Free Russian Press

The Free Russian Press (Russian: Вольная русская типография, also: Вольная русская книгопечатня) was a printing company and a publishing house launched in 1853 in London by Alexander Hertzen with a view to becoming the 'uncensored voice of free Russia'.

On 21 February 1853, Hertzen issued a statement, published under the title "Free Russian Press in London. For Brothers in Russia" in which he informed "all the free-thinking Russians" of the new publishing house with its own printing facilities to be opened on 1 May and promising 'free tribune to all'. "Send me whatever you will, and everything written in the spirit of freedom will be published, from the scientific articles or pieces on statistics and history, to novels, novellas or poems... If you haven't got anything of your own, sent hand-written copies of the banned poems by Pushkin, Ryleyev, Lermontov, Polezhayev or Pecherin... Since I am yet to maintain my links with Russia... I am going to publish my own manuscripts for a while," he informed his readership.

It took several months for Hertzen, assisted by a group of the Polish emigres to purchase all the necessary printing facilities, including the typeface, small, sharp and clear, produced by the French firm Famille Didot initially for the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences which for some reasons had rejected it. He established links with bookstores in London, Paris, Berlin, Leipzig and Hamburg and made the full use of the financial help provided by James Rothshield.

The Free Russian Press was launched on June 22, 1853, on the eve of the Crimean War. The first one to come out was a brochure titled "The Yuriev day! The Yuriev Day!", a call for the Russian nobility to awaken to the need of the liberation of Russian peasants. It was followed by "The Poles Forgive You!", a proclamation propagating the idea of the respective democratic communities in the two countries, Poland and Russia, joining forces to work together for the common revolutionary cause.

...
Wikipedia