The Suvorin Dynasty
The exhibition is devoted to the work of prominent journalists and publishers from the Suvorin family: owner of magazines “Novoye Vremya” and “Istorichesky Vestnik”, publisher of works of Russian and foreign writers. The exhibition is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the death of Alexey Suvorin and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alexey Suvorin.
The exhibition is devoted to the work of prominent journalists and publishers from the Suvorin family: owner of the magazines “Novoye Vremya” and “Istorichesky Vestnik”, publisher of works of Russian and foreign writers and nonfiction Alexey Sergeyevich (1834-1912) and his sons Mikhail Alexeyevich (1860-1936), Alexey Alexeyevich (1862-1937) - publisher of newspaper “Rus” - and Boris Alexeyevich (1879-1940), who published newspaper “Vremya” in Moscow and “Vecherneye Vremya” in St. Petersburg. The exhibition was opened in the premises of the Museum of Printing, where the editor’s office of newspaper “Rus” of Alexey Suvorin was located from 1905 to 1908.
It is hard to overestimate the merit of Alexey Suvorin as a publisher. The exhibition shows samples of books, reference books and newspapers printed by the publishing house “Novoye vremya”. Alexey Suvorin made a great contribution to education and to the enlightenment of the people in general, printing necessary but not very profitable book production: textbooks for classical high schools, all kinds of guides and manuals, as well as a series “Deshovaya biblioteka” (“Cheap Library”).
In February 1903 Alexey Alexeyevich Suvorin purchased the rights to publish his newspaper, “Glasnost” from publisher Alexander Pyatkovsky and at the same time he turned to the General Directorate for Press with a request to allow changing the title of the newspaper from “Glasnost” to “Rus”. In 1905 Alexey Alexeyevich Suvorin bought a house on the bank of Moika (№ 32), where a typographical wing was built at his request.
Publishing house “Novoye vremya” also published the newspaper “Vecherneye vremya” (from 1911 to 1917.). It was edited by the younger son of Alexey Sergeyevich Suvorin - Boris. The exhibition presents the issues of this newspaper from 1917.
In 1895 Alexey Sergeyevich Suvorin has created a literary and artistic society and then the Maly Theatre 65 Fontanka. This theatre staged plays of Alexander Ostrovsky, Nikolai Gogol and Alexey Tolstoy. Posters and programs of the Maly Theatre from the collection of the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg are displayed at the exhibition.
In 1909 Alexey Suvorin was found to have throat cancer and after the surgery he lost his voice, so his last few months he wrote pencil notes on scraps of paper. Dozens of such notes are kept in the department of manuscripts IRLI (Pushkin House), RAS. Copies of these notes can be seen at the exhibition.
Alexey Suvorin was buried at St. Nicholas cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. Copies of photos of the funeral of Alexey Suvorin from the collections of the Central State Archive of Cinema, Photographic and Phonographic Documents in St. Petersburg are on display for the first time. A bust from his grave, which is kept at the State Museum of Urban Sculpture, is displayed at the exhibition.
Admission to the exhibition with a general ticket to the Museum of Printing.