Kirsha Danilov

Kirsha Danilov was the supposed compiler of a collection of Russian heroic, religious and humorous folksongs that made its first appearance in print in 1804. The anthology is entitled The Ancient Russian Poems and includes 71 texts set down in manuscript in the mid-18th century, probably in the Urals. It was one of the first authentic collections of folksongs to be published in Europe. The original manuscript was owned by industrialist Prokofi Demidov and is kept in the Russian National Library in St Petersburg.