Books and Magazines — Vsemirnaya Illustratsiya Magazine — engravings

"Vsemirnaya Illustratsiya" (Russian: Всемирная иллюстрация, World Illustrated) was one of the most popular illustrated literary and artistic weekly magazines in the Russian Empire during the second half of the 19th century . The publication was issued in St. Petersburg from 1869 to 1898 by the publishing house of German Goppe.

The magazine was modeled on the first European illustrated weeklies: Britain's The Illustrated London News (since 1842), Germany's Die Gartenlaube (since 1853), and France's Le Monde Illustré (since 1857) . It was aimed at the mass reader and served as an illustrated chronicle of contemporary life . By 1878, its circulation reached 11,000 copies, a very high figure for that time.

The editorial office was located in St. Petersburg at 22 Sadovaya Street, while printing was done at Eduard Goppe's Printing House of the Imperial St. Petersburg Theaters on Voznesensky Prospekt . In Moscow, the office was situated on Kuznetsky Most at A. Lang's bookstore.

According to the publisher's vision, the main volume of the magazine was devoted to black-and-white engraved illustrations, which were meant to reflect the course of political and social life in Russia and major events abroad. To achieve high-quality engravings, Goppe commissioned works from the best Russian engravers but had the printing done in Paris.

In the early years, text played an auxiliary role, serving merely to explain the illustrations. Later, fiction was introduced, and in 1889 the literary section was spun off into a separate publication — the biweekly magazine "Trud" (Labor).

The pages of "Vsemirnaya Illustratsiya" featured:

City views and architectural sketches

Reproductions of paintings by famous artists

Illustrations of historical and current events

Biographies of prominent cultural figures

Articles on archaeology, local studies, natural history, geography, ethnography, sports, and pedagogy 

The magazine collaborated with many outstanding figures of Russian literature and art :

Writers and poets: Anton Chekhov, Vikenty Veresayev, Konstantin Sluchevsky, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Yakov Polonsky, Vera Zhelikhovskaya, Anatoly Leman, Apollon Korinfsky.

Literary section editors over the years included: Dmitry Averkiyev (1869–1871), Konstantin Sluchevsky (1871–1875), Vasily Popov (1875–1885), Anatoly Leman (1885–1887), and Pyotr Bykov (1891–1898) .

Illustrators: Ivan Aivazovsky, Alexey Bogolyubov, Apollinary Vasnetsov, Vasily Surikov, Ivan Shishkin, Lev Lagorio, Nikolai Karazin, Gustav Broling, Alexander Beggrov, Nikolai Roerich, Abram Arkhipov . More than fifty Russian artists worked for the journal.

Engravers: L.M. Seryakov (to whom the publication owes much of its success), I.I. Matyushin, A. Zubchaninov, E. Dammüller, B. Braune, A. Daugel, K. Weymarn, Yu. Baranovsky, G. Diamantovsky.

Illustration department was managed by: L.E. Dmitriev-Kavkazsky (1885–1887), followed by K.O. Brozh (from 1887).

The magazine also featured work by prominent photographers Alfred Fedetsky and Karl Fischer, while its chess section (the largest in the Russian press) was edited by Ilya Shumov and later Mikhail Chigorin .

Special Issues and Supplements
Many outstanding events prompted the publication of special supplements, which are now bibliographic rarities :

"Album for the 200th Jubilee of Peter the Great" (1872, text by P.N. Petrov and S.N. Shubinsky)

"Album of Russian Fairy Tales and Bylinas" (1875, text by P.N. Petrov)

"Illustrated Chronicle of the War" (1877–1878) — covering the Russo-Turkish War

"The All-Russian Arts and Industry Exhibition in Moscow" (1882)

"Imperial Weddings from Mikhail Fyodorovich to Alexander II" (1883) 

In 1892, a "Systematic Index of Illustrations Published in Volumes I–XI (1869–1888) of 'Vsemirnaya Illustratsiya' and Its Supplements" was issued, compiled by A. Alexandrov.

Significance
"Vsemirnaya Illustratsiya" was a predecessor of modern illustrated and popular science magazines . The publication played an important role in educating the emerging middle-class readership, introducing them to events in Russia and the world through high-quality illustrations and accessible texts.

After German Goppe's death in 1885, the publication passed to his widow A.P. Goppe, with E.D. Goppe listed as editor . The magazine ceased publication in 1898.