Liquidation of the Dostoevskys’ Book Business

A. G. Dostoevskaya planned to publish her husband’s works until the end of her life and hoped to transfer the book business to her children. This is evidenced by the entries in her testamentary notebook of 19020–1911, which contains detailed instructions on publishing issues for the heirs. In 19040–1906, on the 25th anniversary of her husband’s death, Anna Grigoryevna printed the sixth (jubilee) and seventh (cheaper) editions of the Complete works of Dostoevsky. However, the release of these books, the pinnacle in her publishing practice, coincided with tragic events in Russian history — the Russo-Japanese War and the First Russian Revolution, as a result of which A. G. Dostoevskaya had to end her 38-year publishing career. Based on unpublished archival materials of the publisher (notebooks, notebooks and correspondence), the article analyzes a set of reasons that contributed to this decision. At the beginning of the 20th century, A. G. Dostoevskaya and the writer’s children found themselves deeply in debt for a number of reasons: due to their lack of working capital after a deal with the publisher of the Niva magazine A. F. Marx in 18940–1896, the rise in price of paper and printing works, a change in reader interest from collections of works to political pamphlet publications and a decline in sales in the book market. The situation was aggravated by the discussion in the government regarding a reduction in the period of ownership of literary property by the heirs of famous authors, the deteriorating health of the publisher and the categorical demands of her daughter to sell literary rights and stop book-related activities. The rights to publish Dostoevsky’s works were sold in 1910 to the Enlightenment Association. Another stage of the traditional history of the great writer’s legacy has begun, but without the participation of his family