Literary historian and Cold War scholar Ivan Tolstoy began publishing the historical and cultural almanac Connaisseur in 2018, when mass emigration was still unheard of. Tolstoy served as the almanac's compiler, editor, author, layout designer, and distributor.
Three issues (in four volumes) have been published, totaling 2000 pages and containing 3000 illustrations, photographs, and documents: 1) Paris Russe, 2) Children's Thought, 3) Here in Leningrad. Volumes 4 and 5 are currently being prepared.
The almanac has a library in the form of separate publications: “Guardians of the Legacy: From Zilberstein to the Present Day,” the memoirs of Radio Liberty veteran Gene Sosin “Sparks of Freedom,” and a collection of poems by essayist Boris Paramonov “Red Cemetery.”