ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the Larka Lvitskii, a historical person, who was a lifelong clerk in the Service Land Chancellery, Muscovy's land office and largest chancellery. It describes his place of work, career trajectory, workplace colleagues, wages, marriage, and mentalitie. Larka's experiences were typical of other government clerks, and his life story is a microcosm of theirs. His work contributed to the demarcation of Muscovite lands and the state's control over them. Once satisfied with Larka's apprenticeship, his superiors promoted him to junior clerk, the first of three formal ranks in the chancellery clerkdom, followed by the middle and senior clerk, the last of which Larka never achieved. Larka acquired his share of special payments that helped compensate for his junior clerk's wages. He had to have the patience of Job in matching up corresponding sheet ends, each pair of which bore the upper and bottom halves of the state secretary's or senior clerk's signature, and reattaching them.
