Abstract

The article devoted to Magic Lamp magazine, the Russian periodical of 1817. The magazine was published in Saint Petersburg in small printing; only 12 issues were published. It makes Magic Lamp magazine to be a bibliographical rarity. Objective function of Magic Lamp magazine was to amuse and enlighten people. In addition, it could be used as peculiar phrasebook and guidebook for foreigners visiting Saint Petersburg. The articles display typical everyday episodes taking place in the capital of Russia in the early 19th century. It is a valuable source of information about Saint Petersburg’s everyday life and folkways of the time, when Pushkin was living there. Magic Lamp magazine is an artifact of polygraphic culture, because it is one of the first illustrated magazines in Russia. Magic Lamp magazine can be qualified as sociocultural phenomenon valuable for comprehension and study of Russian history, way of life, and linguistics.