The article is a publication of the first Russian printed work on the Russian history of mathematics. It is dedicated to the ancient Russian numeral systems and was published anonymously in 1787 in the “New monthly works” of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The author tells about the Old Russian numeral system, Russian calendar and commercial account. In the popular science editions of the 18th century Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences there were many publications on the history of sciences, arts, crafts, the history of discoveries and inventions in other countries. At the same time, there was a clear lack of publications on the history of Russian culture. Russian scientists were dissatisfied with the interpretation of Russian history presented by the historiographer of the Russian state, an academician G. F. Müller, as well as with descriptions of Russia and its history by other foreign authors. In the Catherine’s time, many articles appeared, sometimes anonymous, defending the originality and ancientry of Russian culture. To analyze the data on the authorship of the work, the popular scientific editions of Academy in the 18th century and are described, information about their authors is presented, hypotheses are expressed, and the terminology of the article and the names mentioned in it are commented.
