In 1901, Sytin launched an illustrated literary and humor magazine with caricatures — (“Sparks”) “Iskry”. It was published on Sundays. In its first year, the circulation was very small, but later it grew rapidly and approached a million copies. The magazine was published from 1901 to 1917, at first featuring articles, and then — exclusively illustrations, printed social, political and theater-related news, as well as photos of officials, deputies and public figures.
The drawings in “Iskry” are characteristic of magazine graphics of those years — expressive everyday sketches. Topical and satirical cartoons were printed both in color and in black and white. Sytin understood that he would have to win back readers from his rival, the St. Petersburg magazine “Niva”, whose circulation was about 250,000 copies.
Chekhov, Gilyarovsky, and Doroshevich collaborated with “Iskry”. The magazine published news and reports, gossip columns and fashion reviews, poems and feuilletons, as well as works of fiction, popular science articles, socio-political commentary, theater criticism, portraits and biographies of famous people, tips on choosing books to read, series of humorous drawings, travel stories, court chronicles, hunting stories, lyrics and notes of songs for home choral singing and reproductions of artworks. A reader could find a photo of Feodor Chaliapin as Philip II in the opera “Don Carlos” or a photo report on the earthquake in Sicily and Calabria, collections of photos on topics, for example, “John of Kronstadt”, “Romantic Drama in Odessa”, photos of the performance “The Government Inspector” on the stage of the Art Theater and much more.
During the Russo-Japanese and
World War I, the magazine published military telegrams, photos and reports from
the front, as well as photos of ordinary soldiers. The price of the magazine
together with the newspaper was 13 kopecks, and separately — 8 kopecks.
Subscription to the magazine with delivery for a year cost four rubles, for six
months — 2 rubles 50 kopecks, for three months — 1 ruble 30 kopecks, for one
month — 60 kopecks; with a newspaper for a year — 14 rubles. Publishing an advertisement in the
magazine cost 80 kopecks.
