Reference to literary associations of the late XIX? beginning of the XX century. published for the first time. It contains articles about more than 350 St. Petersburg and Moscow literary societies, circles and salons, as well as indications of printed and archival sources about them. The appendix contains the manifestos of a number of literary groups. An extensive annotated index of names is a kind of dictionary of writers and literary figures of this period. The book is abundantly illustrated.