Step` anos Nazaryan's Pioneering Journal: Hyusisap 'ayl [Northern Lights] Monthly, 1858-1864

Nazaryan had tried to start a journal while still in Kazan, citing Armenians’ deficit in “autonomous literary organs.” In his Obozrenie istorii Gaykanskoi pis’mennosti noveishiia vremena [Survey of the History of Contemporary Armenian Literature], written in Kazan, 1846, he already saw the press as a polemical tool, “the most capable weapon ... for spreading the national spirit.” ¹ Kazan university officials, the Ministry of Enlightenment, and the viceroy of the Caucasus, Mikhail Vorontsov rejected his first request. In 1854, having gained confidence in his publishing abilities, Nazaryan made a second appeal to produce a journal entitled “Russia.” This time he requested financial assistance from the Lazaryan family, who advised him to postpone his proposal until “more favorable times.” The death of Nicholas I and the ascent of the “Tsar-Liberator,” Alexander II’s more tolerant rule, stimulated a rapid growth of the press throughout the Russian Empire. ² The Caucasian Viceroyalty, the Ministry of Education, and the Censorship Committee began to see the potential value of a periodical directed specifically toward Russian-Armenian communities, which could successfully compete with the Ottoman-Armenian journals already popular in the Caucasus. Nazaryan’s persistence earned him the permission, on December 14, 1858, to execute his most recent journal proposal; the publication of Hyusisap‘ayl began that January. Karapet Yezyan (1835-1905), a government employee, advertised the journal one year before its debut in the Zhurnal ministerstvo vnutrennikh del [Journal of the Ministry of Interior]. ³ Although he did not receive the 600 advance sales he was anticipating, Nazaryan began his new publishing venture with as little as 300 subscriptions.