Autograph. Teleshov N. Notes of the writer.

Autograph. Teleshov N. Notes of the writer.
Moscow: Fiction, 1943, 308 p. Hardcover, 11.5 x 17.3 cm. Good condition.

Nikolai Dmitrievich Teleshov (October 29 [November 10] 1867, Moscow — March 14, 1957, Moscow) was a Russian Soviet writer, poet, organizer of the famous circle of Moscow writers "Wednesday" (1899-1916), a hereditary honorary citizen. Co-owner of the trading house "Teleshov Dmitry Yegorovich", established by his father (1877), member of the Board of trade and industrial partnership "Yaroslavl Large manufactory"; Guild head of the merchant Council of the Moscow merchant society (1894-1898). Honored artist of the RSFSR (1938).

He was born on October 29 (November 10), 1867 in a Moscow merchant family; his ancestors were serfs of the Vladimir province, independently bought out. He took an early interest in reading and literature. As a twelve-year-old teenager in 1880, he witnessed the grandiose Pushkin celebrations in Moscow: the Grand opening of the monument to the poet, performances by F. M. Dostoevsky, I. S. Turgenev, and others. A little earlier, at the age of ten, in the printing house of I. D. Sytin, he got acquainted with the process of creating a book. Over time, there was a need to join the literary process itself. Business connections and friendship with Sytin will accompany him all his life.

In the history of Russian literature, N. D. Teleshov entered first of all as the initiator of the "Teleshov environments" and the author of the memoir book "Notes of the writer". Teleshov's "notes" were repeatedly reprinted in Soviet times and were supplemented and corrected by the writer during author's reprints. The memoirs are illustrated with photo portraits of Russian writers. The portraits were notable in that each of them contained a personal gift autograph to Teleshov. Since collecting these portraits was a passion of Teleshov, he managed to get gift inscriptions on portraits from Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov, Korolenko, Gorky, Kuprin, Bunin, Serafimovich, Veresaev, Belousov, Wanderer, Leonid Andreev, Mamin-Sibiryak, Zlatovratsky, Spiridon Drozhzhin, Shalyapin and many others.

In the 1948 edition of the writer's Notes, among other portraits, an illustration was placed that reproduced the famous 1902 group portrait of the writers of Wednesday. Its difference from the original portrait was that the image of E. N. Chirikov behind I. A. Bunin was carefully retouched. For some unknown reason, only the image of Chirikov disappeared, although other emigrants were present in the same photo: Bunin and Chaliapin. Of course, the fame and significance of the last two did not go into any comparison with the fame of Eugene Chirikov. Many pages of "Notes"are dedicated to both of them. In addition, the Soviet government in the first years after the war, through the mediation of N. D. Teleshov, for some time expected to return the Nobel laureate in literature back to the Soviet Union. Chaliapin and Chirikov were long dead by this time, and although the "Notes" mention Chirikov's name several times in passing, even in this case, his face overshadowed Soviet literature.