N. V. Gogol. Watercolor by A. A. Ivanov, 1841, State Library of the USSR named after V. I. Lenin.

Editorial Board

This volume contains 239 letters of Gogol (to 46 addressees), of which 26 were not known to V. Shenrock and were not included in "Letters of N. V. Gogol", volumes I-IV, St. Petersburg, 1901. For the first time, there is also a letter to A. O. Smirnova dated June 6, New Style, <1846> from Prague (No 30), which until now had been published only as part of "Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends" (under the title "What is a Governor's Wife") in a form revised by Gogol for printing. In addition, many of the letters (NoNo 8, 12, 36, 43, 76, 79, 101, 102, 113, 132, 134, 147, 148, 150, 159, 163, 165, 172, 185, 201a, 215, 232, etc.) are given in full only in this edition.

The text of most of the letters included in the volume is printed according to the originals (84%) and authoritative copies (3%), the rest are printed according to the most accurate printed texts. Thanks to this, it was possible to eliminate a number of inaccuracies and distortions that took place in previous editions. The dates of the letters were also clarified and corrected on the basis of postmarks and other data, and some of the letters were completely dated to another year. For the first time, many letters are supplemented with addresses.

The dates of the letters, given without indicating the style, are given according to the old style.

The texts of the letters for this volume were prepared and commented on by A. N. Mikhailova, with the exception of letters to V. G. Belinsky (NoNo 178, 200), a letter to V. A. Zhukovsky (No 28) and one letter to Y. F. Samarin (No 36), prepared and commented on by G. M. Friedlander.

The dates of Gogol's life for 1846–1847 were compiled by A. N. Mikhailova.

Abbreviations for archive repositories

State Library of the USSR named after V. I. Lenin. Moscow — LB

State Historical Museum. Moscow — IM

Central State Literary Archive. Moscow — Central State Archive of Culture

Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Leningrad — PD