I recently came across this mention of VN's father in the 21 Feb 1912 issue of Publisher's Weekly. It is in an article titled "Journalism in Russia." Enjoy.
(I hope the link works!)
http://books.google.com/books?id=NBoDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA658&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=-eI2jaIBU16_jyp2Ci8WPlMEZho&ci=63,627,461,285&edge=1"></a
Matt Roth