"The letters of S. P. Botkin from Bulgaria. 1877": The history of publication of autograph

Abstract

The letters of S. P. Botkin from Bulgaria (1877) to his wife, E. A. Botkina (née Princess Obolenskaya), were published as travel diary in the journal "Vestnik Evropy" in 1892 and as separate book in 1893. The family events related to publication of epistolary were restored. For publication, material of private nature was abridged by E. A. Botkina. Then, passages with compromising criticism were removed by editor of the journal. In spite of good quality of prepared text, publication was postponed by E. A. Botkina herself and afterwards it was lingered on because of claims of censorial department. The role of N. A. Belogolovy, public figure and friend of S. P. Botkin of many years and M. M. Stasyulevich, a publisher, in final decision to publish epistolary is emphasized. The comparison of original and printed matter carried out for the first time, established that cuts made up to more than one third of author's text.