Collection "Book. Research and Materials" and the Study of the Reading History in 1959–1991 in Russia. Part 2

The second part of the article concludes the analysis of the publications from “Book. Research and Materials” (published in 1959–1991, collections 1–63), devoted to both an “external” and “internal” history of reading. It examines the publications that reveal the history of individual reader biographies and reading practices of prominent figures, as well as materials related to the history of publishing houses, periodicals and individual works with references to information and facts about readership, circulation and cost. Attention to the scholarly legacy of Soviet book study researchers has heuristic value. Their research has brought unique sources related to the activities of Russian Imperial publishing houses – both progressive and ideological (to a greater extent) and commercial (to a lesser one) – into scholarly circulation. Methods for working with documentary heritage have been developed, facilitating the reconstruction of individual readers’ biographies. Studies of the reading practices of prominent political figures have expanded the range of individuals to include those who were tacitly banned in the 1960s and 1970s. We use the unconventional term “practices of reading (readers’ practices) in book studies to characterize the methods and quality of reading, techniques for working with books, and to describe the development of personal libraries, the organization of collections, and the design of printed materials. The results of the research can be used in the future, as the history of reading is a promising direction that allows a comprehensive study of the communicative essence of the book and its role in the history of culture.

1. Askarova VYa (2021) Reading practices. Chtenie: entsikl. slov. Moscow, pp. 181–182. (In Russ.).

2. Berkov PN (1963) Personal libraries of three Russian writers (Lomonosov, Pushkin, M. Gorky). Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy. Moscow, bk. 8, pp. 349–376. (In Russ.).

3. Reitblat AI (соmр.) (2015) Meetings of the methodological seminar of the Book and Reading Sector of the Scientific Research Department of the Lenin State Library of the USSR. Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie 2: 156–160. (In Russ.).

4. Korolenko VG (1967) Editorial letters, publ. By A. P. Tolstyakov. Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy. Moscow, bk. 14, pp. 73–103. (In Russ.).

5. Kuznetsova EA and Zinovyeva EV (2020) Psychological aspects of identifying and studying digital opinion leaders. Mir nauki. Pedagogika i psikhologiya 8 (5). (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15862/97PSMN520

6. Lesokhina EI (1969) In the library of the Decembrist Nikita Muravyov. Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy. Moscow, bk. 18, pp. 210–217. (In Russ.).

7. Lyublinskii VS (1972) Voltaire's library (historical essay). Kniga v istorii chelovecheskogo obshchestva: sb. izbr. knigovedch. rabot, by V. S. Lyublinskii. Moscow, pp. 265–321. (In Russ.).

8. Metelkov AS (2024) Alternative book publishing in Russia: from a Lubok to a Zine. Kniga. Chtenie. Mediasreda 2 (4): 255–266. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.20913/BRM-2-4-1

9. Moreva OV (2024) Books in the Urals in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century: distribution and reading. Novosibirsk: GPNTB SO RAN. (In Russ.).

10. Myl'nikov AS (1983) To the beginning of the publication of the “Corpus of Voltaire's marginal notes”. Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy. Moscow, bk. 46, pp. 189–193. (In Russ.).

11. Myl'nikov AS (1964) The cultural and historical significance of the handwritten book during the development of printing. Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy. Moscow, bk. 9, pp. 37–53. (In Russ.).

12. Ovchinnikova OA and Moreva OV (2025) The reading practices of Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov (1870–1922). Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo instituta kul'tury 2: 179–183. (In Russ.).

13. Sapunov BV (1971) From the history of international book relations in Muscovite Rus of the 16th–17th centuries. Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy. Moscow, bk. 22, pp. 105–126. (In Russ.).

14. Elyashevich DA and Mutyev VA (2025) N. M. Sikorsky, A. I. Barsuk, I. E. Barenbaum and the evolvement of Russian theoretical book studies in the late Soviet period. Bibliosphere 1: 7–18. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.20913/1815-3186-2025-1-7-18

15. Etkind AM (2013) Internal colonization. Russia's imperial experience. Moscow: Novoe lit. obozrenie. (In Russ.).

16. Yarantsev VN (2024) Ownership book inserts in the personal library system of E. S. Shurygin, intellectual of the sixties. Kniga. Chtenie. Mediasreda 2 (2): 92–99. (In Russ.). DOI: https://doi.org/10.20913/BRM-2-2-2

17. Darnton R (1986) First steps toward a history of reading. Australian Journal of French Studies 23 (1): 5–30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/AJFS.1986.2

18. Rebecchini D and Vassena R (eds) (2020) Reading Russia. A history of reading in modern Russia. In 3 vols. Vol. 1. Milano: Ledizioni. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5101609

19. Towheed S, Crone R and Halsey K (eds) (2011) The history of reading: a reader. London, New York: Routledge.