Forty Books of the “Chocolate Library” of S. Vasiliev’s Confectionery Factory

The article deals with the censorship history of the “Chocolate Library” publishing series, produced by the owner of the confectionery factory A. Kaplun. The attention of censorship was attracted by one of the books in the series, the author of which was L.N. Tolstoy, whose works were censored with extreme caution. Under the pretext that A. Kaplun did not have permission to conduct a book trade, he was forbidden to publish a book series. This plot is an illustration of the thesis that the underdeveloped network of censorship institutions and their small staff artificially restrained the development of the book business. In this case, we have in mind the supervision of the book trade, which was carried out in large Russian cities by inspectors of printing houses and book trade, and in the provinces by the police. The brake on the development of Russian literature and education was not only the nature of censorship of printed works, but also the lack of inspectors. The authorities did not consider it necessary to allow too many newspapers, printing houses, bookstores and libraries, if it was difficult to ensure control over them with the available funds. The article uses materials that have not previously been introduced into academic circulation.