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. Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR dated December 28, 1991 N 3043-1 "On the Day of the Russian Press" reads:

Paying tribute to historical justice - first issue released 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 newspaper "Vedomosti" was published. The day before, the emperor had issued a decree "Vedomosti be!" However, the earliest surviving newspaper issue - 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 half the size of a school notebook (and how big are modern newspapers?), Contains several references to earlier issues. On this basis, it can be assumed that the very first issue was released not on January 2, 1703, but on December 16, 1702.

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

"Vedomosti" constantly changed its name: "Vedomosti Moskovskie", "Vedomosti of the Moscow State", "Vedomosti Rossiyskie", "Vesti", "Relation", "True denunciation", and at one time the newspaper was published under such an amazing heading: "Vedomosti about military and other matters worthy of knowledge and memory that happened in the Moscow state and in other neighboring countries. " However, this is not surprising, because in the 18th century there were many long titles of printed publications. At first, the newspaper was published in Moscow, and from 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. For example, data 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 decreased to 30 copies. The news of the Battle of Poltava was printed in 2,500 copies and was sold in full, 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 is a Russian coin, equal to half a penny of those times). For example, the typesetter then received from three to four money, working on the hardest work.

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

Read less and less "Vedomosti". First, I'm tired of North War, which lasted more than twenty years. Secondly, they came out irregularly. Thirdly, they were very expensive. After the death of Peter, in 1727, having become completely uninteresting, they died. In the same year, another newspaper, Sankt-Peterburgskie vedomosti, "picked up the baton", which can be bought today. One year she went out on German, and from 1728 - became in Russian. Therefore, today the headline of this newspaper states that it has been published not since 1727, but since 1728. The first editor-in-chief of St. Petersburg Vedomosti is German Gerhard Friedrich Miller. This is the first Russian regular newspaper. It came out twice a week, on the so-called postal days (twice a week, horses delivered mail - along with a newspaper to their homes). The first issue of St. Petersburg Vedomosti for 1728 was printed on four pages in a quarter of a 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 two-headed eagle with a chain of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. The date of publication followed. 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 sovereign's congratulations on the new year, about production in ranks and awards. The new newspaper had several sources of information:

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

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

In 1728, together with "St. Petersburg vedomosti", an appendix-dictionary "Monthly historical, genealogical and geographical notes" began to appear, but it did not last long - until 1742. This appendix served to explain the words incomprehensible to the illiterate. Now ethnographic and other scientific articles were published in the newspaper. "Notes" had an independent character, articles flashed on their pages that were not at all attached to newspaper reports, and they turned into a kind of scientific digest, a magazine published together with "Vedomosti" twice a week. The newspaper began to appear monthly. Lomonosov worked here, and wrote a brilliant article "Discourses on 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 basic requirements for a journalist:

1. Competent;
2. Modest;
3. Respecting 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, announcing 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, book printing already existed. This was facilitated by the appearance of the printing press in Italy. In turn, newspapers were published, though handwritten. They remained that way until the end of the 16th century. Basically, their operation fell on Italy, in some places handwritten newspapers were available in Germany. There were even special people in charge of 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, the country had weekly handwritten editions and special people "avizotori" who specialized in writing news items.

However, in the form in which modern readers are used to seeing, the French presented her to the world. It happened on May 30, 1631. The print edition was called La Gazeta. It was released in the amount of thousands of copies. The copyright holder of La Gazeta was Renaudot.
However, the palm in the publication of the printed newspaper belongs to Germany. As early as 1609, the Strasbourg newspaper Relation: Aller Furnemmen appeared. Its publisher and printer was Johann Karolus. It is worth saying that exact year the edition of this newspaper is unknown.

Russian "Vedomosti"

Russia, as always, lagged behind Europe, and on this issue too. The first Russian printed newspaper "Vedomosti" began to function in 1703, when Peter I came to the throne. The period of handwritten newspapers has not passed 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 - smaller than a notebook sheet. Unlike the French newspaper La Gazeta, which was published weekly, Vedomosti appeared less frequently than once every 23 days.

Interestingly, the first issues were edited by Tsar Peter himself. According to statistics, 39 issues of this print edition were published in 1703. Subsequently, the newspaper was renamed “St. Petersburg Vedomosti”.

THE BIRD OF THE RUSSIAN MEDIA

The predecessors of the first Russian newspaper were chimes or messenger letters, which were drawn up in the ambassadorial order by extracts from foreign newspapers and submitted to the tsar and some of his entourage. On December 16, 1702, the foundation of the official newspaper was laid, and on January 2, 1703, the first sheet of Vedomosti was published. However, as early as December 27, 1702, "Yurnal or a day painting was published in Moscow, which was repaired in September from the 26th in 1702 during the passing siege, near the Noteburkh fortress." Peter took an active part in the compilation of "Vedomosti", marked with a pencil places for translation from Dutch newspapers and rules for proofreading; the Moscow synodal library contains the proofs of "Vedomosti" with its amendments. "Vedomosti" in the first year of its existence was printed in Moscow church type; they were published in an indefinite period of time only 39 issues, 2-7 sheets in 8 °, in the amount of 1000 copies. The content of Vedomosti consisted of: 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. Sometimes the reports of military operations appeared in the form of special additions. For the first year of publication, only two complete copies are known in the Imperial Public Library, where there are also full copies for 1704 (35 Nos.), 1705 (47 Nos.), 1706 (28 Nos. And 6 app.) ; there are no complete annual copies since 1707. Until 1710, the typeface in Vedomosti was exclusively ecclesiastical, from 1710 either ecclesiastical or civil, and from 1717 - one civil type, except for the reports that were printed by the ecclesiastical. At first "Vedomosti" was published in Moscow, but on May 11, 1711 we have a sheet printed in St. Petersburg, and from that time on "Vedomosti" is published now in St. Petersburg, now in Moscow. Some of the 1711 numbers are decorated with a vignette depicting Peter-Pavel's Fortress, Neva, covered with ships, and soaring above it Mercury with a caduceus and a trumpet. The volume of "Vedomosti" especially increased in 1719, when the issue concluded up to 22 pages. In 1727 the publication ceased. The right to publish the newspaper passed to the Academy of Sciences, which issued No. 1 of Petersburg Vedomosti on January 2, 1728, and Moskovskie Vedomosti began to be published only on April 26, 1766. Count Fyodor Alekseevich Golovin. It is also known that around 1719 M. Avramov was in charge of them. In 1720, a translator Yakov Sinyavich was appointed to compile statements in the foreign collegium. In 1723 "Vedomosti" was "ruled" by Mikhail Volkov, whose signature M. W. is found earlier.

The great sovereign pointed out: according to the lists of military affairs and all kinds of affairs, which are necessary for the announcement of the Moscow and neighboring States to the people, to print the chimes, and to print those chimes, statements in which the orders, which are now what they will be, will be sent from those orders to Monastic order without hassle (without hesitation, 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

FIRST NUMBERS OF "VEDOMOSTI"

It is no coincidence that the decree on the publication of the newspaper dates back to 1702. The Great Northern War began unsuccessfully for Russia. After being defeated at Narva, the Russian army lost all its artillery. And now, when Russia was straining all its forces 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 some government measures, for example, confiscating bells from churches for transferring them to cannons. Finally, it was necessary to inform the population of the country that the factories are increasing the production of weapons and ammunition, that the tsar, in addition to the Russian troops, has support from the peoples of Russia ...

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

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

Under Peter the Great a newspaper appeared in Russia

The idea of ​​publishing printed political newsletters 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 assigned with a pencil for translation and placement in them places from Dutch newspapers, even he himself was engaged in proofreading. As a precious monument, the Synodal Library contains several numbers with proofreading notes by his sovereign hand.

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

Peter the Great's desire was not slow to come true: on January 2, 1703, the first sheet of printed Russian sheets appeared in Moscow - the first Russian newspaper printed in Church Slavonic script. It was published under the following title: “Vedomosti, about military and other matters worthy of significance and memory that happened in the Moscow State and in other neighboring countries”. Then, during the year, 39 issues appeared, published indefinitely, ranging from 2 to 7 pages , each number is individually numbered, and sometimes even without numbering at all.

In order to get acquainted with the nature of the content of the Petrovsky Gazette, we will cite their first number in the abbreviation.

"Vedomosti Moscow"

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

By the command of His Majesty, Moscow schools are multiplied, and 45 people listen to philosophy and have already graduated from dialectics.

More than 300 people study at the mathematical navigational school and accept good science.

From Persia they write: the Indian king sent an elephant and other things in gifts to our great sovereign. He was released from the city of Shemakha to Astrakhan by dry route.

From Kazan they write: they found a lot of oil and copper ore on the Soku River; copper was smelted from that ore fairly, which is why they expect to be not a small profit for the Moscow state.

From Siberia, they write: in the Chinese state, the Jesuits did not become very much loved for their cunning, and some of them were executed by death.

From Olonets they write: the town of Olonets, priest Ivan Okulov, having collected hunters on foot with a thousand people, went abroad to the Svei border and defeated the Svei - the Rugozen and Hippon, and Sumerian, and Kerisur outposts. And at those outposts he beat a lot of Swedes ... and burned the Solovka manor, and near Solovka many other manors and villages, with a thousand yards, he burned ...

From Lvov they write on December 14: the Cossack forces by Lieutenant Colonel Samus are increasing daily; having knocked out the commandant in Nemyriv, they seized the city with their military men, and there is already an intention White Church to extract, and they hope that he will take possession of that town too, as Paley will unite with him with his army ...

Fortress Oreshek - high, all around deep water embraced 40 miles away, firmly besieged by the Moscow troops and already more than 4,000 shots from cannons, suddenly 20 shots, more than 1,500 bombs were already thrown away, but to this time they have not made a great loss, and they will still have a lot of work, while that the fortress will be seized ...

From Arkhangelsk, the city is written, on September 20, that as His Tsarist Majesty sent his troops to the White Sea in various ships, he went further and sent the ships back to the Arkhangelsk city, and 15,000 soldiers are found there, and on the new fortress, on Dvinka is named, 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 division of the content of the newspaper by headings; there were no "leading articles", no "feuilletons", etc. The facts were recorded in the newspaper without any connection, they were not properly assessed according to their significance. A major fact or event from state life was placed next to some minor note.

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

On May 11, 1711, the first sheet of Petersburg Gazette, printed in St. Petersburg, appeared. From that time on, the issues of the Gazette sometimes came out in St. Petersburg, sometimes in Moscow.

In 1727, the publication of the statements ceased - their editorial office was placed under the authority of the Academy of Sciences, which on January 2, 1728, published the first issue of the Petersburg Gazette. The publication of special statements in Moscow resumed in 1756.

All numbers of the first lists 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 sets out the initial history of the Gazette, was published under the title: “First Russian Gazette, published in Moscow in 1703. New edition in two copies; stored in the Imperial Public Library ". This edition, dedicated to the Imperial Moscow University, on the day of celebrating the centenary since its foundation on January 12, 1855, was printed in an 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.

Print newspapers appeared several centuries ago and quickly gained popularity. The oldest appeared in the east. This "fashion" came to Russia from Europe. Some of the newspapers are quite unusual.

The oldest newspaper in the world

Newspapers can be said to be losing their popularity. The reader more and more often turns to the Internet for information, considering it more relevant. The newspaper, which is the oldest in the world, is now on the Internet.

We are talking about a newspaper with a circulation of one thousand copies published in Sweden, being founded by the queen in 1645. Its name is "Post-och Inrikes Tidningar", which means "Post and internal 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 hung out on a kind of "notice boards" in the busiest places, where everyone could read them.

Almost without changing its content, this old edition came out 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. The number of people wishing to purchase this newspaper became less and less, 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 the online release.

Despite the fact that "Mail and Internal 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 changed ownership today. Previously it was the Swedish Academy, now it is the Swedish Registrar of Companies. The newspaper's transition to the Internet can be called a cultural disaster.

The most old newspaper the printed edition "Capital Bulletin", which appeared in the eighth century in China, is also considered. To print these newspapers, hieroglyphs had to be cut out on boards, covered with ink, and then reprinted.

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

The oldest newspapers in Russia

Newspapers were originally written in Russia by hand, they were called "Messenger letters". They first appeared in 1613. Outwardly, these handwritten editions looked like long ribbons. Until now, such a copy has been preserved. It was written in 1621 and was called "Chimes". Handwritten versions were issued until the beginning of the eighteenth century, when, at the direction of Peter I, the printed version of the Vedomosti newspaper was published. This innovation was brought by him from Europe, and the first printed newspaper was published in 1702. The Tsar personally compiled the information. The name of the newspaper was changed, but the word "Vedomosti" was always present in it.

At first, the circulation was a thousand copies, the newspaper was half the size of a notebook sheet and was published irregularly. One such issue, published in January 1703, has been preserved to this day. 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 in 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

Although newspapers are in crisis, handwritten editions still exist. It's about the Musalman Daily newspaper. Every day, four calligraphers in Urdu write down its text and paste it on sheets of photograph, after which this sample is reproduced by means of a printing press.

The smallest newspaper is known - it is "Terra Nostra", published 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 disregard such a newspaper. Other periodicals are also surprising. For example, there are books that have sold for $ 1.243 million. The site has a site about the most expensive books.
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