journalist publisher comedy writer
Evgeny Antonovich Verner was born on October 1, 1861, in Odessa, Odes'ka Oblast', Ukraine into a noble family of a college assessor who served in the Kherson Governorate. His brother Mikhail Verner was a Russian writer and publisher. Since the early 1880s, the Verner family had lived in Moscow.
In 1872-1876, Evgeny Antonovich studied at the Zhytomyr Gymnasium, and in 1876-1878 he was a student of one of the real schools.
The most active period of Verner's creative activity is the first half of the 1880s. In 1881-1885, Evgeny Antonovich became secretary of the editorial board of the Zritel magazine. His humorous stories, not devoid of romantic cliches, sketches, notes, jokes, and poems were invariable not only of this magazine but also of the magazines, namely Kolokolchik (1882), Strekoza"(1882-1885), Moskva (1882-1883), Oskolki (1883), Budilnik (1883-1884), Nabludatel (1883-1884), Razvlechenie (1884), Mirskoy Tolk (1883-1884), Volna (1884-1885), Illyustrirovannyy Mir (1886).
The heroes of Verner's works were officials, intellectuals, students, and merchants. His works were also published in Moskovskaya Gazeta (1882-1883), Novosti Dnya (1883-1885), Moskovsky Listok (1882-1890, and off), where the novel For millions. A Novel from Life of Zamoskvorechye (1890), and in other periodicals.
In 1883, Evgeny Antonovich attracted the attention of A.P. Chekhov, who, recommending Verner’s works to N.A. Leikin as the works of a talented comedian, however, noted the lack of clear social ideals in his novels.
Together with his brother, Evgeny Antonovich published the Sverchok magazine (in which he also actively acted as an author, resorting to numerous pseudonyms), as well as Drug Detei (1888) and Vokrug Sveta (1885-1891).
The Verners brothers brought to life Vokrug Sveta, while changing its format from the popular science to the scientific and literary one. Mikhail and Evgeny studied publishing in Paris and successfully applied European experience in the magazine. After the sale of Vokrug Sveta, the Verner brothers moved to Paris, where they founded a company for the production of motor bicycles, prototypes of motorcycles that subsequently appeared.
