This year marks the 174th birthday of the famous scientist and writer, fisherman and hunter L.P. Sabaneev, who owns more than a hundred books about hunting and fishing. His books “Hunting and Fishing Calendar”, “Fishes of Russia” and after a century and a half after publication are popular among hunters and fishermen and are considered the best not only among Russian publications, but also abroad.
Childhood and teens
The Sabaneeans come from an ancient Tatar family. Murza Saban Alei from the Golden Horde served with Moscow Prince Vasily the Dark, for which he was rewarded with an estate in the Perm Territory. Leonid Pavlovich was born in 1844 in the village of Zavetnoe in the Yaroslavl province. Thanks to his father and home teacher, he became addicted to hunting and fishing since childhood. They taught the boy to observe the life of nature, collect plants and insect collections, and make stuffed animals.
Then there was a study at the Cadet Corps, which the young man did not like, and he entered the University of Moscow at the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Here he found himself - at the age of 21, he began to publish his first works on the flora and fauna of his native land. In 1866, work on birds of the Moscow province was published, and in 1868, the twenty-four-year-old Sabaneev was appointed head of the expedition to the Urals, where he spent three years. The result was several works on the Ural nature, including essays on hunting and fishing.
Magazine editor
After the expedition, Sabaneev was offered the post of secretary of the Imperial Society at Moscow University, but he preferred publishing: in 1873, together with Professor S. A. Usov, they publish the collection Nature, which is published four times a year. The topics of the journal were botany and zoology, geography and mineralogy, medicine, chemistry and ethnography. The authors were prominent scientists - Pirogov, Sechenov, Bredikhin, Butlerov.
In 1872, Sabaneev, then a well-known zoologist, was invited by the editor to the "Hunting Journal". In 1875, after sending out questionnaires to the provinces, Sabaneev conducted a census of hunting in Russia. This was the first study of the hunting economy, which has since become annual. In 1873, to save the magazine from closure, Sabaneev combined it with the collection Nature. Since then, the publication began to be released monthly under the title "Nature and Hunting" and was recognized as the best in the history of Russian fishing and hunting.
Contribution to Publishing
The journal published their works Turgenev, Arsenyev, Kishensky. Many of Sabaneev’s works appeared for the first time in this publication: “Capercaillie current”, “Span of geese”, “Grouse-grouse”, “Wolf”, etc.
A.P. Chekhov warmly recommended Nature and Hunt to his brother and said that he received the journal as an employee. He learns a lot of new things, reads ways to fish, description of aquariums. Anton Pavlovich suggested sending the magazine to his brother, so that he would read about chubs and minnows. Chekhov recommended to his friend, the editor of Shards, that he draw attention to talented authors. In this magazine, many essays saw the light, which later became part of Sabaneyev’s book “The Life and Fishing of Freshwater Fish”.
Sabaneyev’s magazine quickly gained authority, and he decided to release a more affordable option that could quickly respond to questions from hunters and fishers. Since 1888, the Hunting Newspaper began to appear weekly, where fishing and hunting advice, articles on catching minnows, perches, burbots, and ruffs, which were also included in the book Fish of Russia, were published.
Four years later, the restless Sabaneev begins to publish the Domostroy magazine with tips for summer residents and rural residents. It described how to equip a house, prepare healthy food, dress comfortably and put on shoes, maintain health and use the gifts that the earth gives. The articles were very short, without an indication of the author. There is no doubt that most of them were written by Sabaneyev himself, since on the basis of this magazine the book Home Garden was published, where he is listed as the author.
In 1894, Domostroy unexpectedly stopped going “for lack of funds”, and Sabaneyev’s health was weakened - the stress associated with publishing magazines and newspapers, writing articles and books affected. In addition, Sabaneev was a member of 14 hunting, poultry, fishing societies, and this is the arrangement of exhibitions, and general hunting, and family lunches, and dinners.
Contribution to Science
Sabaneev donated rich collections of animals and birds to the museums of Yaroslavl, Yekaterinburg and the museum at Moscow University, his ichthyological collection to the Moscow Polytechnic Museum.
The contribution of Leonid Pavlovich to science is enormous: he proved that the wealth of flora and fauna is a national treasure. He devoted over a hundred books to hunting, cynology, zoology, fishing, ichthyology. Sabaneev highlighted in works what is really useful and important. An understandable and fascinating narrative makes his work widespread.
Sabaneev is a classic of Russian hunting and fishing literature, which is simple, concise and clear. By the completeness of the description of species, life of fish and how to catch them, Sabaneyev’s book “Life and fishing of freshwater fish” is to this day unparalleled.
Many ichthyologists in their works refer to the works of Sabaneev, they are sure that this work contains unique information that gives a complete picture of the reservoirs of Russia. He combined in his books his deep knowledge of the scientist and the rich experience of the famous ichthyologists of that time - Kessler, Danilevsky, Yakovlev, Pallas, Grimm, therefore the scientific and cognitive value of this work is great.
Tribute
In 1896, the journal "Nature and Hunting" ceased to appear, but from 1897 its publication resumed. Many noble families responded to the call for help to the magazine: the emperor, his sons, princes Golitsyns, Baryatinsky, counts Sheremetyevs, Uvarov, Vorontsov-Dashkovs, barons Struve and Korf, banker Ryabushinsky and many others. The geography of subscribers is also interesting: Tien Ching, Tashkent, Barnaul, Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk, Tomsk, Kutais, Chisinau, Vilna.
The magazine's affairs got better, but the editor was already terminally ill. Sabaneev could not attend the congress of hunters in 1898, and the congress sent Sabaneev bedridden a luxurious gift - a silver tea set. The seriously ill author of the book “Life and Fishing for Freshwater Fish” is transported to Yalta, but too late - on March 25, 1898, the scientist dies.
Encyclopedia of the Fisherman
The journal Nature and Hunt survived its creator for 14 years, and the release of The Hunting Newspaper ceased with it. After Sabaneev, the work “Fish of Russia” remained, published for the first time in 1875 and to this day remains the best book on fishing. Such books, as a rule, do not live long, but “Life and fishing of freshwater fish” has become a desktop for many amateur fishermen. Of course, some facts regarding the place and time require verification. But the very essence - the behavior of fish, customs and habits - is still relevant today.
Despite success, the author continued to work on the book - in 1862 the second edition was published. “Fishing calendar”, another work of Sabaneyev, was published during the author’s lifetime not as an independent publication, but as an appendix to the “Hunting Calendar”. Subsequently, he was published in the work "Fish of Russia." Unfortunately, many of Sabaneev’s works on fishing did not appear as independent publications.
The second edition of Leonid Sabaneyev’s book “Life and Fishing for Freshwater Fish”, published in 1892, has not been mentioned for a long time. This book is rare, not all libraries have it in their collections. The third edition was published in 1911 after the death of the scientist with a circulation of 7,650 copies. In Soviet times, the book began to be published with the "Fishing Calendar" under the title "Life and Fishing."
About the book "Fish of Russia"
Leonid Pavlovich was a successful angler: knowing the habits of fish very well, he generously shared his experience. At the exhibitions organized by him, new tackles, rods, and donks were demonstrated. The second edition of the book “Life and fishing of freshwater fish” is supplemented by ways of suppression, articles on the organization and classification of fish, tables for determining species of fish.
Amateur fishermen will find detailed information about fish life and fishing methods. There are 63 essays in the book, which the reader will find out in which ponds they live, the appearance of fish, the spawning time, how and what to eat, about various baits, how and with what gears it is better to catch, from where - from the shore or from a boat. You will not find such information in every encyclopedia.
Fishing tips
Readers will learn a lot of usefulness from the second part of the book “Life and Fishing of Freshwater Fish”. It tells how to choose hooks and cook floats, sinkers, lots, how to check the rods and fishing line for strength. Even experienced fishermen will find a lot of interesting things for themselves in Sabaneyev’s book: they learn about the rules of hooking, how to plant live bait, fishing signs.
The author pays attention to how to get worms, store nozzles, plant maggots. He talks about substances whose smell attracts fish. How to cook tin and metal spinners, to fish for oats, to catch on spinners - many other things are written about this in the wonderful manual of Sabaneyev.
In addition, the book has a “Fishing Calendar”, in which the author reveals in detail, by months, the secrets about which fish and how to catch, what kind of work and preparations.
Reviews
The book "Life and fishing of freshwater fish" is written in a lively, accessible language and contains detailed drawings. Not a single modern publication has so many visual lessons in fishing. The methods of fishing and adaptation are described in detail, there are tips on how to choose a bait, a spinner, a hook, the right tackle, and fix the bait.
The book is written simply and fascinatingly, it is easy to read, it will be interesting not only to fishermen. It is publicly available on the Internet in various formats: EPUB, MOBI, PDF, FB2. “Living and catching freshwater fish” is an excellent guide for both novice and experienced fishers. Modern publications with color photographs and illustrations are a great gift for fishing enthusiasts.