Abstract: This article analyzes the Russian-German trade based on the materials of the monthly "Journal of Manufactures and Trade", Russian commercial magazine, which was published in 1825-1860, and covered a wide range of economic topics. Issues of a production and commercial nature were put on the central place, as it’s supposed by the name and structure of the «Journal». The most valuable period is the first 10 years of its issue. In these articles close attention was paid to various aspects of foreign trade. The task of our research was to identify key topics, which were related to Russian-German trade relations and covered in the Journal. It was also interesting to trace the changes in the thematic content in 1825-1834, during the period of changes in customs legislation both in Russia and in German countries. To solve these tasks, the content analysis method in the computer program MAXQDA was chosen. The relevance of the work is based on the poor study of the articles’ texts of the "Journal" in the context of trade problems. The research carried out the presence of stable trends in the coverage of foreign trade issues, however, textile production issues occupied a central place, while trade was considered as a second.
The main conclusion of this article was the discovery of strong links between the indicators of trade items, which were established in our previous study of the statistics of Russian-German trade, as key (wool, silk, wood), and the mention of German states in the Journal's articles. Thus, the press information confirms the statistical data in the studied period under review.
The results obtained can be used for further, more in-depth research on foreign trade issues, as well, as other topics covered in the Journal.

Abstract: This article presents an overview of economic situation and trade relations in Germany during the 1815 – 1820s, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The customs question was especially urgent due to the disparity of territories, and was being resolved in several German states simultaneously. The author examines the Prussian plan of customs union that was implemented in future, as well as the alternative regional projects. For detailed assessment of the indicated projects, analysis is conducted on the flow of import and export of various products on the German territories. This article is founded on the German sources, including maps of German territories and summary statistical tables, which did not previously received wide coverage within the Russian historiography. The topic of establishment of the German Customs Union was in the sidelines for a long time; therefore, this research is relevant for broad audience within the framework of studying the economic history and the history of Germany. The author determines that the period of formation of the German Customs Union was not subjected to comprehensive analysis; the alternative plans of customs unions were not sufficiently covered by the national and foreign historians, despite the extensive source base. The main conclusion consists in description of the actual alternatives to the Prussian plan of customs union, which have not been implemented due to political discrepancies between the members of the South and Middle German unions. Translation of the Customs Union Agreement into the Russian language has not been previously conducted; its provisions would be the subject of the author’s further research.