One of the founders of Russian symbolism, poet, critic, fiction writer, playwright, thinker Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky (1865–1941) can fully be called an outstanding reader. High bookishness largely inspires his work, and literariness and dependence on “other people’s words” turn out to be the most important feature of creative thinking. Manifesting in various forms, it becomes obvious when studying the history of his texts and their sources. In the book, textual criticism and historical and literary analysis are presented as interconnected aspects of the process of understanding the poetics of D.S. Merezhkovsky, shows the possibilities that textual criticism opens up for those who strive to go from a writer’s idea to its implementation, and sometimes to the reader’s perception.