 |
Ignatius GarnetRussian publisher, founder
Date of Birth: 31.07.1863
|
Content:
- Early Life and Education
- Founding of "Granat" Publishing House
- "Granat Encyclopedia" and Other Publications
- - "History of the 19th Century" (8 volumes, 1905-1907)
- Later Life and Legacy
Early Life and Education
Ilya Naumovich Granat was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1867 to Naum (Nachim) Kivovich Granat, a merchant. He graduated from the Poltava Gymnasium in 1883 and went on to study at Moscow University's Faculty of Law, graduating in 1887 with a Candidate's degree. Upon recommendation from Professor A. I. Chuprov, he was invited to join the Department of Political Economy to prepare for a professorship.
Founding of "Granat" Publishing House
In 1892, Ilya and his elder brother Alexander founded the private publishing house "Partnership of Brothers A. and I. Granat and Co." in Moscow. The company acquired the rights to the "Desk Encyclopedia Dictionary," which had been published since 1891 by "Partnership of A. Gabriel and Co."
"Granat Encyclopedia" and Other Publications
Inspired by the success of the "Encyclopedia Britannica," Ilya began publishing the "Granat Encyclopedia" in 1910. By October 1917, 33 volumes had been released, and the publication featured contributions from numerous professors from Moscow University.
"Partnership of Brothers A. and I. Granat and Co." also released other notable works, including:
- "History of the 19th Century" (8 volumes, 1905-1907)
- "History of Russia in the 19th Century" (9 volumes, 1907-1911)- "History of Our Time" (8 volumes, 1910-1917)
Academic Career
In addition to his publishing endeavors, Ilya Granat also pursued a scholarly career. He authored several books on political economy and law, including "The Labor Question and Land Reform" (1906) and "On the Issue of Peasant Land Dispossession in England" (1908), for which he earned a Master's degree. He served as a professor at the Department of Economic Policy at Moscow University's Faculty of Social Sciences from 1921 to 1925.
Later Life and Legacy
After the Russian Revolution, "Partnership of Brothers A. and I. Granat and Co." was transformed into a joint-stock company called "Russian Biographical Institute of Brothers A. and I. Granat" in 1917. In 1939, the institute became part of the "Soviet Encyclopedia" institute.
Ilya Granat passed away in Moscow on December 29, 1941 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery. His personal library was bequeathed to Moscow University, revealing letters from V. I. Lenin to the editorial board of the "Granat Encyclopedia." His nephew was the economist and revolutionary Yuri Larin. His grand-nephew was the renowned archaeologist and ethnographer Mikhail Grigoryevich Rabinovich (1916-2000), a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 1993.
