Ivan Pavlovich Bystrov

Background

Ivan Pavlovich Bystrov was born on February 10, 1797, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. He was the son of the priest.

Education

Ivan Pavlovich studied at Alexander Nevsky Theological Seminary. He graduated in 1818.

Career

In 1821 Ivan Pavlovich came into the service as an under-clerk in the economic department of the Ministry of Home Affairs. He participated in the drafting of the code of laws of public charity in Russia. In March 1829, at the request of I.A. Krylov, he entered the Russian Department of the Public Library, where he worked until February 1848. From 1832 he worked as a sub-librarian; from 1844 he was a college assessor.

Ivan Pavlovich quit due to severe health problems. He was the closest assistant to the fabulist about whom he left memories. The first known publication of Bystrov is the journalistic essay Insight into the Future. The manuscript of the XII century written in 1828, which speaks of the universal significance of Russia as an Orthodox state and reflects a hostile attitude towards the French Revolution and the ideas of encyclopedists. The theme of the liberation mission of Russia is raised in the one-act play Galed and Zongos, or the Delirium of a desperate Turkophile (1830). Youthful impressions were reflected in the humorous novel in the letters Polycarpus and Fevronia (1833) and the macaroni poem Seminariad.

Ivan Pavlovich was one of the prominent bibliographers of the 40s. Not a single major publication concerning Russian history and literature could do without his assistance. His work The experience of the index to Russian periodicals, A systematic register of Russian books from 1831 to 1846, and The Third Addition to the Mural of Russian Books for Reading in the Library of Peter Krasheninnikov has still not lost its informative value. Together with S.D. Poltoratsky, he worked on the Dictionary of Russian Writers (which was partially published in the journal Moscow in 1849). He also published in periodicals (Literaturnaya gazeta, Russkiy invalid, etc.) a number of articles on the history of Russian literature and books. His other works include The experience of the dictionary of fortune-telling and diviners, sacred holidays and sacrifices that existed among the ancient Greeks and Romans (1830), Brief information about the place of the burial place of Prokopiy Petrovich Lyapunov (1835).

Achievements

• Ivan Pavlovich was one of the prominent bibliographers of the 40s. He assisted in every major publication concerning Russian history and literature.

References

• Russian writers. 1800-1917. Biographical Dictionary. Volume 1
  1989