THE RUSSIAN PRIMER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 19TH CENTURY

The paper presents a local case: the first part of the primer "Elka"(Christmas Tree) by Anna Daragan(14 reprints, 1845-1907), considered as a unique pedagogical and printing phenomenon. For half a century its text remained a constant, whereas the printing design underwent significant changes. The authors identify variants and invariants of "Elka" editions, define dependencies between polygraphy and didactics of the textbook as a product of interaction and mutual influence of the publisher and the author. The first edition of "Elka" was published in 1845 in the printing house of The Journal de Saint-Petersbourg, which belonged to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and de facto had excellent printing capabilities. Apart from many pictures, for the first time in Russian practice the author provided texts related to the image, because the questions stated by Daragan for the student related to the visuals of the book. The second and third editions of "Elka" (1846, 1852) were published in the printing houses of the Second Division of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery. All subsequent editions were published by M. Wolf "The Catalog of the Russian Branch of the Bookstore of Mauritius Osipovich Wolf" (1862) contained an abstract comparing Daragan's primer with the famous textbooks for teaching the native language by Anna Barbauld (England) and Sabina Amable Tastu (France). Comparing the manuals of Barbauld, Amable Tastu and Daragan, the authors conclude that Anna Daragan was familiar with English and French practices. "Elka" was composed to meet the needs of the child reader, with focus on visuals, like textbooks by to Barbauld and Amable Tastu. Moreover, Daragan was the first to state specific questions to the pictures. However, the links between the text and the visual row in Russian children's literature of the second half of the 19th century were still fragile. The tenth edition of "Elka" was in a gift album format, with beautiful, even colour, illustrations of famous European artists (Lorentz Frohlich, Denmark; Oscar Pletch, Germany; Henrik Pilatti, Poland; Emile Bayard, France, etc.). Yet, the images largely lost their teaching function, because they did not correspond to the texts both in terms of content and function. The illustrations returned their didactic role in the 11th edition to further preserve and develop it. Thus, the case under study is important because it is a manual with a long line of reprints, connecting cultural, pedagogical, and publishing eras. It reflected the complex of the didactical, literacy teaching, artistic, book publishing and printing achievements. The "long life" of this handbook made it possible to see the non-linearity and inconsistency of the processes of creation, reception and representation of Russian textbooks.