattended. Other periodicals are also surprising. For example, there are books that have been sold for $1.243 million. The site has a site about the most expensive books.
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