The Karimov brothers’ trade and publishing house and tatar children’s book (1900–1919)

Abstract

The article examines the activities and output of the largest private Tatar publishing houses of the early 20th century, the Karimov brothers’ trade and publishing house (1900–1919), in the field of publishing Arabic-script secular books for Tatar children. Based on the collection of Tatar children’s books deposited in the Scientific Library of Kazan Federal University named after N. I. Lobachevsky, a comprehensive review of the Karimov brothers partnership bookstore catalogues of and issues of Book Chronicle
for 1907–1917, the study identifies the specific features of strategy of publishing children’s literature, the book repertoire, its typological structure, and the circle of authors and translators of children’s books who represented the new generation of Tatar intellectuals. The article traces the process of gradual expansion of the repertoire and print runs, including the emergence of Tatar secular literature for children. The article describes the printing features of children’s publications. It identifies the challenges faced by publishers, particularly the problem of the distribution of Tatar secular children’s books and the introduction of children as readers, which led to a deliberate reduction in the cost of publications, a decrease in their quality, and, in some cases, a predominance of translated non-royalty-bearing children’s classics in the publishing repertoire. The article concludes that the Karimov brothers’ trade and publishing house played a significant role in the publication of Tatar secular children’s books, which were an essential component of the new Tatar children’s world that emerged in the early 20th century.

Keywords: Tatar children’s book, Karimov brothers’ trade and publishing house, book repertoire, polygraphic features, print runs, distribution