"Vedomosti" - the newspaper of the Petrine era. Decree of Peter I on the creation of the first Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti The first issue of the Vedomosti newspaper

Under Peter the Great, a newspaper appeared in Russia

The idea of ​​publishing printed political bulletins for the public belongs to Peter the Great, who is considered the founder of the Russian newspaper. He was also the first editor of Vedomosti. Proof of this is the fact that he himself appointed passages from Dutch newspapers with a pencil for translation and insertion into them, even he himself was engaged in proofreading. As a precious monument, the Synodal Library stores several Nos. with proofreading notes by his sovereign hand.

On December 16, 1702, Emperor Peter the Great indicated “according to the statements about military and all kinds of affairs that are subject to the announcement of Moscow and the surrounding States to people, print chimes, and for printed chimes, statements in which Orders about what is now as it is and will continue to be sent from those Orders to the Monastyrsky order, without delay, and from the Monastic order to send those statements to the printing yard.

The desire of Peter the Great was not slow to come true: on January 2, 1703, the first sheet of printed Russian statements appeared in Moscow - the first Russian newspaper printed in Church Slavonic font. It came out under the following title: “Vedomosti, on military and other matters worthy of significance and memory, which happened in the Moscow State and in other surrounding countries”, Then during the year 39 issues appeared, published at indefinite dates, from 2 to 7 sheets , each number with a separate numbering, and sometimes no numbering at all.

In order to familiarize ourselves with the nature of the contents of the Petrine Gazette, we will abbreviate the first number of them.

Moscow Vedomosti

“Today, 400 copper cannons, howitzers and mortars have been poured in Moscow. Those cannons are 24, 18 and 12 pounds each; howitzers with a bomb pound and half a pound; bomb mortars of nine, three and two pounds and less. And many more forms of ready-made, large and medium-sized cannons, howitzers and mortars for casting. And copper now in the cannon yard, which is prepared for a new casting, is more than 40,000 pounds.

By command of His Majesty, Moscow schools are multiplying, and 45 people are studying philosophy and have already graduated from dialectics.

More than 300 people study in the mathematical navigation school and accept science well.

From Persia they write: the Indian king sent as gifts to our great sovereign an elephant and many other things. From the city of Shemakha he was released to Astrakhan by land.

They write from Kazan: a lot of oil and copper ore were found on the Soku River; copper was smelted fairly from that ore, which is why they expect no small profit for the Muscovite state.

They write from Siberia: in the Chinese state, the Jesuits were not much loved for their cunning, and some of them were even executed by death.

From Olonets they write: the city of Olonets, priest Ivan Okulov, having gathered hunters on foot with a thousand people, went abroad to the Svei border and defeated the Svei - Rugozen and Hippo, and Sumer, and Kerisur outposts. And at those outposts he beat a lot of Swedes ... and burned the Solovskaya manor, and near the Solovskaya manor many other manors and villages, with a thousand households, burned it ...

They write from Lvov on December 14: the Cossack forces by Lieutenant Colonel Samus are multiplying daily; having cut down the commandant in Nemirov, they took possession of the city with their military men, and already the intention is to get the White Church, and they hope that he will take possession of that town as soon as Paley joins with his army ...

The Oreshek Fortress is high, surrounded by deep water 40 miles away, firmly besieged by Moscow troops and already more than 4,000 shots from cannons, suddenly 20 shots each, and more than 1,500 bombs have already been thrown, but so far they have not caused a great loss, and they will have many more labors until they seize that fortress ...

On the 20th day of September, the cities write from Arkhangelsk that, as His Royal Majesty sent his troops in various ships to the White Sea, then he went further and sent packs of ships back to the Arkhangelsk city, and 15,000 soldiers are found there, and on the new fortress, on Dvinka betrothed, 600 people work daily.

As can be seen from the above sample, at that time the newspaper was printed without any system: there was no subdivision of the content of the newspaper into headings; there were no "leading articles", no "feuilletons", etc. The facts were recorded in the newspaper without any connection, they were not properly assessed by their significance. A major fact or event from public life was placed next to some small note.

Sheets were printed in the number of 1000 copies; after 1703 various changes were gradually introduced into them. From 1705, they began to place a number at the bottom of the first page of numbers indicating the order of publication; in 1710, the number of statements appeared for the first time, printed in civil type; from that year until 1717, the statements were printed either in Church Slavonic or in civil type; and since 1717, exclusively in one civilian font, except, however, for extraordinary additions that contained the reports of military operations, which were still typed in Church Slavonic letters.

On May 11, 1711, the first sheet of the Petersburg Gazette appeared, printed in St. Petersburg. From that time on, nos. of sheets were published sometimes in St. Petersburg, sometimes in Moscow.

In 1727, the publication of the Gazette ceased - their editorial board came under the jurisdiction of the Academy of Sciences, which on January 2, 1728 issued the first issue of the Petersburg Gazette. The publication of special statements in Moscow resumed in 1756.

All numbers of the first statements now represent the greatest bibliographic rarity: only 2 complete copies of them have survived in Russia, and both belong to the Imperial Public Library. In 1855, the authorities of the Imperial Public Library reprinted them not only page by page, but also line by line.

This reprint with a preface, which outlines the original history of the statements, was published under the title: “The first Russian statements printed in Moscow in 1703. New edition in two copies; kept in the Imperial Public Library. This edition, dedicated to the Imperial Moscow University, on the day of the celebration of the centenary since its founding on January 12, 1855, was printed in the amount of 600 copies, which were all sold out within 2 months, so that in our time this edition itself has become a bibliographic rarity.

12/16/1702 (12/29). – Peter I signed a decree on the publication of the first Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti

The birth of the Russian press

The title page of the Vedomosti set of 1704.

Discussion: 6 comments

    thanks for the info

    Sergey 2009-12-29

    In the left paw of the double-headed eagle is a sword. Who is it directed against? The left head of the eagle looks to the left, to the east. And the sword points to the east? Isn't this heraldic feature a PROOF of the existence of Gardariki, a country of cities, in the EAST?

    Sergey, you already decide where is the left and where is the right. The sword is in the left paw relative to the viewer. And for the Eagle, this is the right paw. East is always to the right of the viewer (as if he were looking at a classical map), that is, in this case, to the left for the eagle. They completely confused us, and, apparently, you yourself do not quite clearly understand what and with what they wanted to confirm.

    As fully convinced fan of fmous Chicherin understan why Peter 1 grsnted that hiAs prominent Family with roots tis electyin of Ts
    Mijail Romanov in 1611 after all events with the Paloogs.Shorty said dream som e day to visist coservef as restaaurated pearls done from Catherine la Grande y/or POTEMKI
    Wait certainly epoc-making word of President Putim becse little people,s buisiness is sall-mindeness.
    REGARDS SOFI JUNE 8 2017

    The newspaper "Vesti-Kuranty" ("message letters") began to appear constantly in Moscow in 1621, but some of its issues appeared as early as June 1600.
    The newspaper was published without a permanent name, but in the "Census Book of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich" (1676) it is called "chimes about all sorts of news." It is believed that the word "chimes" no later than 1649 began to designate columns with news, since this word was included in the name of several Dutch newspapers of the 17th century (in business writing, foreign newspapers are also called "printed news letters").
    Outwardly, the newspaper was a narrow sheets of glued paper, written in a column from top to bottom. Such columns of text were sometimes several meters long. That is why the editorial team was called "chimers".

    Dear President of Russia VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH PUTIN!
    I am writing to you about what happened here, in Russia, during your reign. Went TWENTIE YEAR as YOU are the PRESIDENT of RUSSIA.
    RUSSIA is the most Rich country in the WORLD - it owns more than 30% of all world reserves of natural resources. 75% of raw materials are sold abroad without processing.
    We have beggarly pensions because our salaries are HUGE. [...]
    Dear VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH, I ask YOU to think about what is happening here in Russia. How and on what our PEOPLE and PENSIONERS live. I really want to hope that YOU will stop PROMISING, but actually start doing something to improve the real life of people and pensioners in RUSSIA.
    Sincerely, V. LUTZINGER, Kaliningrad.
    [Administrator: Due to the large size, the text has been completely moved to the forum: ]

STATEMENTS- the first Russian printed newspaper, which began to be published on the initiative of Peter I in 1702. The original name of the newspaper is "Vedomosti about military and other matters worthy of knowledge and memory that happened in the Muscovite state and in other surrounding countries."

The emergence of the periodical press is an important phenomenon in the ideological life of Russia in the 18th century. Before Vedomosti, the Chimes newspaper was published in Russia, but it was handwritten, compiled in the Posolsky Prikaz, and was addressed only to the tsar and his entourage. Aleksey Mikhailovich (1645–1676) considered the delivery of “European news” to Muscovy to be a “great deed” and did not spare money for the “curators” - editors, translators, among whom were the most famous people of that time (for example, the German travel scientist Adam Olearius). The idea of ​​distributing a public publication - a printed newspaper created as an official state body - was close to Peter I. On December 16, 1702, he signed a decree, which, in particular, said: chimes…”, referring to the creation of an accessible newspaper, the issues of which would cost less and were intended for“ a nationwide announcement of military and political events.

The first issue of Vedomosti appeared on January 2, 1703. At first, newspaper issues were quite expensive (from 2 to 8 "money", i.e. from 1 to 4 kopecks, while 3 money was the monthly salary of a Vedomosti compositor ) and were small books the size of half a modern typewritten page. Subsequently, the volume of Vedomosti increased to 22 pages. The name of the newspaper was constantly changing (“Vedomosti Moskovskie”, “Rossiyskiye Vedomosti”, “Relations”, “Extracts”), as well as the circulation of this publication (from 300 copies). In 1703, 39 issues were already published with a circulation of 1000 copies. At first, the statements were printed in church type at the Moscow Printing Yard, then - after the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg - in civil type, in St. Petersburg (since 1710). From the same year, the first page of Vedomosti began to be decorated with engravings. It depicted a view of St. Petersburg with the Neva and the Peter and Paul Fortress, and above them - flying Mercury (Greek god of trade, patron of arts and crafts) with a pipe and a rod.

In the first place, Vedomosti published military news (from 1700 to 1721. Russia waged a tense Northern War with Sweden). "Reports" about successes were sent by commanding officials directly from military campaigns. Vedomosti includes many handwritten letters from Peter I and his associates. It also published information about "Russian commercial and industrial affairs", the construction of canals, the construction and opening of new manufactories, gunpowder and nitrate factories. After the transfer of the capital to St. Petersburg, a separate page of Vedomosti was devoted to information about the arriving ships, and the goods they brought were listed. Peter I considered it necessary to inform his subjects about the events of European life - in Holland, Germany, England, Italy, so Vedomosti often reprinted information from foreign newspapers. In form, these news from distant countries were the prototypes of the future reporter's chronicle and notes of "special correspondents."

Peter I took an active part in editing Vedomosti and preparing them for publication. He was also the author of many "relations", selected the material that should be published in the newspaper, corrected some articles with his own hand. The authors and editors were the prominent statesman F.A. Golovin, the first Russian journalists: the “reference officer” of the Moscow printing house and translator F. Polikarpov, the cabinet-secretary of Peter I A. Makarov, the directors of the St. Petersburg printing house M. Avramov (since 1711), I .Sinyavich (clerk of one of the orders, one of the first journalists in Russia, "reporter"), B. Volkov (since 1719), etc.

In the language of Vedomosti, the influence of folk, everyday speech is felt

In the mid-1710s, Peter I decided to start "Russian propaganda" in the West. To this end, he demanded that Prince A.B. Kurakin “send printed chimes to Europe”, promising “a legitimate amount of money to those who take up this matter.” However, this project stalled. “There were great noises in Europe, both judgment and condemnation.” After a series of such failures, Peter seemed to have lost interest in the press. The fate of Vedomosti was up in the air. They began to be published with a great delay, turning, according to B. Volkov, into "memories for historians." But Peter suddenly remembered the newspaper, "saw negligence", arranged a "sovereign suggestion" to the entire editorial board. After that, things turned around so that Vedomosti began to be published 3 times a week, and since then there have never been any failures with the release of the newspaper.

In 1727 Vedomosti was transferred to the Academy of Sciences. In the same year, Gerhard Friedrich Miller, a well-known historian and one of the founders of the Norman theory, became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. Therefore, the newspaper began to appear on German. But the expensive publication in German was not bought, therefore, from 1728, the successor to the newspaper was the St. Petersburg Vedomosti in Russian. Subscribers began to deliver this newspaper 2 times a week, according to the so-called. "post days". Since 1728, along with the new edition, which became the successor to the "Vedomosti" of the time of Peter the Great, an appendix began to appear - "Monthly historical, genealogical and geographical notes." In it, foreign words were explained to uneducated readers, scientific articles were published. Gradually, the application began to turn into a magazine, published together with the "St. Petersburg Vedomosti" 2 times a week.

In the second half of the 18th century M.V. Lomonosov collaborated with the newspaper, publishing an article in it “Discourse on the duties of journalists” - a kind of “moral and ethical code” of the pen workers of that time. According to Lomonosov, every journalist should be competent, modest, respectful of the opinions of others, knowing that "it's a shame to steal other people's thoughts."

If the publication of the first Vedomosti continued until 1727, then the publication of their successors, the Sankt Petersburg Vedomosti, lasted almost two centuries and was discontinued only in 1917.

Lev Pushkarev

Is "Day of the Russian Press" a historical inaccuracy?

By a decree of December 16, Peter I decided: “According to the statements about the military and all kinds of affairs, which are due to announce the Moscow and neighboring States to people, print chimes, and for the printing of those chimes, statements in which orders, which are now and will continue to be, send from those orders to the Monastic order without rewinding, and from the Monastery order those statements should be sent to the Printing Yard. And send about that to all orders from the Monastic order of memory.

One of the first copies of Vedomosti

In fact, according to researchers, the first issues of Vedomosti appeared as early as 1702, almost immediately after Peter's decree. However, these numbers are considered to be trial numbers, since they have been preserved only in the form of handwritten copies and were discovered relatively recently. The very first copy of the newspaper that has come down to us in printed form is dated January 2 (January 13, according to the new style).

Peter I, being a skilled politician and a talented strategist, began to publish his own newspaper at the right time. By 1702, Russian troops had already suffered a number of serious defeats in the Northern War. Narva, where the Russians left almost all their artillery and up to 7,000 dead, shook the faith of the people in a quick victory over the troops of Charles XII. Petrovsky Vedomosti, according to historians, was created precisely in order to convince society of the possibility of victory in the Northern War. This is also evidenced by the materials that were published in Vedomosti: for example, in the first December issues, successful military operations were reported, the capture of enemy artillery and the consent of the head of the Kalmyk horde to put 20 thousand of his soldiers at the disposal of Peter.


"Vedomosti" dated June 28, 1711

It is no coincidence that Vedomosti is usually called Peter's. This suggests not only that the newspaper appeared during the reign of Peter, but also that the future emperor personally participated in the creation of the newspaper. Some copies still keep traces of editing, which was done by Peter himself. He, as the researchers proved, often even provided texts for publication himself, sometimes forbade anything to be printed, and also found time to criticize some editions of the newspaper.

What did the country's first newspaper look like?

First of all, Vedomosti was an extremely unstable publication: there was no clear format, no set circulation, no strict periodicity of release, no fixed price, not even a single name (the newspaper could be called differently from issue to issue: there were also Vedomosti Moscow State”, and “Rossiyskiye Vedomosti”, and “Relations”, and “Essence from French Printed Newspapers”). Sometimes Vedomosti was even given out to the people for free. And even the spelling of letters changed in connection with the introduction of civil type by Peter in 1710. The volume of the newspaper different time ranged from 2 to 22 pages.


Report on the victory in the naval battle near the Gangut Peninsula, published in Vedomosti

The first Russian newspaper was a purely official publication, which is also evidenced by the fact that Vedomosti underwent preliminary (that is, even before publication) censorship. Basically, Petrovsky Vedomosti presented a chain of laconic messages from various places, and most of their materials were taken from foreign publications. The main genre in which the first Russian journalists- relation (report on incidents during the war). In the first years of its existence, Peter's associates published in the newspaper: B. Kurakin, P. Tolstoy, A. Dolgoruky and F. Golovin.


The Adventures of the French King in Vedomosti

Vedomosti was published with a circulation of 500 to 4,000 copies. Now these figures seem ridiculous, but for that time such a circulation was quite large. So, for example, the legendary "Contemporary" by Nekrasov, after almost a century and a half, came out with a circulation of 3,100 copies. However, by 1724 the circulation of Vedomosti had already become really small: one of the issues was published in the amount of 30 copies. This is probably due to the fact that the reader has not yet acquired a real habit of reading.


The first issue of "Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti" in Russian

With the death of Peter I, the history of Vedomosti did not end: in 1728, the publication was transferred to the Academy of Sciences, and the newspaper itself became known as Saint Petersburg Vedomosti. With this name, the newspaper existed until 1914, then, along with the renaming of the city, the name of the publication also changed: now the Petrogradskiye Vedomosti appeared before the reader. In October 1917, when the Bolsheviks came to power, the newspaper ceased to exist. The publication was resumed only in 1991: the modern version is the largest daily publication in the North-West region.

Predecessor of Petrovsky Vedomosti

By the way, it can be noted that in the Petrine decree there is not a word about the newspaper, it is only about some kind of "chimes". The thing is that in Muscovy, as in other European countries, the appearance of the first printed newspapers was preceded by handwritten editions that contained information about political and economic events. So in this regard, Vedomosti cannot be called the first edition, since Russian handwritten newspapers appeared around 1600, and they were called precisely “Courants” (from French Courant - current).


Handwritten Chimes for 1631

The Chimes, however, were least of all similar to a modern newspaper and even to Vedomosti. First of all, because they were in the nature of state secrets, and the dissemination of information that was in the Chimes was unacceptable. The first handwritten newspaper was compiled with the help of a number of informants who lived in European countries. The "chimes" were issued in a single copy and read to Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, sometimes the boyars were allowed to stand under the door and listen to what they read to the tsar.

D. ROKHLENKO, historian-archivist.

The first printed Petrine newspaper Vedomosti (at first Peter I called it chimes) today is of great interest not only as a kind of mirror of the country’s long-gone life, a source of information about historical events, economy, culture, life and language of the beginning of the 18th century. the newspaper left its mark on Russian society, which was formed in the course of the Petrine reforms. As N. A. Dobrolyubov noted, on the pages of Vedomosti, "for the first time, Russians saw a nationwide announcement of military and political events."

Science and life // Illustrations

Engraving by P. Gunst, made from a portrait of the young Peter I by the artist Kneller. 1697.

Title page of Vedomosti, 1704.

Printing House in Moscow. Engraving of the late 17th century.

The title page of Vedomosti, published in St. Petersburg, as evidenced by the engraving by A.F. Zubkov.

The first paragraph of the message about the victory of the Russian army near Poltava printed in cinnabar.

An example of a set made with ecclesiastical (left) and civil letters.

Print of a page of the civil alphabet with corrections of Peter I.

In a turbulent era, when "young Russia was maturing with the genius of Peter", one of the many innovations of the tsar-reformer was the publication of the first Russian printed newspaper. On December 16, 1702, Peter I signed a decree that contained only two, but weighty phrases: "The Great Sovereign indicated: according to the statements about the military and all sorts of affairs that are necessary for declaring Moscow and the surrounding States to people, print chimes, and for printing those chimes, statements, in which orders, about which there are now and will continue to be sent from those orders to the Monastic order without delay (without delay, without delay. - Note. D. R.), and from the Monastyrsky order, those statements should be sent to the Printing Yard. And about that send to all orders from the Monastic order of memory. "(Hereinafter, decrees and other documents, including excerpts from the Vedomosti newspaper, are quoted with the preservation of grammatical and other features of the originals.)

It follows from the decree that the collection of source materials for the newspaper is entrusted to the authorities central control Russia - orders. But a logical question arises: why does the decree speak about the printing of certain chimes, and not a newspaper? The explanation is simple: the word "newspaper" appeared in Russian much later. In 1809, the "Northern Post" began to be published - the official organ of the postal department of the Ministry of the Interior, in the subtitle of which for the first time was the word "newspaper".

In Muscovite Rus', even before Peter I, handwritten statements were drawn up in the Ambassadorial Order - they were often called "Chimes" at that time. Officials of the Posolsky Prikaz included in them translations of individual articles from foreign newspapers, information obtained from the reports of informants kept abroad (a kind of "special correspondents"), as well as from the censored private correspondence of foreigners living in Moscow with their relatives and friends. In essence, the chimes served as confidential diplomatic documents and were intended only for a narrow circle of readers - the king and his entourage. True, they could be called readers only conditionally: the handwritten text was read aloud to them by readers - from the clerks of the "tsar's Duma".

This name, "chimes", was used by Peter to refer to the new printed edition. However, from issue to issue, the name of the first newspaper changed, along with Vedomosti of the Moscow State, others were also used: Vedomosti Moskovskie, Rossiyskiye Vedomosti, Relations, Essence from French Printed Newspapers, and others. The set of "Vedomosti" for 1704 was accompanied by a general title that most fully reflected their content: "Vedomosti about military and other matters worthy of knowledge and memory that happened in the Muscovite state and in other surrounding countries."

The first issues of the newspaper appeared on December 16 and 17, 1702, but they survived only in the form of handwritten copies. The most complete set of Vedomosti, published in 1903 for the 200th anniversary of the newspaper, begins with the issue dated January 2, 1703. Since 1992, this date (January 13, according to the new style) has been celebrated as the Day of the Russian Press.

It is no coincidence that the decree on the publication of the newspaper dates back to 1702. The Northern War began unsuccessfully for Russia. Having suffered a defeat near Narva, the Russian army lost all artillery. And now, when Russia was exerting all its strength to repulse the troops of Charles XII, it was necessary to convince the people of the need to continue the war with the Swedes, to explain the significance of certain government measures, for example, the confiscation of bells from churches for pouring them into cannons. Finally, it was necessary to inform the population of the country that the factories were increasing the production of weapons and ammunition, that the tsar, in addition to the Russian troops, had support from the peoples of Russia ...

Very characteristic in this respect is the content of the issue of December 17, 1702. First of all, it reports on the solemn, after successful military operations, the entry of Peter I to Moscow, that the tsar "brought a large number of conquered Swedish altileries, which he took in Marienburg and Slyusenburg." Further, we are talking about the promise of the "great owner of Ayuki Pasha" to deliver 20 thousand of his armed soldiers, about the discovery of deposits of iron ore, sulfur, saltpeter, that is, materials necessary for further waging war with the Swedes.

The next issue (dated January 2, 1703) is sustained in the same spirit. He informs readers: "In Moscow, again, 400 copper cannons, howitzers and mortars have been poured ... And now there are 40,000 pounds of copper in the cannon yard, which is prepared for a new casting." Further, the chimes report on the development of natural resources, "from which the Muscovite state expects a considerable profit."

Any business that Peter started, he gave all the ardor of his soul. Here is a new brainchild - he called the newspaper "the most amiable organ." The tsar selected incoming material for it, marked with a pencil places for translation from foreign newspaper articles and, as can be seen from the surviving handwritten originals, often corrected the text with his own hand. Peter is not only an editor, but also one of the most active employees of the newspaper: he handed over for publication the news of hostilities, letters to the Senate, Tsarevich Alexei, Empress Catherine, and much more.

It is difficult even to imagine Peter's everyday busyness with many state affairs, and yet he found time not only to read Vedomosti, but also to note the editorial omissions. We learn about this, for example, from a letter from Count N. A. Musin-Pushkin, the head of the Monastic order (namely, Vedomosti was in his charge), to the director of the Moscow printing house Fyodor Polikarpov. The letter was sent on March 4, 1709 from Voronezh, where Peter at that time was following the progress of the construction of warships. “The chimes sent from you are objectionable,” Musin-Pushkin writes. “The Great Sovereign deigned to say, it’s not necessary to write “Relation”, but “Vedomosti”, write from which place they were sent. And you, having corrected it, print it and pass it on to the people ... And at the end it is necessary to write: printed in Moscow in the summer of March 1709 ... and not in the way you have printed.

Initially, Vedomosti was printed only in Moscow at the Printing House, and since 1711 - in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 1722, the publication of the newspaper was again transferred to Moscow. Here it was edited by Fedor Polikarpov, and since 1711 the St. Petersburg printing house was edited by the director of the St. Petersburg printing house Mikhail Avramov; in 1719 he was replaced by an employee of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, Boris Volkov. At that time, the editors of the newspaper (as, indeed, today) were engaged not only in creativity, but also in a mass of organizational affairs. This is evidenced by the correspondence of B. Volkov with the printing house. Curious is the letter in which he demands to expedite the release of the next issue, since the readers will not honor the belated issue for news, but for some kind of memorial for historians. Sounds quite modern. Among the arguments with which Volkov tried to influence the printing house was a reference to the sovereign’s opinion about Vedomosti: “These chimes are pleasing to His Imperial Majesty, who himself deigns to read them and collect them according to the weather, like a monarch who is all-curious in literature.” (In the 18th century, the word "curious" was used not only to mean "remarkable", "interesting", "rare", but also "inquisitive".)

Until 1710, Vedomosti was typed in ecclesiastical type. And suddenly, on January 29, 1710, a decree appears on the approval of the civil alphabet. Peter himself participated in its development - this is evidenced by his own handwritten corrections on the first prints of the civil alphabet.

The first set of the new font was cast in Holland, which is why it was sometimes called "Amsterdam". The civil font did not include some Greek letters that are unnecessary for the transmission of Russian speech. The lettering has been simplified, making it easier to type and, most importantly, read it. The first issue of Vedomosti, printed in civil type, came out on February 1, 1710. However, even after that, thinking about an illiterate reader who studied the hour book and the Psalter, the most important numbers were sometimes printed in both civil and church letters.

What did the first Russian newspaper look like? The format throughout the entire edition was the same - a twelfth of a printed sheet with very narrow margins (the area of ​​such a newspaper page is approximately one third larger than the page of the journal "Science and Life"). The design of Vedomosti was gradually improved. Depending on the place of publication, the title pages were decorated with engravings depicting either Moscow or St. Petersburg. Vignettes appeared, in some issues the first paragraphs of the most important messages were printed in cinnabar.

The newspaper was published irregularly. For example, in 1703 and 1704, 39 issues were issued, in 1705 - 46, in subsequent years the number of issues was sometimes reduced to several per year. The circulation also fluctuated: the record was the release of 4,000 copies (when Catherine gave birth to Peter's heir), more often it was 100-200 copies. There was no subscription to Vedomosti. The newspaper was usually sold at a price of 1-2 money, sometimes 3-4 money (a coin worth half a kopeck). But it was necessary to somehow attach ordinary people to reading the newspaper. And then, by order of Peter, they began to give rooms to taverns free of charge, and in order to encourage the first readers they were treated to tea there.

Consistently looking through the annual sets of Vedomosti, you see how the composition of published materials is gradually changing, they are becoming more diverse. In the initial period, the chimes were based on translations from foreign newspapers, mainly German and Dutch. At the same time, Vedomosti did not include any information that could cause any damage to the dignity of Russia, its army and allies from the translations received by the editorial office. This is evidenced by the notes on the surviving originals of Vedomosti: "Do not let this article into the people." The first newspaper and the first censorship!

The share of original materials is gradually growing. True, in most cases they were published anonymously, although it is known that among the authors of Vedomosti were associates of Peter I, prominent statesmen and diplomats: Fyodor Apraksin, Gavriil Golovkin, Vasily and Grigory Dolgoruky, Boris Kurakin, Pyotr Tolstoy, Pyotr Shafirov. Along with short reports, relatively large articles were published, up to 300 lines. Various literary genres were used - information, reviews, feuilletons and pamphlets.

What did Vedomosti write about? There were no thematic headings in the newspaper, so many issues are a motley mixture of a wide variety of information - from descriptions of a naval battle to advertising healing properties Olonets waters, "which are witnessed through many sick people ...". Nevertheless, in this information kaleidoscope, the main topics of the published materials can be distinguished. For almost twenty years, the events of the Northern War have been in the center of attention of the chimes. The newspaper reported on the victories of the Russian army and navy, on the fighting of the allies. To emphasize the importance of the event, they used the emerging opportunities of the then printing industry. So, the first paragraph of the message about the defeat of the Swedes near Poltava was highlighted - printed in vermilion.

Although Peter sometimes tried to hide military failures, however, Vedomosti constantly cited data on the losses of Russian troops. Here is just one example. In the report about the victory in the naval battle near the Gangut Peninsula on July 25-27, 1714, along with a register of captured Swedish ships and a report on the number of enemy officers, sailors and soldiers taken prisoner, it is indicated: "Our officers were beaten in that battle, as well as under ground officers and marine and ordinary soldiers and sailors 124, wounded 342".

But then the Northern War ended, the Treaty of Nystadt was signed, and Vedomosti, in its issue of September 12, 1721, informs its readers of the main result of the war: “The Swedish crown is forever yielding to us Livonia, Estland, Ingeria and a significant part of Karelia, with the cities of Riga, Revel, Narva, Pernov, Vyborg and Kexholm".

The first Russian newspaper covered extensively the development of industry and trade. In it, one can also find a general assessment of the economic situation in the country: "Merchant, manufacturing and all kinds of handicrafts are doing very well." And then there are concrete facts that speak of an increase in production and the development of new technologies: "there are 11 ships on the stocks in the Admiralty, including one that is expected to be launched this autumn." "Vedomosti" reported that at the foundry in St. Petersburg guns "in a new manner of different calibers of 20 pieces" were poured; that "in good order" silk, woolen and hosiery manufactories are developing, and "materials and minerals acquired in the state are very fairly produced." Readers could learn that in Moscow 200 people study manufacturing, and "the common people show a special desire for these sciences," and a saltpeter plant was built on the Akhtuba River, in the Kazan province. The newspaper reported on the completion of the construction of the Vyshnevolotsk Canal, which connected the Volga with the Baltic Sea, that " navy in 30 large merchant ships happily came to the River Thames", etc.

On their pages, Vedomosti wrote about the profound changes that were taking place in the field of education and the dissemination of civil literature, for example, that by order of the tsar the network of schools, including special ones, was expanding, that in Moscow "more than 300 a person accepts good science." In the 12th issue for 1710, a bibliographic review was published for the first time - "Register of new civil books, which, by decree of the Royal Majesty, were printed in the newly invented Amsterdam alphabet."

"Vedomosti" undoubtedly broadened the horizons of readers, introducing them to the life of European countries, popularizing geographical knowledge, systematically explaining geographical terms, and so on.

After the death of Peter I, his "most amiable organ" lasted less than two years. Gradually, the subject matter of published materials was narrowed, it was more and more limited to the description of official celebrations. The newspaper was published very rarely: in 1727 only four issues appeared. In the same year, the newspaper was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Academy of Sciences, and from 1728 to 1914 it was already published under the name "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti".