The book is the best thing written by Sergei Arkadyevich Andreevsky (1847–1918), a famous lawyer, poet, critic, and memoirist. The confessional nature of his work, which left a clear mark on the history of the transitional era at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, is most imprinted in his final work - the memoir “Book of Death” (published abroad in 1922), including an autobiography, historical fragments, literary portraits of historical and private persons, reflections on life and religion, notes and aphorisms. The originality and uniqueness of the book is that its author created a “biography of the soul,” a kind of psychological portrait of a person in the interior of the era, creating a work of exceptional literary and historical significance. A number of articles by S.A. are included. Andreevsky about Russian writers from his book “Literary Sketches” (1913).

CONTENTS: BOOK ABOUT THE DEATH ONEIntroduction (7).Part one (9).Part two (72).VOLUME TWOPart three (169) .Part four (234).The Case in Warsaw (288).ADDITIONS From the book “Literary Essays”Preface (305).Poetry of Baratynsky (306).Vsevolod Garshin (323).About Nekrasov (342).Lermontov. Characteristics (362). From thoughts about Leo Tolstoy (378). Turgenev. His individuality and poetry (394). The city of Turgenev (420). The book of Bashkirtseva (425). To the centenary of Griboyedov (437). The significance of Chekhov (445). Degeneration of rhyme (449). APPLICATIONS. I. Podolskaya. Sergey Arkadyevich Andreevsky: fate and creativity (471). Notes (compiled by I.I. Podolskaya) (554). Accepted abbreviations (654). Index of names (657). List of illustrations (668). LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS: Sergey Arkadyevich Andreevsky. 1890s (frontispiece). BY TEXT Title page of the first edition of “The Book of Death”. Volume one [1922] (6). Autograph page of “The Book of Death”, vol. I, part II, chapter XVII. RNL, f.21 (82-83). Autograph page of the “Book of Death”, vol. I, part II, chapter XVIII. RNL, f.21 (85). Title page of the first edition of the “Book of Death”. Volume two [1922] (168). Title page of the book “Literary Essays” (304). ALBUM Sergei Arkadyevich Andreevsky Anatoly Fedorovich Koni Alexander Ivanovich Urusov Zinaida Nikolaevna Gippius Zinaida Afanasyevna Vengerova Konstantin Konstantinovich ArsenyevVladimir Danilovich Spasovich Vasily Vasilievich Rozanov Alek Sandr Valentinovich AmphitheatersCross Pass. Georgian Military RoadGeorgian Military RoadMtskheta Castle. GeorgiaConfluence of Aragva and KuraDescent to Tiflis from the Georgian Military RoadPanorama of TiflisHouse on Liteiny Prospekt where the Merezhkovskys livedHouse in Kuznechny Lane where S.A. Andreevsky lived