“Russian author” in 1739: Gottlieb Bayer, Ivan Taubert and the First Steps of Russian School Literary Canon

whole syllabus provided by Krafft's 1739 gymnasium regulation, as well as the book-selling practice of the Academy in the early 1740s, makes it clear that the selection of Bayer's book was not coincidental -it corresponded well to the Russian reading public's ideas about proper verbal composition. The marginal status of verse (poetry) in this structure, combined with the actors' attention to questions of style, provide the basis for a new narrative for Russian literary history of the 1730s, centered around the collective work of the translators of the under-studied Russian Society (Rossijskoe sobranie), established in 1735. Such a narrative would consider the whole catalogue of books published by the Academy, whether in Russian or in other languages.