The famous book series “The Life of Remarkable People” was founded in 1890 by the famous publisher and educator Florenty Fedorovich Pavlenkov (1839-1900), who planned to publish 200 biographies of outstanding people of all times and peoples.

F. Pavlenkov carefully selected "heroes" for his books, paying special attention to the importance and role that this person played in the history of society. F. Pavlenkov began his series with the publication of a book about the founder of the Jesuit order, Ignatius Loyola.

Published from 1890 to 1915, the 200-volume ZhZL library has withstood 40 pre-revolutionary re-editions with a total circulation of about 1.5 million copies. Until 1915, the editions of the series were published in small books, accessible to the general reader, at a price of 5 kopecks.

In 1916, Maxim Gorky decided to continue the biographical series of F. Pavlenkov. He intended to involve famous Russian and foreign writers, scientists and public figures in writing biographies. However, the events of 1917 and the Civil War prevented this plan from being implemented. And only in 1933 the book series was renewed. By the beginning of the year, four manuscripts had been prepared and submitted for editing. The publisher announced to the readers about the subscription to this series both monthly and for the whole year (24 issues).

In those years, the series was published by the Journal and Newspaper Association. The editorial board of the series included M. Gorky, S. Vavilov, I. Grabar, A. Lunacharsky, A. Tikhonov, A. Frumkin, O. Schmidt and others. The covers of the first issues were designed by artist P. Alyakrinsky. Each of them bore the inscription “Life of Remarkable People” and a portrait of the “hero” of the book. The first book of the new series was a monograph in two volumes by Alexander Deutsch "Heinrich Heine".

In 1938, the Journal-Newspaper Association was reformed, and the biographical series “ZhZL” was transferred, in accordance with M. Gorky's wishes, to the publishing house “Molodaya Gvardiya”, the central youth publishing house of the country. Since then, this publication has never been interrupted again, even during the Great Patriotic War.

In 1943, a biographical series began to appear under the title "Great People of the Russian People" (14 issues). From 1944 to 1945 the series was called The Great Russian People (28 books were published). Since 1945, the biographical series has been re-published under its old name "The Life of Remarkable People".

In 1962, a cover project appeared with a portrait of the "hero" of the book and an image of a torch, made according to a drawing by the artist Y. Arndt.

During the existence of "ZhZL" 1170 volumes have been published with a total circulation of more than 200 million - including translations into other languages. In some years, several books were published: three books were published in 1946, 1948, 1952 and 1953, 25 books were published in 1959, in 1960 - 30, in 1962 - 26, in 1965 - 32, in 1968 year - 28. In the 1970-1980s, on average, 14-18 books were published annually.

After the collapse of the USSR, the publication of the books in the series dropped sharply. In 1992, two books were published, in 1994 - one.

In recent years, the annual release of the ZhZL series has been 20-30 biographical books, and the total circulation of the series has exceeded 100 million copies today.

In 2001, the thousandth volume of the series was published, including about 200 volumes published by its founder F. Pavlenkov. From the same year, the books of the ZhZL series were assigned a double number: the first digit means the number from the beginning of the founding of the biographical series by F. Pavlenkov in 1890, the second number (in brackets) - the number since the continuation of the series by M. Gorky in 1933.

In the modern "ZhZL" two trends can be traced. Some of the books are based on facts, documentary prevails in them. The authors of such studies, as a rule, are historians, scientists, professionals, scrupulously reflecting every step, without deviating from archival and documentary evidence. Another direction is closer to fiction.

Since 2005, the publishing house began to release a new series - about people whose activities are still ongoing. The first to receive this honor was the Governor of the Moscow Region Boris Gromov. They wrote about figures during their lifetime in the "Pavlenkovo" series "ZhZL": these were publications about the life of Leo Tolstoy, Bismarck, William Ewart Gladstone (Prime Minister of Great Britain). In the series “ZhZL”, continued by Maxim Gorky, only people were told about people who had left.

- "LIFE OF REMARKABLE PEOPLE" (ZHZL), a series of scientific and artistic biographies of public figures, military men, scientists, literary and art workers. Published on the initiative of M. Gorky since 1933, in the publishing house "Young Guard" since 1938. Issued 722 ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (ZhZL) a series of scientific and artistic biographies of public figures, military men, scientists, workers of literature and art. Published on the initiative of M. Gorky since 1933, in the publishing house Molodaya Gvardiya since 1938. Published 722 books (1992). In 1890 1907 under that ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- ("Life of Remarkable People",) a series of biographies of prominent figures. 1) The Biographical Library of F.F.Pavlenkov, published in St. Petersburg in 1890-1907 (reprints were published until 1914). The first universal collection of biographies ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (ZhZL), a series of scientific and artistic biographies of public figures, military men, scientists, workers of literature and art. Published on the initiative of M. Gorky since 1933, in the publishing house "Young Guard" since 1938. Published 760 books (1998). In 1890 1907 under that ... encyclopedic Dictionary

"LIFE OF GREAT PEOPLE" - "LIFE OF REMARKABLE PEOPLE", a series of biographies dedicated to outstanding Russian and foreign figures: 1) was published by FF Pavlenkov in St. Petersburg in 1890-1907. Over 60 biographies of Russian and foreign writers have been published, including the first ... ... Literary encyclopedic dictionary

Life of wonderful people Genre: Biographical book Country ... Wikipedia

The life of wonderful people. Table Basic information about the Life of Remarkable People series is located on the Life of Remarkable People page. Here the books of the series are shown in a table. Catalog number Author Title Year Number of pages Circulation…… Wikipedia

- “The life of wonderful people. Biography continues ”a book series published by the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house in Moscow since 2005. Unlike the classic“ ZhZL ”, this series includes books about living people. Series issues ... ... Wikipedia

- “The life of wonderful people. Small Series ”is a series of biographical books published by the“ Young Guard ”publishing house. Contents 1 List of books in the series 1.1 1989 1.2 1990 ... Wikipedia

Books from the ZhZL series “Life of Remarkable People. Biography continues ”a book series published by the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house in Moscow since 2005. Unlike the classic“ ZhZL ”, this series includes books about living people. Series issues ... ... Wikipedia

The name "Life of Remarkable People", as everyone knows today, is based on the title "Vie des Hommes illustres", under which the French translation of Comparative Biographies of Plutarch was published in the 19th century. This book was read in his youth by Florenty Pavlenkov, who borrowed its title for his biographical series.

Format

The books of the ZhZL series, founded by F. Pavlenkov, were published in a reduced format and cover. The series has changed its format more than once, but since 1956 it has remained unchanged - 84x108 / 32. In 2009, in addition to the main one, “ZhZL: Small Series” was founded, returned to Pavlenkov's “pocket” format.

Hero

The ZhZL series is a unique biographical canvas covering four thousand years of world history and over a thousand years of Russian history. Its heroes are representatives of various countries, eras and professions, from Nefertiti to Marilyn Monroe, from Rurik to Vladimir Vysotsky.

Hero image

Starting from the first issues, the image of the hero is placed on the cover of all ZhZL books, except for collections. The only exception was the book by V. Popov "Dovlatov" in the Small Series "ZhZL" - in it the place of the image is taken by the text: "There should have been a portrait of S. Dovlatov."

Vertical and horizontal

The photos of the hero on the cover are complemented by images related to his life and work. Sometimes they are created specifically for this publication - for example, a painting by the artist Gennady Tishchenko, placed on the cover of the book by O. Eremina and N. Smirnov "Ivan Efremov".

Author

There are many famous people among the authors of "ZhZL". There were cases when the author of the series later became its hero: these are writers M. Gorky and M. Bulgakov, philosopher A. Losev, intelligence officer I. Grigulevich, who published seven books in ZhZL under the pseudonyms I. Lavretsky and I. Grigoriev.

Torch

The golden torch, a symbol of enlightenment, became the emblem of the ZhZL series in 1958. Its author is the famous artist Boris Prorokov. In the new version of the cover of Yuri Arndt, the torch turned white.

Hero

For 125 years, about two thousand outstanding figures of various eras and countries have become the heroes of the series. The most famous are devoted to several books by different authors. The record belongs to M. Lermontov and A. Chekhov - they are the heroes of six books in the series.

Moscow

Initially, the books "ZhZL" were published by the St. Petersburg publishing house of F. Pavlenkov. In 1932 the series moved to Moscow, where Zhurgaz (Journal and newspaper publishing house) began to publish it. In 1938, the publication of the series passed into the hands of the "Young Guard".

Release

Double numbering of the books "ZhZL" was introduced in 2001 after the release of the thousandth volume - the book by G. Aksenov "Vernadsky". Prior to this, 200 books in the series published by F. Pavlenkov were not included in the total count. Since 1996, the reprints of books have received a new serial number.

Subtitle

Sometimes a book title is supplemented with a subtitle. T. Bobrovnikova's book about Cicero has a subtitle "An Intelligent in the Days of the Revolution", a book by J. Tulard about Napoleon - "The Myth of a Savior", V. Sysoev's book about Anna Kern - "Life in the Name of Love". There are times when the subtitle becomes better known than the name - this is what happened with A. Nilin's book “Streltsov. A man without elbows ”, dedicated to the famous football player.

Florenty Fedorovich Pavlenkov (1839-1900) - Russian publisher and educator. Published mass editions of cheap books for the people; the books of the ZhZL series cost 20 kopecks. The publishing house founded by him existed until 1917.

Alexey Maksimovich Gorky (1868-1936) - an outstanding Russian writer. Returning from emigration to the USSR in 1932, he revived the ZhZL series.

UDC, BBK

In the books of the series, as in all book editions, the numbers of the UDC (universal decimal classification), LBC (library and bibliographic classification) and the author's mark are placed. All this is intended for the classification of books in libraries and various indexes.

Copyright

The law protects the author's right to the text of the book and the publisher's right to decorate the series and its very title. The copyright mark has been placed on ZhZL books since 1995, when Russia recognized the 1952 Geneva Copyright Convention.

Promoting

Some books in the series are published with the organizational and financial assistance of various organizations and government agencies. Sometimes foreign states - France, Germany, Norway, etc. - provide assistance in translating and publishing books about their famous figures.

ISBN

ISBN, or International Standard Book Number, is a unique number of a book publication required to automate work with it. He first appeared in the books of The Young Guard in 1989.

Key dates of life

The obligatory elements of the books "ZhZL" include "Key dates" - the chronology of the life and work of the hero. It is not always short; for example, in L. Losev's book "Joseph Brodsky" the chronology compiled by V. Polukhina occupies over 100 pages.

Bibliography

The book is supplemented by the "Bibliography" - a list of books in which the reader can find additional information and which the author used when creating a biography. Only in rare cases - for example, in the book by A. Zhitnukhin "Leonid Shebarshin" - there is no bibliography.

annotation

It is enough to read the annotation to the book to become interested in the personality of its hero. Here is a typical example: “Viktor Shklovsky is one of the most controversial figures in Russian literature. World renowned literary critic, founder of the Society for the Study of Poetic Language (OPOYAZ) - and at the same time a participant in the First World War, who received the St. George Cross for bravery; a Social Revolutionary who fled from the Chekists across the ice of the Gulf of Finland, a White emigrant who became a successful Soviet literary figure. Many of Shklovsky's phrases became winged, many of the terms and definitions invented by him entered literary criticism and criticism (for example, the “Hamburg account”), and the events of his life resemble an adventure novel.

Editor

Often the editors of the ZhZL series become its authors. The books by Alexei Karpov about Ancient Rus are of constant interest among readers. The oldest editor of the series, Galina Pomerantseva, is the author of the book Biography in the Stream of Time, dedicated to the history of ZhZL. For a long time he worked as an editor Yuri Loshits - the author of books about Goncharov, Dmitry Donskoy, Cyril and Methodius.

Art editor

ensures that the design elements of the book are not only expressive, but also related to its content. Sometimes the design changes over time: for example, "Boris Pasternak" by D. Bykov has two options - "summer" and "winter".

Printing house

For many years, books of the ZhZL series were published in the Molodaya Gvardii printing house. Since 2012, they have been printed by the Yaroslavl Printing Plant.

Circulation

The books of Pavlenkov's "ZhZL" had a circulation of five thousand copies. In Soviet times, the circulation of the series increased significantly: the circulation of V. Kardashov's book "Rokossovsky" (1972) became a record one, amounting to two hundred thousand. Today the circulation of ZhZL books is from three to five thousand, although in some books it is much higher.

Corrector

Most of all "wonderful lives" live proofreaders looking for all sorts of errors in the text.

Young guard

Molodaya Gvardiya is the oldest publishing house in Russia, founded in 1922. Since 1992 it has been a part of the joint-stock company of the same name. For almost half a century it has been located in a historic building at 21 Suschevskaya Street, where many famous writers, scientists, and public figures have worked or visited.

Barcode

Barcode - graphic information applied to the surface, marking or packaging of products, which can be read by technical means - a sequence of black and white stripes or other geometric shapes.

“Krylov did not like to remember his youth and childhood. The wise old man realized that only in his fables would he outlive himself, his peers and grandchildren. He, in fact, was born at forty. In the period of his full glory, he had already outlived his peers, and there was no one to learn the details of his young age from. Krylov was not interested in what they write and say about him, ignored his own biographies sent to him for viewing - Russian and French. On one of them he wrote in pencil: “I read it. Neither to correct, nor to straighten, neither time nor desire ”. He was reluctant to answer oral inquiries. And we are, of course, interested in the smallest details of his life and childhood. The latter is even more interesting since all Krylov, both by birth and upbringing, and by the mindset and character, belongs to the last century. Twenty-five years have already passed since the day when all of Russia celebrated the centenary of the birth of the glorious fabulist. He was born on February 2, 1768 in Moscow. Later famous for anecdotal laziness, Krylov began his life in the midst of wanderings, labors and dangers. He was born at a time when his father, a poor army officer, was standing with his dragoon regiment in Moscow. But the Pugachev movement arose, and Andrei Prokhorovich moved with his regiment to the Urals. A zealous warrior, - Krylov's father with extraordinary energy defended Yaitsky from Pugachev ...

This book is about publicists whose creative destiny was associated with the revolutionary-democratic magazine "Russian Word" (1859-1866) ... AND although in talent and social significance G. Blagosvetlov, V. Zaitsev and N. Sokolov were inferior to N. Chernyshevsky or N. Dobrolyubov, A. Herzen or D. Pisarev, nevertheless, they were part of the circle of "masters of thought" of youth in the second half of the 19th century.

Book from the series "Life of Remarkable People"
The book of the writer A. Zolototrubov tells about the legendary hero of the civil war, the commander of the First Cavalry Army, an outstanding Soviet military and statesman, three times Hero of the Soviet Union S.M.Budyonny.

Book from the series "Life of Remarkable People"
This book is dedicated to the outstanding aircraft designer and scientist Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, the creator of world-renowned aircraft - from the light AN-2 to the super-heavy giants Ruslan, Antey and Mriya. The author had the opportunity to communicate with the General Designer for many years. The unique material collected in the book becomes public for the first time. The edition is illustrated with rare photographs.

Book from the series "Life of Remarkable People"
The genius of Wagner occupies one of the first places in the world musical heritage, and his work constitutes an entire era in the history of music. However, the controversy around him still does not subside. Wagner's works cause fanatical delight in some, while in others - persistent rejection. The Saxon authorities persecuted him for his revolutionary activities, and the Russians ordered him a "National Anthem". He received huge royalties and was a pathological debtor due to his irrepressible love of luxury. The composer was friends with the Russian revolutionary M. Bakunin, the Bavarian king Ludwig II, the philosophers A. Schopenhauer and F. Nietzsche, and became related to F. Liszt. For many of his contemporaries, Wagner was the personification of "licentiousness", the destroyer of family hearths, but he himself sincerely loved and found happiness in family life, surrounded by children and dogs. Wagner is called the forerunner of the Nazi ideology of the Third Reich and Hitler's favorite composer. He also insisted that art should have a moral impact on the public; the core of his plots were humanistic ideas, which were found only in ancient myths. After his death, his very fate turned into a myth ...

Book from the series "Life of Remarkable People"
The name of Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin, who headed Soviet diplomacy in the difficult years of the formation of Soviet power, is also known outside our country. Belonging to an old noble family, Chicherin broke with his class in his youth and from 1904 he took the path of a professional revolutionary. Forced to emigrate, he actively participated in the international socialist movement. After the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the party appointed Chicherin at the head of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. The first major victories of Soviet diplomacy are associated with his name.

Book from the series “Life of Remarkable People: Ser. biogr .; no. 1058 "
Sandro Botticelli is one of the greatest masters of the Italian Renaissance, whose creations amaze with the combination of unsurpassed grace of form with a philosophical depth of content. Behind the magical lightness of "Spring" and "The Birth of Venus" is hidden the artist's difficult life, full of creative pursuits, hopes and disappointments. The author of the new biography of Botticelli St. V. Zarnitsky, based on the few surviving sources, paints a picture of the life of his hero against the background of the turbulent events of the history of Italy in the second half of the 15th century. This book will be useful not only for connoisseurs of Italian art, but also for all those who are not left indifferent by the paintings of the great Florentine.