Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin (Russian:Ива́н Дми́триевич Сы́тин; 5 February 1851 – 23 November 1934) was a publisher in the Russian Empire. The son of aSoligalich peasant, he built the largest publishing house in theRussian Empire.
Sytin went from his village toMoscow at the age of 13 and opened his own book shop in 1883. He made a fortune through printing millions ofalmanac-typecalendars containing miscellaneous practical information. They were cheap and attractively illustrated.
This venture was followed by the very cheap editions ofPushkin's,Gogol's andTolstoy's works. After theirauthors' rights expired, Sytin compressed their entire works into one volume that cost as little as 90kopecks. He was the first publisher to reach the peasants all over Russia and to shape popular taste in the entire country.[1]
Maxim Gorky called Sytin the de facto "minister of people's education" whose calendars and leaflets "cut down at least by half the number of relapses intoilliteracy".[2]
Leo Tolstoy proposed to edit "a cheap, simplified series that would reflect his moral teachings and not be copyrighted".[3]
Between 1887 and 1916, Sytin's printing house inZamoskvorechye brought out more than 400primers and textbooks. He later expanded into the publication of popularencyclopaedias such asThe Military Encyclopaedia in eighteen volumes,The Encyclopaedia for Children in ten volumes, and theNapoleonic Wars encyclopaedia in seven volumes.
By the early 20th century, Sytin dominated the publishing industry in theRussian Empire. It was he who revived theVokrug sveta geographic magazine (still published today). He commissioned numerous translations of adventure fiction by such authors asJules Verne andH. G. Wells.Russkoye Slovo, an obscure conservative newspaper, was transformed by Sytin into Russia's most popular (and cheapest) daily; its circulation surpassed one million copies in 1917.[4]
After theRussian Revolution, Sytin's printing house wasnationalized but he decided against emigrating and died in obscurity in his small flat onTverskaya Street at the age of 83. This apartment has been designated a national museum since 1989.[5]
In 1990,McGill-Queen's University Press published a study by Charles A. Ruud,Russian Entrepreneur: Publisher Ivan Sytin of Moscow, 1851-1934.[6]
