KRYLOV IVAN (1769-1844) Basni Ivana Krylova: v 8 kn - Novoe izd., vnov' ispr. i umnozh; Izhdiveniem knigoprodavtsa Smirdina [[Fables of Ivan Krylov: in 8 books. New edition, newly corrected and enlarged; at the expense of the bookseller Smirdin.] St. Petersburg: v tip. A. Smirdina, 1830.

– [2], 423 pp.; 14x9 cm. In a half-leather binding of the period. Binding wear, loss of fragments along the edges of the spine and covers, stains in the block, pre-revolutionary ownership's inscriptions on the endpapers, title page, and other pages, pre-revolutionary owner's stamp on the frontispiece, minor soiling, foxing in the block. In April 1830, Krylov signed a contract with A.F. Smirdin for the publication of his fables for a period of 10 years. A total print run of 40,000 copies and a fee of 40,000 assignations was agreed upon. In 1830, the first Smirdin edition of Krylov's fables was released, and in 1840, the last one was printed. In that same year, Smirdin fully settled accounts with the fabulist, who had supported him at the start of his publishing activities. Smirdin published a total of 8 editions of Krylov's fables. The publisher was not deterred by the prospect of having to print and sell the same content for ten years straight. He was confident of success and decided to vary the external appearance of the fables' editions in every possible way. According to Smirnov-Sokolsky, the book was released in three formats: most of the print run was in octavo format (309 pages), a smaller portion in duodecimo (370 pages), and sextodecimo (423 pages). The present book belongs to the latter variant. Sm.-Sok. Stories about books. pp. 257-258.