The Genesis of Mediaencyclopedism in Russia (First Half of the 19th Century)

In this article we examine the causes and conditions of appearance of a new type of a magazine, an encyclopedic
magazine, in Russia in the 20s of the 19th century. Russia’s policy aimed at keeping up with the developed countries of
Europe demanded solving the problem of education of the nation, which alongside with traditional system of education
in our country was aided by the spread of books for members of the upper class in the 18th century, and by the spread
of magazines for the middle class in the 19th century. Necessity of the diff erent levels of information to the diff erent
groups of the literate Russian population stipulated not only a variety of forms of the encyclopedic magazines, but
also determined the time of their demand on the media market. For example, the classic encyclopedic magazine found
its subscriber, a representative of the intelligentsia not belonging to the nobility, upon its fi rst issue in 1825, and an
illustrated weekly magazine, which was started to be issued in Russia in 1835, was aimed at the reader of a lower level
of education and therefore found popularity only in the end of the 19th century. The author believes that in spite of the
fact that the Russian encyclopedic magazine is the result of adaptation of European and, above all, French, experience
of issuing encyclopedic magazines to the domestic journalism realities, in Russia it played a diff erent role than its
Western prototype, becoming not only and not so much a medium for encyclopedic knowledge, but also a catalyst for
the educational evolution in Russia, which contributed to the activation of the country’s transition to a new stage of
development.