The book-album "Modern Russia in portraits and biographies of prominent figures"

The rarest edition in excellent condition. Hardcover, pressed in gold. The format is 275*390 mm. The volume is 196 pages + advertisements. This publication is the first of its kind collection of biographies of Russian figures in all areas of state and public life in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. The book is, to some extent, a reflection of Russian reality in a certain historical epoch, the peculiar character and well-known direction of which are given by people whose biographies have found a place on its pages. From those characteristics that accompany many biographies, one can draw indications of the political and financial situation of our country at the beginning of the twentieth century, and various internal issues, and the results obtained by Russian science.

 The book presents biographies of prominent statesmen, members of the State Council and the State Duma, first ministers and members of ministries and departments, military leaders, privy councillors, governors, representatives of various parties and political movements, chamberlains and representatives of the Imperial Court, military figures, famous Russian industrialists, financiers, religious figures, representatives of art and science.

It was important for the compilers of the album not only to dryly present biographical information, but also to obtain data on the participation of the book's characters in public life, their relationships with others, hobbies and interests.

When working on the biographies, the compilers used exclusively authoritative sources: encyclopedic dictionaries, special reference publications from various universities, S. A. Vengerov's critical and bibliographic dictionary, a dictionary of stage figures and others. In some cases, prepared biographical articles were provided for viewing by the characters of the essays themselves.

The album opens with a biography of Sergei Yulievich Witte, who at that time headed the Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire. Among others, there are also biographies of the punished ataman of the Don army Konstantin Klavdievich Maksimovich, scientists D. I. Mendeleev, V. M. Bekhterev, I. I. Mechnikov, I. P. Pavlov, K. A. Timiryazev, historian Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky, writers L. N. Tolstoy, Maxim Gorky, V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, artists M. N. Ermolova, F. I. Chaliapin, artists I. E. Repin, L. N. Benois, composers C. A. Kui, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and many others.

The album was printed in a typo-lithography by A. K. Weyerman. The publication is illustrated with black and white photographs.