Among historical novelists of the early 19th century there was no more popular name than Lev Zhdanov (1864–1951). Most of his books are devoted to little-known pages of Russian history. The six-volume collected works of the writer include his best historical novels - chronicles and stories. Almost all have been out of print for over eighty years. In the first volume, the reader will become acquainted with Zhdanov’s dilogy Tsar Ivan the Terrible (novels “The Third Rome”, “The Terrible Time”) and the story from the era of impostor “The Legacy of the Terrible.”