"A Textbook of Russian Literature" is a multi-volume literary anthology compiled and published by journalist, philologist, and translator Nikolai Grech. It appeared in four parts between 1819 and 1822, printed at the publisher's own press in St. Petersburg. It included selected specimens of Russian prose and poetry, together with a brief guide to rhetoric and poetics and an outline history of Russian literature.[2] In 2026, the third volume of the edition was discovered in the home library of Nizhny Novgorod antiquarian bookseller and writer Oleg Ryabov — and drew the attention of scholars as the source of the first publication of Alexander Pushkin's poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila".[1]

Contents and publication

The anthology was printed at the St. Petersburg press of Nikolai Grech. At the time, Grech was editing the journal Son otechestva ("Son of the Fatherland") and was a prominent figure in St. Petersburg literary life: artists and writers — including Karl Bryullov — gathered at his home on Thursdays.[2] The third volume, pivotal to the history of Pushkin scholarship, was cleared by the censor for printing in May 1820 — whereas the first standalone edition of "Ruslan and Lyudmila" as a separate book did not appear until August of that same year.[2] The Grech anthology thus contains the chronologically first printed publication of the poem.

The first publication of "Ruslan and Lyudmila"

The third volume of the anthology contains not the final canonical text of the poem but an earlier, still unfinished version. Notably, in this version the work bore a different title — "Lyudmila and Ruslan": the names of the main characters appeared in reverse order.[1] At the time the volume was published, Pushkin had just turned 21 and had not yet had a single book of his own in print — all his fame rested on verses circulating in manuscript copies and scattered journal publications.[2] For scholars, early textual variants are of independent scholarly interest: they make it possible to trace how the author refined the poem before its final publication.[2]

The Nizhny Novgorod discovery of 2026

About ten years ago, an unknown seller brought two of the four volumes — the second and third — to Oleg Ryabov's antiquarian bookshop. The seller said the books had come down to him from his grandfather; he promised to bring the remaining parts but never returned. Ryabov bought what was available, took the volumes home, and forgot about them for many years.[2] In 2026, having decided to get rid of the books, he happened to open the third volume and discovered in it the Pushkin publication.[1]

Of particular interest is the provenance of the copy. The title page of the volume bears an ownership stamp reading "KPV." Ryabov initially suggested that the book may have belonged to the poet and critic Pyotr Vyazemsky; however, after studying a collection of scholarly articles from the Smolensk Regional Library examining antique bookplates, it emerged that the same impression had been used in the 1820s–1840s by His Serene Highness Prince Pyotr Mikhaylovich Volkonsky — a field marshal, Chief of the General Staff from 1810 to 1823, and Minister of the Imperial Court and Appanages from 1826, one of the courtiers closest to both Alexander I and Nicholas I. Investigating the connections between Pushkin and Volkonsky, Ryabov established that in 1815 the sixteen-year-old Pushkin, at Tsarskoye Selo, had mistaken a lady-in-waiting of the Empress for a chambermaid — a woman who turned out to be the own sister of Pyotr Volkonsky; she complained to her brother, but Alexander I, to whom Volkonsky relayed the story, ordered the scandal to be hushed up — and in this way heard of the young poet's existence for the first time.[3] How the volume made its way from the St. Petersburg collection of the nobleman to Nizhny Novgorod has not yet been established.[2]

In Ryabov's estimation, several dozen similar copies may exist in Russia, yet the find remains of considerable value to Pushkin scholars and bibliophiles. Ryabov's paper on the discovered volume, delivered at a meeting of the "National Union of Bibliophiles," was received by those present with great enthusiasm.[3] The owner has made no public statement regarding the subsequent fate of the discovered volume.[1]

Sources

  1. Otkryty Nizhny — Oleg Ryabov's paper on the discovered volume generated great interest among participants at the meeting of the National Union of Bibliophiles. (archive)
  1. Newsroom24 — While researching the history of the copy, Ryabov also investigated possible connections between Pushkin and Volkonsky. No direct relationship between them could be found, though an indirect one did emerge (archive)
  1. Vremya N — Ryabov's paper on the discovered volume, delivered at a meeting of the "National Union of Bibliophiles," was received by those present with great enthusiasm. (archive)
  1. Govorit Nizhny — The found book is, of course, unique for today's times
  2. nnbiz.ru — Pushkin before Pushkin. A Nizhny Novgorod secondhand bookseller found the first publication of Ruslan and Lyudmila on his shelf — Biznes Nizhny