By 1917, Sytin & Co was producing 25 calendars with a total annual circulation of more than 21 million copies. Ivan Sytin published not only table, but also tear-off calendars for every day, which are still popular today. Leo Tolstoy took a keen interest in the calendars. On his advice, Sytin invited the writer Nikolay Polushin to work on them. Due to his involvement, the annual circulation of the wall calendar increased. The first tear-off calendars were published in a modest print run of two to three thousand copies a year. Gradually, the public became more interested, therefore, the circulation also grew: by 1917, the company produced 8,000,000 copies annually.

In 1902, Nikolay Tulupov, a well-known teacher and educator, began managing the production of tear-off calendars, and their educational role intensified. Along with useful tips and quotes from the Fathers of the Church, they featured poems by Alexander Pushkin, Nikolay Nekrasov, Ivan Surikov, Alexander Blok, Semyon Nadson and Dmitry Merezhkovsky, as well as excerpts from the works of Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, Nikolai Gogol and Vladimir Korolenko. There were also fashionable novelties, for instance, “Chinese Puzzles”.

“A tear-off calendar is not just a calendar; by an accidental sign, a sharp word, a kind joke and a well-marked thought, it should wake up a sleepy mind and call it to begin a new life…” The calendar became a home encyclopedia for villagers, helping them in all their endeavors. Its pages depicted saints and railway stations, reported on the economy and prescriptions for medicines, detailed the government structure of Russia, and much more. The demand for the novelty exceeded expectations, and the range quickly expanded: in addition to the ordinary calendar, Sytin & Co soon also began to produce illustrated, historical and military calendars.

The “Tear-off Calendar of Historical Events” for 1915 features the coats of arms of cities and regions of the Russian Empire with brief historical references. In it, an empty field “For notes” was introduced for the first time. Sytin’s tear-off calendars could easily be distinguished from others: the sheets at the top were fastened with a yellow metal plate stamped “Sytin & Co” (“Т-во И.Д. Сытина”).