Monthly essays, for the benefit and amusement of employees. July-December 1755

Monthly essays, for the benefit and amusement of employees. July-December 1755
Saint Petersburg, Imperial Academy of Sciences, 582 p. Hardcover, size 12.5 x 19 cm. Seals, scuffed binding, title with a tear on the spine, inscriptions in walnut ink in the book, the loss of fragments of several pages. Pages 15-16, 251-254, 577-578 are completely lost. Rarity. R

"Monthly essays, for use and entertainment employees" (in 1758-1762 - "Works and translations for use and entertainment employees", since 1763 - "Monthly essays and news about scientific Affairs") — the first in Russia monthly popular scientific and literary magazine published by the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1755-1764. The magazine was printed in the printing house of the Academy of Sciences with a circulation of up to 2000 copies.

The predecessor of the journal was the literary Supplement to the "Saint Petersburg Vedomosti", the so-called "notes", which were published from 1728 until the "times of troubles" in the Academy of Sciences (1742). The publication of "Notes" was suggested by the academician and permanent Secretary G. F. Miller.

On November 22, 1754, Miller presented at a meeting of the Academy a proposal by the President of the Academy, count K. G. Razumovsky, to publish, starting in 1755, a "scientific periodical" in Russian on the model of previously published "Notes". Academicians unanimously recognized the usefulness of the proposed publication and decided that the journal should be monthly. It was also decided:

allow professional writers who are not academicians to collaborate in the journal; 

to exclude from the journal articles on theology and in General all "concerning to faith»;

do not publish " articles that are critical or that might offend someone."

At the meeting, Lomonosov suggested that magazine articles should be pre-censored at Academy meetings, which Trediakovsky objected to. In the proposal of Razumovsky Academy of December 12, 1754, such censorship was not mentioned, as the name of the magazine was proposed "St. Petersburg academic notes", the magazine was given "under the supervision" of Miller. The magazine was to be published in a large circulation of 2000 copies at that time and was intended for a wide range of readers:

from the higher Sciences, as from astronomical observations and calculations, from physics, which is explained by mathematical deductions, from anatomical notes, which cannot be understood without a perfect knowledge of anatomy itself, and nothing of the kind in the books mentioned above

Publication of the magazine ceased in 1764 due to Miller's departure to Moscow.

The magazine published original and translated works. The scientific section was attended by F. I. Soymonov, Prince M. M. Shcherbatov, P. I. Rychkov. The literary part is represented by the names of M. M. Kheraskov, A. A. Nartov, and A. A. Rzhevsky.

"Monthly works" in 1755 reflected the polemics of the leading poets of the era-M. V. Lomonosov, A. p. Sumarokov and V. K. Trediakovsky.

At that time, it was not customary to pay authors for publishing their works; the opportunity to see their works in print was considered a sufficient reward. Miller, however, already in 1756 ordered to issue to non-academic authors (Sumarokov, Elagin, Kheraskov, Nartov and Poroshin) a copy of the magazine in a good cover "to encourage these gentlemen to cooperate in the future".