From Economy of the Word to Economy of the Image. Distribution of Illustrated Historical Publications in the First Half of the 19th Century

The article focuses on several richly illustrated Russian history publications that appeared in the first half of the 19th century. These publications are considered as new for their time and a mixed product of verbal and visual economics. Several observations and assumptions are proposed regarding the specifics of Russian production and the market of illustrated historical publications. It is also demonstrated how signs of “conservative” and “liberal” culture in one publishing project can be revealed and combined in different ways depending on how it is interpreted — from an economic, ideological, aesthetic, verbal, or visual standpoint. Particular attention is paid to Nikolai Polevoy’s once popular book The History of the Prince of Italy, Count Suvorov-Rymnik, The Generalissimo of the Russian Troops (1843), which was illustrated with 100 wood-engraved drawings by Taras Shevchenko, Alexander Kotzebue, and Rudolf Zhukovsky. The author of the article claims that this book represents the closest analog, in Russia of the first half of the 19th century, to the famous books in Europe The Stories of Napoleon (1839) by Paul-Mathieu Laurent and The Stories of Fredrich the Great (1840) by Franz Kugler, each of which contains 500 woodcuts based on drawings by Horace Vernet and Adolph Menzel. It can be said that Polevoy’s History of Suvorov establishes a connection between the innovative aesthetics of engraved illustrations, popularizing narrative that is impacted by democratic ideology, and the specifics of the entire publishing project as an outstanding product of the modern liberal visual and verbal economy, the success of which is confirmed by market demand.

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