Alexander Herzen and Nikolay Ogarev were photographed together at the famous studio of the Mayer brothers in London between September 3 and 5, 1860. Alexander Herzen liked this photo, called it “excellent”, and often presented it to his friends and acquaintances.

During this period, the cooperation between the two writers at the Free Russian Press publishing house reached its peak, and their publications were at the height of their popularity in Russia. At first, their project did not arouse much interest among Russian-speaking writers, who responded to Herzen’s invitation to send their manuscripts without much enthusiasm. However, this changed when, in the summer of 1855, Alexander Herzen launched the first regular publication, the almanac “The Polar Star”. It caught the attention of many people and began to be brought illegally into the Russian Empire.

By 1857, writers were submitting a lot more materials. There was simply not enough space in “The Polar Star” for all the writings that Alexander Herzen and Nikolay Ogarev wished to publish. They also wanted to react to current events. This is how the idea for “The Bell” was born. The newspaper was called a supplement to “The Polar Star”. To emphasize the connection between the two publications, Alexander Herzen printed the slogans of “The Polar Star” on the front page of the first issue of “The Bell”,

This program attracted the liberal opposition, which had become more active, and united a wide and diverse range of forces in the Russian Empire. The announcement of the upcoming supplement called “The Bell” already featured the famous motto of the newspaper, “Vivos voco”, translated from Latin as “I summon the living.” The line was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller’s epigraph to The Song of the Bell (“Das Lied von der Glocke”), “I summon the living. I weep for the dead. I shatter the lightning.”

Many guests from Russia started visiting Alexander Herzen. They came to him to discuss the future transformations in the Russian Empire. In 1861, the writer Leo Tolstoy visited Alexander Herzen in London. After that, they stayed in touch. “We are actively corresponding with Tolstoy, and we have sent portraits to each other,” Alexander Herzen wrote to Ivan Turgenev on March 28, 1861.