Armenian book advertising: Peculiarities of development in Tiflis (1801-1865)

Abstract

The factors that influenced the development of Armenian advertising of books are examined in the article. Using the comparative historical and grouping methods, the author shows that the formation of Armenian book advertising in Tiflis was mainly similar to the development of book advertising in other provinces of the Russian Empire, but it had some peculiarities that were primarily due to the absence of Armenian statehood for many centuries. The decentralized Armenian publishing and bookselling structures were scattered, but their various components were integrated in the same system and influenced the formation of advertising communication, which made Armenian book advertising in Tiflis acquired more social in essence. The advertising was aimed at a purely ethnic cultural space, which was also influenced by the multicultural environment of Tiflis and the policy of the supreme power of the Russian Empire and its representation in the Caucasus in relation to the peoples of the region. The main emphasis of Armenian book advertising was placed on the educational and enlightenment functions of the book with the aim of integrating the divided people into one cultural communication space. Thus, advertising materialized and established the spiritual needs of the people. The Armenian book market formed very slowly, which was due to the illiteracy of the population’s majority, the difficulty of Old Armenian in which most of the books were published, the slow formation of Eastern Armenian literary language from various dialects, the fiction’s slow pace of development, the lack of good-quality translations of European literature, and the high cost of books. In the first half of the 19th century, the system of book advertising in Tiflis was institutionalised, which was due to the formation of publishing and bookselling markets as well as the types and ways of communication. The publishing sponsorship and the buying of books became a type of book advertising, and book advertising itself became a means of personal advertisement that aimed to popularize the personality and social status of the patron. The tradition of patronage contributed to sales of books because charitable investments were compensated with awards or by raising the social status of sponsors: the book was not only an item for advertising but also a means to advertise various individuals. If, until the 19th century, the patronage of the publication and distribution of Armenian manuscripts or books was based on a personal motive, and patriotism was expressed in the monumental preservation of the name of the book sponsor or orderer in the historical memory of the people, in the 19th century, under the tsarist regime, sponsorship had more pragmatic goals.