On 24 September 2026, the Yasnaya Polyana Gallery will open the exhibition “Sytin Is Printing…” The exhibition commemorates the 175th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Sytin (1851–1934), one of the largest publishers and leading figures in popular education in pre-revolutionary Russia. The exhibition project has been prepared by the N. A. Ostrovsky State Museum and Cultural Centre “Integration” (Moscow) in cooperation with the Yasnaya Polyana Estate Museum.
The exhibition tells the story of the partnership between two great contemporaries: Leo Tolstoy, who sought ways to promote education among the people, and Ivan Sytin, who built Russia’s publishing empire and succeeded in making the ideals of enlightenment part of everyday life. From 1884, Ivan Dmitrievich took responsibility for publishing books issued by Posrednik (“The Intermediary”), founded with the support of Lev Nikolaevich to produce affordable books for a broad readership. Their collaboration became an example of how entrepreneurship, social mission, and humanism can come together in pursuit of a common goal.
The exhibition will feature more than 70 original objects. It is divided into three thematic sections: “L. N. Tolstoy and I. D. Sytin,” “The Life and Personality of I. D. Sytin,” and “Publications of the I. D. Sytin Partnership.”
The first section, devoted to the history of the writer’s relationship with the publisher, will feature letters, drafts, prefaces to the posthumous collected works of Tolstoy, and readers’ responses. These materials illustrate how the publishing partnership between the two contemporaries developed and the significance that the widespread availability of the writer’s works held for society.
The second section will explore the publisher’s life and personality through photographs, documents, and commemorative materials. Visitors will see family and professional photographs, a membership card for the Merchants’ Assembly, a 1919 travel certificate issued by the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, as well as invitations and congratulatory addresses. These exhibits reveal the person behind the vast publishing empire — a professional whose work was closely connected with the social and educational concerns of his time.
The exhibition’s largest section will introduce visitors to the remarkable variety of publications produced by the publishing house. It includes popular lubok literature, works by Russian and foreign classics, children’s books, encyclopaedias, textbooks, calendars, and periodicals, including the magazines Around the World and Mirok. Visitors will be able to appreciate the breadth of the Sytin Partnership’s publishing programme and see how its activities contributed to the development of a mass reading culture in Russia.
The exhibition invites visitors to view the history of publishing not simply as a history of books and print runs, but as the history of a great educational ideal. The dialogue between Tolstoy and Sytin demonstrates how access to knowledge can emerge from the collaboration of literature, entrepreneurship, and a sense of responsibility to society.
The exhibition tells the story of the partnership between two great contemporaries: Leo Tolstoy, who sought ways to promote education among the people, and Ivan Sytin, who built Russia’s publishing empire and succeeded in making the ideals of enlightenment part of everyday life. From 1884, Ivan Dmitrievich took responsibility for publishing books issued by Posrednik (“The Intermediary”), founded with the support of Lev Nikolaevich to produce affordable books for a broad readership. Their collaboration became an example of how entrepreneurship, social mission, and humanism can come together in pursuit of a common goal.
The exhibition will feature more than 70 original objects. It is divided into three thematic sections: “L. N. Tolstoy and I. D. Sytin,” “The Life and Personality of I. D. Sytin,” and “Publications of the I. D. Sytin Partnership.”
The first section, devoted to the history of the writer’s relationship with the publisher, will feature letters, drafts, prefaces to the posthumous collected works of Tolstoy, and readers’ responses. These materials illustrate how the publishing partnership between the two contemporaries developed and the significance that the widespread availability of the writer’s works held for society.
The second section will explore the publisher’s life and personality through photographs, documents, and commemorative materials. Visitors will see family and professional photographs, a membership card for the Merchants’ Assembly, a 1919 travel certificate issued by the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, as well as invitations and congratulatory addresses. These exhibits reveal the person behind the vast publishing empire — a professional whose work was closely connected with the social and educational concerns of his time.
The exhibition’s largest section will introduce visitors to the remarkable variety of publications produced by the publishing house. It includes popular lubok literature, works by Russian and foreign classics, children’s books, encyclopaedias, textbooks, calendars, and periodicals, including the magazines Around the World and Mirok. Visitors will be able to appreciate the breadth of the Sytin Partnership’s publishing programme and see how its activities contributed to the development of a mass reading culture in Russia.
The exhibition invites visitors to view the history of publishing not simply as a history of books and print runs, but as the history of a great educational ideal. The dialogue between Tolstoy and Sytin demonstrates how access to knowledge can emerge from the collaboration of literature, entrepreneurship, and a sense of responsibility to society.
Posted : 17 september 2026