60 years «The Master and Margarita»
Sixty years ago, a shockwave rippled through Moscow. The magazine Moskva published, entirely out of the blue, the first part of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, a novel that almost no one could have imagined would ever have been written. And those who were aware of its existence had not the slightest hope that it would ever be published. But thanks to the boundless perseverance of Yelena Sergeevna, the writer’s widow, after 26 years in hiding, everyone was finally able to discover one of the most brilliant satires in world literature, even though the text was still heavily censored at that time, in that November of 1966.
The official price of the 11th issue of the Moskva magazine in 1966 at news stalls was 80 kopecks – the same as the price of four loaves of white bread or two cinema tickets. However, due to high demand, the price on the black market rose to 50 roubles – half, or even the entire monthly salary, of a young Soviet specialist, engineer or nurse. And yet the entire print run of 150,000 copies was completely sold out within a few hours.
Much later, this memorable event also provided the impetus for the launch of my The Master and Margarita website. After existing for almost a year as a very limited website comprising around a hundred pages, and exclusively in Dutch, the current four-language version went online 20 years ago, on 6 November 2006 – 40 years after the novel’s very first publication.
Celebrate with us
Discover below the gifts we have in store to let you join us in celebrating this double anniversary.
A free soundtrack CD of an acclaimed TV series
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With the DVD of the TV series Master i Margarita by Vladimir Bortko you will receive in the month of November 2026 a free CD containing the complete soundtrack of the series, featuring unforgettable melodies by Igor Kornelyuk, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Johann Strauss Jr., and Dmitri Lensky. |
A complete unmasking, with a free supplementary e-book
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With the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know About The Master and Margarita you will receive during the month of November 2026 a free e-book version of My Poor, Poor Master - which contains all the manuscript versions of the novel that Bulgakov ever wrote. This e-book version cannot be ordered separately in the e-shop. |
A biography with a free supplementary e-book
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With the book Life and Works of Mikhail Bulgakov you will receive during the month of November 2026 a free e-book version of Everyday Life in Moscow in the Stalin Era - to discover the environment in which Bulgakov lived and worked. This e-book version cannot be ordered separately in the e-shop. |
A unique film collection and an ultimate biography
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With the DVD-set The Bulgakov Collection you will receive during the month of November 2026 a free e-book version of Life and Works of Mikhail Bulgakov, Marietta Chudakova’s definitive biography of Mikhail Bulgakov. This e-book version cannot be ordered separately in the e-shop. |
Membership in the Mikhail Bulgakov Circle and a calendar
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If you become a member of the Mikhail Bulgakov Circle in November 2026, you will receive a free copy of our new Wandkalender 2027 featuring 12 unique illustrations from The Master and Margarita. |
Discover «The Yellow Flowers» on November 30
On December 8, 2026, the Bulgarian band Fox 'n' Cats will release the album Songs Inspired by Great Novels. We have already featured one of the tracks, Devil Sent Me, on this page. In the meantime, the band has prepared another song, inspired by The Master and Margarita, titled The Yellow Flowers. This track will be officially launched here on our website on 30 November 2026, to bring our Bulgakov Month to a festive conclusion.
Films and TV series with English subtitles
Books
