Nikolay Novikov

Inspired by this kind of freethinking activity, he took over editing the Moscow Gazette and launched satirical journals, including Zhivopisets, patterned after The Tatler and The Spectator.

[1] His attacks on the existing social customs prompted jocund retorts from Catherine the Great, who even set her own journal called Vsyakaya vsyachina to comment on Novikov's articles.

Together with Johann Georg Schwarz, Ivan Lopukhin, and Semyon Gamaleya he brought martinism and rosicrucianism to Russia.

[2] By the 1780s, Novikov rose to the highest positions in Russian Freemasonry,[1] which liberally funded his ambitious book-publishing ventures.

Novikov used his influence for various noble purposes, such as a large-scale project of promoting Shakespeare to the Russian public.