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ЭНЦИКЛОПЕДИЧЕСКІЙ ЛЕКСИКОНЪ. Т. 1. А - АЛМ

Bibliographic Description

Энциклопедическій лексиконъ. Т. 1. А - Алм. – С.-Петербургъ : Типография А. Плюшара, 1835.

Publisher
Типография А. Плюшара
Year of publication
1835
Classification index (UDC)
—
Language
Russian
Publication type
Book
Country of Publication
—
Access
Available only in the reading room

Description

Encyclopedic Lexicon. [In 17 volumes]. A.A. Pliushar's Encyclopedic Lexicon was the first attempt at a major encyclopedia in Russia. Its publisher, editors and authors set themselves the goal of instilling in Russian readers a taste and respect for science. In the 1820s and early 1830s, national encyclopedias were appearing in the most developed countries of Europe and America. This became a general tendency in the development of advanced states, in which science was acquiring a central role in the life of society, answering the vital interests of ordinary people and finding ever more application in everyday life. The creators of the first Russian encyclopedia considered their work the most important monument to the scholarly activity of the Russian intellectual community of the 1830s. The publication presents an enormous volume of information relevant to Russian society of that time - new concepts and inventions, articles on scientific achievements and discoveries. On the whole the Lexicon became a reflection of the way people of that era thought. The idea that an encyclopedia is a mirror of the society that creates it, expressing its needs and spirit, became central for the creators of the "Lexicon." This is precisely why every state needs an encyclopedia of its own. The "Encyclopedic Lexicon" was an independent and original work, although it had many European models. Initially the role of editor-in-chief of the Lexicon was given to N.I. Grech. The leading scholars and writers of Russia were recruited to compile the encyclopedia. Among them were the medical academician G.P. Bongard, the military historian N.S. Golitsyn, the orientalist academician Ya.I. Schmidt, the professor of general history I.P. Shulgin, the philologist academician D.I. Yazykov, and other prominent scholars of the era. Alexander Pushkin too was invited to be among the authors. The young Vladimir Dal, who wrote articles on the Orenburg region, also took part in compiling the Encyclopedic Lexicon. The authors of the Russian Lexicon set themselves the main task of providing full and accurate information about every aspect of life in the Russian Empire. The articles devoted to geography, history, literature, economics, politics and all other spheres of life in the Russian Empire were entirely original. In their effort to reflect every aspect of Russian reality, the creators of the encyclopedia asked for readers' assistance. In this way they sought to draw the entire active part of educated Russian society into the creation of the encyclopedia. One of the important differences between the Russian Lexicon and its Western counterparts was that many of its articles were more expansive and detailed. This was because Russian scholarly literature of that time was considerably poorer than its European counterpart. It was not possible simply to refer to a number of books and articles; everything had to be described in detail within the encyclopedia article itself. Often these were the first publications of information about the country. In this way the authors of the encyclopedia sought to make up for the lack of research on particular questions. It presents detailed articles on Russian history, geography and economics. In the descriptions of large regions, individual localities and provincial towns, use was made of information from local chronicles and all-Russian compendiums, archival documents, and fresh statistical data current at the time the encyclopedia was published. The Lexicon includes biographical information on a whole galaxy of Russian and European historical figures - writers, scholars, political and military leaders - who in time were forgotten by posterity. The material on them ceased to be relevant and was not included in subsequent encyclopedias.

Machine translation, not reviewed by the editors