The directory «Plots»

Novikov (Новиков) Nikolay Ivanovich
(1744—1818)
«Children reading for heart and mind»
«Детское чтение для сердца и разума»

Nikolay Novikov was a Russian writer and philanthropist most representative of his country's Enlightenment. Frequently considered to be the first Russian journalist, he aimed at advancing the cultural and educational level of the Russian public.

Novikov belonged to the first generation of Russians that benefited from the creation of the Moscow University in 1755. He took an active part in the Legislative Assembly of 1767, which sought to produce a new code of laws. Inspired by this kind of freethinking activity, he took over editing the Moscow Gazette and launched satirical journals, patterned after The Tatler and The Spectator. His attacks on the existing social customs prompted jocund retorts from Catherine the Great, who even set her own journal called Vsyakaya vsyachina to comment on Novikov's articles.

By the 1780s, Novikov rose to the highest positions in Russian Freemasonry, which liberally funded his ambitious book-publishing ventures. Novikov's press produced a third part of contemporary Russian books and several newspapers. Novikov used his influence for various noble purposes, such as a large-scale project of promoting Shakespeare to Russian public.

He published first children magazine in Russia Children reading for heart and mind.

USSR, 1972, Nikolay Novikov

Russia, 1994, 250th Birth Anniv of Nikolay Novikov

Russia, 2012, Nikolay Novikov