Encyclopedic Dictionary is the first reference publication dedicated to the biography and work of the writer. Saltykov's life and work are presented in a broad sociocultural context. The articles of the dictionary affect a wide range of phenomena of the socio-political and cultural life of Russia and other countries (reforms of the 1860s, the Russian-Turkish war, the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, the policy of Russia and the West in relation to the eastern countries, the literary and public controversy of the 1860s, book publishing and magazine politics, a change in literary and aesthetic trends, musical and theatrical life of the 1840s-1880s, etc.).