Nikolai Petrovich Osipov, along with such notables as Vasilii Ruban, Mikhail Chulkov, and Vasilii Levshin, was an outstanding member of eighteenth-century Russia's equivalent of Grubstreet. These writers wrote, compiled, translated, edited, and published massive amounts of factual and practical literature, such as almanacs, lexicons, guide books, and manuals; all were involved in the journalism of the day; all were translators of prose and/or verse; all combined the literary profession with another, "official" career. Osipov, unlike Ruban, did not publish reams of occasional verse or translate ancient classical writers; unlike Chulkov and Levshin, he did not deal in folkloristic materials or produce original fiction or write and translate plays. Osipov's literary activity consisted largely of compiling, editing, and publishing books of practical knowledge and in translating Western novels and stories. In one respect, however, he distinguished himself from his colleagues: in the course of his creative career he...