NABOKV-L post 0024821, Fri, 22 Nov 2013 21:07:39 -0500

In response to Simon Rowberry's musings on the very large print runs of Nabokov Russian editions.

It is rather amazing that runs of six figures were common as the Nabokov barriers to publication fell only years before the Soviet system itself crashed. Here are some figures I've quickly pulled from the colophons of what I call A-item Lolitas (books with only the novel and no other novels or stories) issued from 1989 to 1991. (You can see fuller A-item descriptions at www.vnbiblio.com.):

A28.20, 1989, Izvestia, 100,000 (first printing)
A28.20, 1989, Izvestia, 100,000 (second printing)
A28.22, 1990, Altaiskoe, 100,000
A28.23, 1990, Smart, 100,000
A28.24, 1990, MP Anion, 300,000
A28.25, 1991, Prometei, 300,000
A28.26, 1991, Vodolei, 300,000
A28.27, 1991, Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 100,000
A28.28, 1991, Amur, 100,000
A28.30, 1991, ANS-Print, 300,000
A28.31, 1991, Solo, 50,000
A28.32, 1991, Tsentral'no-Chernozemne, 100,000
A28.33, 1991, Tatarskoe, 100,000
A28.34, 1991, Moka, 150,000
A28.35, 1991, Universul, ?
A28.36, 1991, Murattas, ?
A28.37, 1991, Patroit, 100,000

That's at least 2.3 million copies within three years. I'm sure that I've missed some editions and printings and so the stated print runs would certainly be higher. The same kind of numbers can be seen for Lolita compilations (that is, issues with other novels and stories) and other Nabokov novels and compilations. Here is a very incomplete list of Russian Nabokov publications of at least 100,000 from 1988 to 1993. There is some overlap with the list above:



Title

Title Transliterated

Year

ISBN

Printing

Print Run

Source


Машенька. Защита Лужина. Приглашение на казнь. Дру...

Mashen'ka. Zashchita Luzhina. Priglashenie na kazn...

1988

5-280-00895-8

first

200,000

colophon


Машенька. Защита Лужина. Приглашение на казнь. Дру...

Mashen'ka. Zashchita Luzhina. Priglashenie na kazn...

1988


second

100,000

colophon


Другие берега

Drugie berega

1989

5-7000-0136-5

first

300,000

colophon


Другие берега

Drugie berega

1989


first

300,000

colophon


Защита Лужина

Zashchita Luzhina

1989

5-270-01060-7

first

500,000

colophon


Защита Лужина

Zashchita Luzhina

1989


additional

400,000

colophon


Избранные произведения

Izbrannye proizvedeniia

1989

5-268-00065-9

first

200,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1989


first

100,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1989


second

100,000

colophon


Машенька. Защита Лужина. Приглашение на казнь. Дру...

Mashen'ka. Zashchita Luzhina. Priglashenie na kazn...

1989


later

100,000

colophon


Машенька. Камера обскура

Mashen'ka. Kamera obskura

1989

5-292-00554-1

first

100,000

copyright page


Облако, озеро, башня: Романы и рассказы

Oblako, ozero, bashnia: Romany i rasskazy

1989

5-239-00553-2

first

200,000

colophon


Романы

Romany

1989

5-270-00673-1

first

200,000

colophon


Terra incognita


1990

5-85207-011-4

first

300,000

colophon


Ангелом задетый: Стихи

Angelom zadetyй: Stikhi

1990

5-7110-0052-7 (both vols.)

first

200,000

colophon


Дар

Dar

1990

5-85300-002-0

first

100,000

colophon


Круг

Krug

1990

5-280-00953-9

first

100,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1990

5-85025-225-5

first

100,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1990


first

300,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1990

5-7405-0135-0

first

100,000

colophon


Машенька: Роман. Камера-обскура: Роман. Лолита: Ро...

Mashen'ka: Roman. Kamera-obskura: Roman. Lolita: R...

1990

5-7509-1290-6

first

100,000

colophon


Пьесы

P'esy

1990

5-210-00165-2

first

100,000

colophon


Пьесы

P'esy

1990


second

100,000

colophon


Собрание сочинений в четырех томах: том 1

Sobranie sochineniĭ v chetyrekh tomakh: tom 1

1990


first

1,700,000

colophon


Собрание сочинений в четырех томах: том 2

Sobranie sochineniĭ v chetyrekh tomakh: tom 2

1990


first

1,700,000

colophon


Собрание сочинений в четырех томах: том 3

Sobranie sochineniĭ v chetyrekh tomakh: tom 3

1990


first

1,700,000

colophon


Собрание сочинений в четырех томах: том 4

Sobranie sochineniĭ v chetyrekh tomakh: tom 4

1990


first

1,700,000

colophon


Аня в стране чудес

Ania v strane chudes

1991


first

300,000

colophon


Аня в стране чудес

Ania v strane chudes

1991


first

200,000

colophon


Камера обскура

Kamera obskura

1991

5-8086-0015-4

first

100,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1991

5-7042-0213-6

first

300,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1991

5-85760-006-5

first

500,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1991

5-7585-0001-1

first

300,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1991

5-280-01639-X

first

100,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1991

5-7458-0400-9

first

100,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1991

5-298-01122-5

first

100,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1991


first

100,000

colophon


Лолита

Lolita

1991

5-7030-0582-5

first

100,000

colophon


Аня в стране чудес

Ania v strane chudes

1992

5-2474-0466-2

first

100,000

colophon


Аня в стране чудес

Ania v strane chudes

1993

5-692-01894-2

first

100,000

colophon




The sizes of the press runs quickly dropped as the Soviet system was replaced by a non-centralized one through the 1990s.

I know nothing about the workings of the old system, or even the new, semi-capitalist one. But I can launch some probes:
Report a high press run and be able to acquire more paper for other purposes.
Look good for having met a quota.
Or, simply, the reading public was very hungry for a formerly proscribed author.
It is hard to imagine, as Rowberry does, that a publisher (or printer or publisher/printer), while working within the Soviet system, would care about copyright or permissions or being a sole publisher or there being competition. In any case, a series of questions presents itself: “Were the reported press runs accurate?” “Were all printed sheets bound?” “Were all bound copies distributed through whatever channels (stores, schools)?” “Or did they end up in warehouses or landfills?”


Michael Juliar
michael@juliar.com
michael.juliar@gmail.com
blog@vnbiblio.com
www.vnbiblio.com



On Oct 29, 2013, at 6:48 AM, S.Rowberry.13 <S.Rowberry.13@UNIMAIL.WINCHESTER.AC.UK> wrote:

> There is a trend in discussion of Nabokov's return to Russia to frame the success through the sheer volume and range of Russian editions that have been published since the fall of the Soviet Union. Undoubtedly, Nabokov is a popular author and this has led to a wide range of Russian-language editions. I am less trusting, however, of the claims that some of the earliest Russian editions print runs were over 1 million.
>
> From what I understand, the information about print run comes from the тираж, included in the colophon. Given the cultural capital of Nabokov and the competition to establish dominance within the marketplace, this does not appear to be a reliable figure to quote. Why would a publisher who does not have a privilege, permission from the Nabokov estate or any other number of protective mechanisms that allow them to be the sole publisher risk such a large (and costly) print run that is not guaranteed to sell or to be undercut by a competitor selling at a much cheaper price? Surely these figures are part of an arms race between publishers to assert their publishing muscles. If you can print 500,000 copies, I can print 1,000,000, and so forth...
>
> Is there any evidence that these publishers actually produced print runs this large? Perhaps there is an abandoned warehouse full of copies of these early spectacular print runs similar to the apocryphal pit in the Californian desert packed full of unsold copies of the Atari ET game.
>
> Best,
> Simon
>
> Simon Rowberry
> PhD Student and Associate Lecturer
> Department of English, Creative Writing and American Studies
> University of Winchester
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