Л.Н. Гумилев атындағы ЕҰУ Хабаршысы
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The first issue of the Gazette, dated 1801, was attached by the following announcement: Vologod
province board declares the sale of the house-serf men – 3 in number, women – 3 in number, Nikita
Vasilyev, 70 years old for 10 roubles, his wife Avdotya, 50 years old for 5 roubles, Gregory Ignatyev, aged
70 years for 3 roubles, his wife Avdotya, aged 60 years for 3 roubles, Gregory Maximov, aged 40 years for
30 roubles, his wife Avdotya, aged 30 years for 20 roubles. Those willing to buy are to arrive to the board
at the period fixed’. People were supposed to be sold along with the salted cucumbers.
We may conclude following the same newspaper, that the advertisements in the ‘Saint Petersburg
Gazette’ had been differentiated and initiated the advertisements reflecting the economic life development:
various bankruptcy announcements, bills payment penalty by creditors, and compulsory sale of the estates,
very often to cover the losses caused by the public property plundering. Private, every- day information
also filled the pages of the newspaper: ‘Worn lady’s head cap is sold, decorated with the wide gold galloon
and fringe; a camp-bed, arm-chairs with a sliding bed, and a very comfortable travel carriage. One can
make some enquiries on his way to the Horse Guards, in a brick house adjacent to the Tavrichesky Garden,
he should ask the people living above the cellar’.
‘The Moscow Gazette’ under the aegis of the Moscow University was first publishedin 1756. Its
structure and material placement were just like in the ‘Saint Petersburg Gazette’. The same can be said
about the advertisements. A famous enlightener N. Novikov activity influenced the changes in content
and decoration of that newspaper, who rented the Moscow University printing house and edited the ‘The
Moscow Gazette’ in the period since 1779 till 1789. His principal innovation was a detailed reference
section – a heading ‘About Russian Books’.
On a regular basis it included the advertisements of the University printing house editions; it also
mentioned the new books which were sold in the University Book Shop. In his special ‘Announcement’
the publisher advised his readers that besides information about new books ‘some idea of the book will be
always presented to make it easier for the readers to appreciate advantages of the book.
Inhis first satirical magazine ’Drone’ N. Novikov was parodying the advertising fashion initiated by
the ‘Saint Petersburg Gazette’. He tried to make play with the traditional headings such as ‘Contracts’,
‘Sales’, ‘Sightseeing’, ‘Books’, ‘Departing Persons’. He wrote: ‘An old coquette is going to hire twelve
young, handsome, and sufficient noblemen to fill the vacant positions of her sweethearts; volunteers are to
come to the place mentioned where they will be exposed to the employer’. And further ‘Ten pood of justice
are needed in a court department; those who‘d like to provide this service are to arrive there’ the satirist
advised under the heading: ‘Sales’: ‘A newly appointed governor of province is leaving for a new place of
appointment, not to be overloaded with his personal belongings he is selling his conscience, those who’d
like to buy it may find him in this town’.
The parody texts are presented, mainly to demonstrate the process of the deep penetration of the
advertisement genre in the Russian culture of the eighteenth century. The satirists have been trying to
make fun the most popular and wide spread phenomena of their epochs. We cannot doubt the popularity
of the advertisement genre at that epoch. The best reporters of that time didn’t consider it disgraceful to
comment advertisements. For example, N. Karamzin in the second issue of the ‘Europe Herald’, 1982,
was very much surprised with the advertisement placed in one of the capital’s publications. In his review,
titled ‘Strangeness’ he wrote: ‘A French tutor announced the opening day of a boarding school for Russian
noblemen not far from Paris, and he offered to teach them ‘everything necessary’, Russian language
included. Karamzin’s patriotic feelings were hurt: ‘I live in isolation and I don’t know how other people
evaluated this advertisement. It seems to me more funny than disappointing: for I ‘m sure our noblemen
will not be prone to take advantage of the benevolent offer of Mr. MM’s.
We may state that ‘Moscow Magazine’ and ‘Europe Herald’ belonging toKaramzin’s publications
didn’t pay any attention to the advertisements. Book references, short annotations, and detailed critical
evaluations were an exception. Information of the new published books was placed in every Russian
magazine; it was typical for the second half of the eighteenth century. ‘Monthly compositions for the use
and enjoyment of the service people’ initiated the process. Later they were accompanied by the detailed
advisements of the current theatrical performances and other sights. There we can state the first attempts
to found the specialized magazines: ‘Saint Petersburg Research Gazette’ (1977), and ‘Russian Theatre’
(1786).
However, specialized journalism development was typical for the next of the nineteenth century. The
tendency was anticipated by the edition of the I. Krilov’s and A. Klushin’s magazine ‘Saint Petersburg
Mercury’. The father – founders were the future fable writer and the man of letters. In addressing the
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