The report was read by novice Ekaterina Barmicheva
within the framework of the feast of the Orthodox book
in secondary school No. 10 in Polotsk and the monastic Sunday school
Among the remarkable builders of Russian culture, one of the first places is occupied by Ivan Fedorov, whose name is associated with the beginning of book printing in the Russian state.
By the middle of the 15th century, the Russian lands united around Moscow. In 1480, the last traces of political dependence on the khans of the Golden Horde were destroyed. The Russian state not only grew stronger politically, but also developed rapidly culturally. In connection with the general rise of Russian national culture, the demand for books increased. At that time, books in Rus' were only in handwritten form. Rewriting books was considered an honorable and virtuous occupation, which was patronized by spiritual and secular authorities. By the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries, the art of handwriting developed so much that, in addition to the scribes who worked at the monasteries, a whole class of scribes formed who worked for hire and offered the fruits of their labor for sale.
This was not the case in the southern and western lands. In the south, Slavic society and the Church felt a huge shortage of books destroyed by the conquering Turks. In the west, the development of Slavic writing was hindered by the Catholic Church, whose official language was Latin. Naturally, for the Catholic Church, Slavic writing was associated with Orthodoxy, which she oppressed in every possible way in the lands subject to her. Because of these oppressions, there were few scribes who were literate in Slavic, especially in comparison with their huge number in the Muscovite kingdom. By printing it was possible to get books much more and faster than by copying, so book printing immediately became in demand in the southern and western Slavic lands.
But soon in Rus' there was a need for book printing. In the second half of the 15th century, it already gained significant distribution in the Slavic lands, in the Czech Republic the first printed book was published in 1468, in Poland at the end of the 15th century. The Krakow printing house printed five books in Church Slavonic. In Prague in 1517, the famous Belarusian cultural figure Georgy-Franciscus Skorina started printing the Bible in the Belarusian language. . Having moved from Prague to Vilna, Skorina founded a printing house in it, from which the first printed book of Belarus came out in 1525. In Montenegro, the first book in the Slavic language was printed in 1493, and in Serbia and Belgrade in 1553.
Preparations began for the organization of printing in Moscow. In 1552, the Danish king Christian III sent an ambassador with a letter to Ivan the Terrible, in which he urged the young sovereign to accept the Lutheran faith. He proposed to the tsar to allow his subject Hans Missenheim to print the Bible and two more Protestant books in several thousand copies translated into the native language, so that in this way it would be possible in a few years to promote the benefit of the Orthodox churches. Ivan the Terrible rejected the proposal of the Danish king. Protecting Russian culture, he did not want to give the organization of printing in Moscow into the hands of foreigners. Russian cultural figures, led by an inquisitive sovereign, were determined to organize the printing business in Moscow with their own forces and means.
In Rus', printed books appeared later than in the southern and western Slavic lands. This was due to the abundance of handwritten books and the scribes themselves. However, by that time, many errors had accumulated in the Holy and liturgical books due to numerous rewritings. By order of King John, measures were taken to prevent this. The oldest priests were instructed to oversee the correctness of the rewriting, but it was impossible to correct all the previously written books. And when in 1553 a lot of liturgical books were required for new churches in the conquered Kazan kingdom, only a few books out of the entire purchased amount turned out to be without distortion.
Then the young king John thought about the organization of the printing business. The Monk Maximus the Greek, a famous preacher and translator of Greek books, convinced the king of the benefits of printing. The desire of the tsar to set up a printing house in Moscow was supported by his spiritual mentor, Metropolitan Macarius, who had high hopes for printing, believing that with its help it would be possible to avoid distortions of church books. Metropolitan Macarius blessed the tsar for a new undertaking, saying that "the idea to start printing books in Rus' was inspired by God Himself to the tsar."
It should be noted that in addition to supporters of printing, there were many of its opponents. Especially among the boyars, who were afraid of weakening their political significance and strengthening the authority of the tsarist government and the church. New trends in the book business caused a protest of scribes. Their work became unprofitable, the machine made it possible to print books faster and cheaper. The printers were accused of spreading heresy. However, the tsar and the printers paid little heed to this covert or overt opposition. The church was in dire need of liturgical books, the demand for which could not be fully satisfied by scribes. The development of Russian literature and writing, the interests of Russian culture urgently demanded the spread of book printing.
Encouraged in his undertaking, Ivan Vasilyevich began to bring his intention to fruition. He chose a place for the construction of the Printing Yard in the city center on Nikolskaya Street near the Zaikonospassky Monastery. The tsar did not spare money for the construction of a printing house and the provision of everything necessary. The arrangement of the printing house of Russian masters was taught by the Italians, who had already lived in Moscow since the second half of the 15th century. But book printing itself in Rus' was introduced completely independently. Its main figure was the deacon of the Kremlin Church of St. Nicholas Gostunsky Ivan Fedorov, an absolutely remarkable person for his love for printing, to which he devoted his whole life.
Scientists have not been able to establish the exact date of Ivan Fedorov's birth. He is believed to have been born around 1510. . Some historians suggest that he studied at the University of Krakow. Ivan Fedorov was a highly educated person, a professional in his field. He was a connoisseur of all the intricacies of typography, he knew how not only to print books, but also to cast letters (metal letters) and cut matrices (forms for casting letters). After all, to print books it was necessary to have not only a printing press, but also to cast metal letters. Ivan Fedorov's assistant in Moscow was the printer Pyotr Timofeev Mstislavets (a native of the city of Mstislavl). Subsequently, he founded a large printing house in Vilna (modern Vilnius), which existed for 60 years and became famous for many remarkable publications.
Based on the testimony of the first printer, it is believed that the printing house in Moscow was opened in 1563. To start typographic activity, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets produced and cast one font, using the drawing of a half charter. Font making is hard work. First, a matrix was made - a convex shape for each letter was cut out in hard metal, its copy was made by imprinting on softer metal, the resulting in-depth shape was called a matrix. By pouring metal into it, letters were obtained in the right amount. Then, from these letters, a text was typed, which required jewelry accuracy in observing the gaps between letters and words.
The first dated printed book in Rus' appeared on March 1, 1564. It was printed in Moscow at the state printing house founded by Ivan the Terrible. The full name of the book is "Acts of the Apostles", but its short name "Apostle" is better known. The typing of the first page of the book began in April 1563, and almost a year later, on March 1, 1564, the printing of the Apostle was completed. The first printer himself did a great deal of textual and editorial work on it, designed it according to all the rules of the paleographic art of that time. Having creatively reworked the ornamental techniques of the school of Theodosius Izograph (the leading designer of the Russian manuscript book of the early 16th century), Ivan Fedorov made in this book rich headlines for each section, colorful vignettes at the top of the pages, initial initials, typed it in a semi-statutory font developed on the basis of the handwritten Moscow letters from the middle of the 16th century.
At the beginning of 1565, Tsar John gave the order to start printing the second book, The Clockworker. So Ivan Fedorov laid the foundation for a great cultural cause. He put typographical business in Moscow very highly. The Italian merchant Barbarini, who visited the Printing Yard, was amazed at the skill of the Russians. Here is what Barbarini wrote to his homeland about the state of book printing in Moscow: “Last year they introduced printing ... and I myself saw with what dexterity books were already printed in Moscow.”
Meanwhile, Ivan Fedorov had opponents and envious people. They accused him of heresy, seeking to ruin the cause, as is characteristic of "evil-tempered, unlearned and unintelligent people." This forced Ivan Fedorov and his assistant Pyotr Mstislavets to flee "from the land and fatherland" to other unknown countries. But the enemies of printing failed to destroy the great work of the first printer. In 1568, the Moscow Printing House resumed its activities with the help of other printing masters - Nevyazha Timofeev and Nikifor Tarasiev.
The time of flight from Moscow of the first printers Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets is not exactly known. It probably happened after the publication of The Clockworker in 1565. In 1568, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets were in Belarus, in Zabludovo, the estate of a major Belarusian magnate Grigory Alexandrovich Khodkevich. A staunch opponent of the unification of Lithuania and Belarus with Poland, Khodkevich, together with the entire Belarusian people, fought against Polonization. To support the Orthodox Church and protect the Belarusian people, he decided to print liturgical books in the Slavic language. Khodkevich offered the Moscow fugitives to set up a printing house on his estate. The proposal was accepted, and in 1568 the printing of the book "The Teaching Gospel" began in Zabludovo. It was printed quickly and was published with the same perfection as the Moscow Apostle. This book was the last that Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets published jointly. This is where their paths diverged.
In 1569, the Union of Lublin was concluded, which finally consolidated the unification of the Polish-Lithuanian state, after which relations with Moscow escalated, and Orthodoxy began to be gradually expelled from the state. It is clear that under such conditions, the educational activities of Ivan Fedorov became impossible. As a reward for his work, Khodkevich offered I. Fedorov a village that could feed his family, but the first printer refused this gift. And then, together with his son I.F., he moved to Lvov, where he had to become the founder of printing in Ukraine. After much trouble and overcoming various obstacles, Ivan Fedorov managed to organize a printing house in Lvov, in which at the end of February in 1573 he began printing the first book in the new place. However, it was not possible to continue the work begun in Lvov. The financial position of the first printer was greatly shaken. He got into debt to usurers and was forced to leave Lvov. At the suggestion of Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, Ivan Fedorov came to his estate to set up a printing house. Prince Ostrozhsky was also an opponent of the unification of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine with Poland and a defender of the Orthodox faith and the Ukrainian people from the onslaught of the Polish Catholic Church and the Jesuits.
From the beginning of 1577, the Ostroh printing house began to operate, and Ivan Fedorov began to print the famous Ostroh Bible in it. The Ostroh Bible is an outstanding monument of the book industry of the 2nd half of the 16th century, the most important edition printed in 1580-1581 after Ivan Fedorov moved to Ostrog.
In search of the necessary good translation of the Bible, Ivan Fedorov and Prince K. K. Ostrozhsky turned to Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The Greek and Slavic lists for holding the “right” were brought from “Greek, Serbian and Slavic monasteries” and from the head of the entire Eastern Church, the Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah. As a result, the best version of the translation of biblical texts into Church Slavonic was made at that time. The printing process began in September 1580 and was completed on August 12, 1581. The title page is decorated with an apostle frame printed from an old board brought from Moscow. On the other side of the title page is the coat of arms of the Ostrozhsky princes.
The Ostroh Bible was published in a large circulation for that time - 1500 copies. The book was distributed in Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Part of the circulation was sent to Moscow.
The Ostroh Bible was the last creation of the Moscow printer. After her, he no longer printed whole books.
Soon Ivan Fedorov returned to Lviv, where his family remained. Upon arrival in Lvov, at the end of 1582, he again organized a printing house, but he was unable to resume his dear business. December 5, 1583 Ivan Fedorov died. He died in complete poverty, his property was entangled in debts, from which he could not free himself until the end of his life. He was buried in Lvov in the Svyatoonufrivsky monastery. Currently, twelve printed editions of Ivan Fedorov are known - monuments of Russian typographic art. The fonts cast by Fedorov are perfectly readable, headpieces, endings, capital letters are distinguished by an amazing subtlety of work. Especially for the Bible, small narrow headpieces and endings with floral ornaments were made, as well as many large white initials on a black background. The book contains many small ornaments made up of decorative cast stars, rosettes, leaves, berries, angel heads. The print is two-color. All of them are accompanied by the publishing mark of the first printer himself - the initials “I. F." A distinctive feature of Fedorov's books is the presence in them of the author's prefaces and afterwords, written in a lively colloquial language on behalf of the printer. They contain the history of the creation of his books, biographical information about the author-publisher.
After the departure of Ivan Fedorov to Lithuania, book printing was transferred from Moscow to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, but returned to the capital at the end of the 16th century. Fedorov's students continued his work, publishing about 20 printed books.
In 1909, in the center of Moscow, where the Sovereign's printing house was located in the 16th century, a monument to Ivan Fedorov was erected (sculptor S. M. Volnukhin).
Everything has its beginning. The same can be said about the printing business in Rus'. Although printing was invented by Europeans in the 15th century, it took a long time for the new invention to reach Russia. It is generally accepted that the founder of book printing in our country was a certain Ivan Fedorov, and the printing of catalogs, brochures and much more that is produced by modern printing houses originates precisely in his work. It is widely believed that the first book in Russia was printed in 1564, but this is not entirely true. Indeed, on March 1, 1564, the world saw the "Apostle", released by Ivan Fedorov. But even earlier books were printed in our country.
Even ten years before the publication of the "Apostle", in 1553, Tsar Ivan III ordered the construction of a printing house in Moscow, that is, in modern terms, a printing house. During the 1550s, the printing press printed several books that in modern tradition are called "anonymous", since they did not contain either the date of issue or the name of the author. In fact, it turns out that Fedorov's "Apostle" was, of course, not the first Russian printed book. However, if you compare it with previously released "anonymous" books, then a big difference immediately becomes noticeable.
First, in the case of Apostle, we know exactly when the book was released. Thus, this work can be safely considered the first domestic printed book, which is exactly dated. Secondly, the print quality is also markedly different for the better.
A few words should be said about Ivan Fedorov himself. It is curious that not much is known about this important character in Russian history. Until now, historians cannot unequivocally answer the question of when and where he was born, and also where he studied. Most sources indicate that Fedorov came from a poor Belarusian nobility and studied in Poland, at Krakow University, famous all over Europe at that time. In the biography of the Russian printing pioneer, white spots begin to disappear just when he takes up work in a Moscow printing house.
It is curious that the Moscow printing house was destroyed as a result of a conflict between printers and scribes, who were afraid that the Fedorov case would cause serious damage to their income. Once the printing house was set on fire, and Fedorov eventually chose to move to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where he continued to engage in printing business, and then moved to Lviv, where he also opened a printing house. In addition to publishing printed books, Ivan Fedorov was engaged, in particular, in the foundry business, earning a living by manufacturing cannons.
Under Ivan the Terrible, book printing first appeared in Russia (1564).
“The old customs have gone mad” – this is what was pointed out at the Stoglavy Cathedral as the main cause of all church troubles. Restoring the old order and preserving it in all its purity became the main task of the clergy. Of the writers of that time, perhaps only one Maxim Grek quite clearly understood that this was not enough and Russians most of all needed enlightenment, the awakening of living thought ... Other most prominent writers sought salvation only in observing the “holy antiquity”.
Monument to Ivan Fedorov in Moscow
A very important monument of this time should be considered the "Cheti-Minei" of Metropolitan Macarius. This huge work (12 large books) collected the lives of the saints, the words and teachings for their holidays, their creations of all kinds, entire books of Holy Scripture and interpretations on them. Twelve years, under the leadership of Macarius, scribes worked on this collection. Another work is also very important - this is the Pilot Book - a collection of church laws, decrees and rules of Russian princes and saints. Finally, Macarius is also credited with compiling a collection of information on Russian history called the Book of Powers. All these works were a support for the preservation of antiquity, they provided spiritual weapons for the fight against various "innovations" and "opinions", which were feared more than fire; they even said about them: “the mother of all passions is opinion; opinion is the second fall,” they were all the more afraid because at that time in the West “innovations” and “opinions” of the “Luthor heresy” shook the old order of the church.
But no matter how much care was taken to ensure that no “opinions” penetrated into the Russian land, nevertheless at this time (1553) the heresy of Matvey Bashkin and Theodosius Kosoy manifested itself here. Bashkin heard enough of "Western philosophies" and himself began to explain the Holy Scriptures according to his own mind and speak "perplexed speeches" and found followers in Moscow. Heresy, however, was discovered, a council was convened to judge heretics. It turned out that they, like the Jews, rejected the deity of the Son and His equality with God the Father, the sacrament of communion and repentance, the veneration of icons, saints, etc. Theodosius Kosoy, a monk of the Cyril Monastery, went even further into heresy. Bashkin and his supporters were sent to monastic prisons. Theodosius, however, managed to escape to Lithuania, where he continued to spread his heresy. Zinoviy Otensky (Otensky monastery not far from Novgorod) wrote especially strongly against heretics.
The fight against heresy, the desire to preserve unshakable antiquity, forced most of all to think about how church, liturgical books could be protected from damage: books in Rus' then were still handwritten. As a rule, at monasteries and at bishops there were "doctors" who were engaged in the correspondence of books out of zeal and love for the cause. In addition, there were scribes in the cities who traded in the correspondence of both liturgical and all sorts of "fourth books", which were usually sold at the markets.
When, after the capture of Kazan, new churches began to be built in the newly conquered land, it took a lot of liturgical books, and the tsar ordered to buy them - it turned out that out of the huge number of handwritten books bought, very few were suitable; in others there were so many omissions, errors, typos, distortions, unintentional and intentional, that there was no way to correct them. This circumstance, according to some, led the tsar to the idea of starting book printing in Moscow. Already a hundred years have passed since book printing appeared in Western Europe, and in Moscow there was no mention of book printing until 1553. When the tsar told Metropolitan Macarius of his intention, he liked it very much.
“This idea,” he said, “was inspired by God himself, it is a gift from above!
Then the king ordered to build a special house for printing and printing, to look for craftsmen. The construction of the house, or the Printing Yard, as it was called, lasted ten years. Finally, in April 1563, the printing of the first book, Acts of the Apostles, printed in Moscow, began, and on March 1, 1564, was completed.
The chief master in the first Russian printing house was a Russian man - deacon Ivan Fedorov, and his main employee was Pyotr Timofeev Mstislavets. Ivan Fyodorov, apparently, studied his business well, perhaps in Italy: he not only knew how to type and print books himself, but also cast letters very skillfully. The same masters printed another Chasovnik next year, and then had to flee from Moscow: they were accused of heresy and spoiling books. They say that the enemies of the Russian printing pioneers even set fire to the Printing House. Ivan Fedorov himself said that he was forced to flee from Moscow "by the venomous anger from many bosses and teachers who, for the sake of envy, plotted many heresies against us, wanted to turn a good deed into evil, and completely destroy God's cause."
"Apostle" Ivan Fedorov, 1563-1564
The first Russian printers fled to Lithuania and continued to do their work here; however, even after their flight of Ivan Fedorov, book printing in Moscow was again restored, but it was carried out on such an insignificant scale that it could not force handwritten books written by illiterate scribes out of use.
Introduction
The topic of the essay "The beginning of Russian book printing in the middle of the 16th century." I chose not by chance, because it is impossible to overestimate the importance of the role of books in our lives and in our development. The book accompanied man at every step of his development, from primitive drawings to books in electronic form. The book is the best carrier of information in time and space. We owe all the knowledge that people use now, memories of the events of past centuries, to the book. All the information that humanity now possesses (scientific works, fiction, epics and legends, as well as pictures and photographs) also came to us thanks to the book.
The history of the book as an academic discipline studies the history of handwritten and printed books, the topics and types of books, their origin and development, methods of distribution and perception (reading), in connection with the history of printing houses and publishing houses. The history of the book also studies the conditions of the social existence of the book, the legal regime.
Based on the general history, the history of culture, science and technology, the history of the book studies the facts and patterns of development of handwritten and printed books, their role at different stages of human civilization.
The purpose of this work is to study the history of the emergence of printing. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve problems, such as: studying the circumstances of the founding of the first printing houses in Russia, studying the activities of the first Russian and foreign printers, considering the origin and dating of the first printed editions, their artistic and technical features.
Renaissance, great discoveries, scientific and technological revolution, capitalist industrial development - these world - historical processes demanded a variety of knowledge and information, spreading at an accelerating pace, more and more clearly.
The advent of printing played a decisive role here. In addition to creating a material base for the consolidation and rapid dissemination of sciences, new information, emerging crafts and industries, book printing contributed to the development of literacy in general, the formation and improvement of national and international literatures, and this, in turn, the entire system of education and upbringing of a person.
The role of the book is very great and is connected with each field of activity. I really appreciate books and thank my ancestors for the knowledge that they were able to convey to us with the help of books. Society cannot exist without information. Unfortunately, the era of printed books seems to be on the decline. Even educational institutions want to introduce electronic textbooks. Perhaps the book can become a piece of expensive goods - the way it was originally. Progress is underway, and books have been replaced by the Internet and other electronic resources, but I wonder where books come from, which book was the first to be the parent of Russian book printing, where and when did book printing in general originate?
Many well-known scientists, such as I.E. Barenbaum, in whose work "History of the Book" describes the history of the development of printing in the most detailed and accessible way, E.I. Katsprzhak, who devoted a significant part of The History of Writing and Books to the development of the Russian book, E.L. Nemirovsky, whose works "Ivan Fedorov", "Journey to the Origins of Russian Printing" were also used to write this work.
The first essay on the history of Russian printing was given at the beginning of the 18th century by F.P. Polikarpov-Orlov. In the 18th century, such prominent Russian people as V.V. Kupriyanov, M.V. Lomonosov, then A.I. Bogdanov also worked on this issue. At the end of the century, D. Semenov-Rudnev, I.G. Buckmaster. A huge contribution to the study of this topic was made by A.E. Viktorov, who, in one of his reports, posed the question: “Was there no experience of book printing in Moscow before the first printed Apostle?” - and answered him: it was. It was Viktorov who most thoroughly studied and described the "anonymous" editions of Russian books of the 16th century. Of the subsequent scientists, Viktorov was supported by L.A. Kavelin and F.I. Bulgakov.
The compilation of more or less complete collections of Slavic-Russian bibliography, catalogs is associated with the names of V.M. Undolsky, I.P. Karataev, A.S. Rhodes.
N.P. Kiseleva, E.V. Zatsepina, T.B. Ear. A.A. Pokrovsky, T.N. Kameneva, S.A. Klepikov.
The topic of the history of printing is relevant at the present time - last year, on April 19, 450 years of Russian printing were celebrated - on April 19, 1563, Ivan Fedorov's printing house began working on Nikolskaya Street, not far from the Moscow Kremlin, on this day work began on the first printed book " Apostle". It was then that the era of Russian book printing was born.
1. The birth of printing
The first printing technology appeared in ancient China towards the end of the 2nd century. By this time, the Chinese already had three necessary elements of this technology: first, paper; secondly, paint; thirdly, the ability to cut (or engrave) texts on various surfaces. These, for example, were Buddhist sayings carved on the marble columns of Buddhist temples. In Europe, printing appeared in the XII century, studying the material from which the imported paper was made, the Europeans gradually revealed the secret of its manufacture; perhaps the recipe was brought back in the middle of the 13th century by knights returning from the crusades. By 1275, paper production appeared in Italy, in the middle of the XIV century - in France and Germany.
Printing was one of the prerequisites for the replacement of the feudal world order by the bourgeois system. To emerge from the darkness of the Middle Ages, people first of all had to revolutionize the means of recording and disseminating information. Therefore, it is not surprising that the history of printing has always attracted the attention of researchers. The appearance of the first printed book in the language of this or that people means the beginning of a new era of cultural life.
In Western Europe, printing appeared at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th century. During this period, the foundations of world trade were laid, the transition from handicraft to manufactory, and the old, handwritten method of reproducing books could no longer satisfy the growing needs. It is being replaced by typography. At first, a method of printing from boards appeared in Europe, on which images and text appeared. A number of books, playing cards, calendars, etc. were printed in this way. In 1445 Johannes Gutenberg used metal typesetting. At first, a matrix was made by extruding letter-shaped recesses in soft metal. Then a lead alloy was poured into it and the required number of letters was made. The letters-letters were arranged in a systematic order in the typesetting cash desks, from where they were taken out for typing. Later, manual printing presses were created for printing. The printing press was a manual press, where two horizontal planes were connected: typesetting was installed on one plane, paper was pressed against the other. Previously, the matrix was covered with a mixture of soot and linseed oil. Such a machine gave no more than 100 prints per hour. Printing in movable type quickly spread throughout Europe, although Guttenberg and Fust, an entrepreneur who provided him with financial assistance, tried to keep the invention secret.
In Rus', books appeared with the adoption of Christianity. Kyiv princes invited scribes and translators. They wrote on parchment. Novgorodians wrote letters to each other on birch bark. Their children learned to write by scratching letters on its white surface.
The beginnings of printing in Rus', as well as in the West, were long before the advent of real book printing. Elements of printing can also be seen in some ancient Russian handwritten books. On the top cover of the binding of one of these books there are ten prints of the same stamp: four prints in the corners and six in the middle of the cover. Sometimes in handwritten books there are pasted impressions of headpieces and other decorations engraved on wood or metal.
The emergence of book printing in the Muscovite state coincided with the era of Ivan the Terrible. The king issued a series of reforms that marked the beginning of printing. The introduction of book printing became possible also thanks to the level of knowledge of the Russian people, the technical skills that made it possible to quickly create a "previously unknown" printing press.
After the fall of Byzantium, after the liquidation of the Greek states, the only major independent power remained - Russia. Consequently, gradually the center of the Orthodox world had to move to the north, to Moscow, but this was not possible for a number of reasons: the fact is that despite independence, wealth, significant military power, the Moscow state, nevertheless, was inferior to the Orthodox East . First of all, in terms of education. Firstly, after the fall of the yoke of Russia, restoration was necessary, and secondly, with regards to the east itself, after the fall of Constantinople, the church in the east was not such a powerful tool. Soon after the fall, a patriarchal school was founded. At first, when the Turks seized power, there was obviously a decline, but since a number of schools and various works in this very area were destroyed, the hierarchy realized the need for enlightenment: schools were created, lower and higher, the level of which differed from the Muscovite state. It was typography that was to a large extent supposed to help correct this situation.
Despite the fact that the rewriting of books by the end of the XV century. turned into a real manufactory production, the handwritten method of reproduction of books was not productive enough and too laborious, and therefore could not satisfy the growing demand for books.
Books were constantly rewritten and, during the work of significant generations of scribes, gradually rewriting books, liturgical, related to the field of sacred writing, educational, hagiographical, and so on, errors arose that accumulated. From time to time, disputes began, the result of these disputes was the appearance of any other editions, branches, semantic changes in books, and even heresies.
Correction of books in the era of typography was dictated by the fact that typography is an extremely powerful tool of church and state. In Russia, book printing was precisely the result of the work of the church and the state. It was they who were our main educators, not private individuals. But this tool had to be well prepared in advance, in other words, it was necessary to make a single text before giving it to printing. The process, which was called "book right" lasted for a century and a half - from the middle of the 16th to the end of the 17th century.
In order to understand to what extent this was important and necessary, I would like to recall that books in Slavic languages appeared long before Moscow book printing. They were already printed in the 15th century. By the time of its publication, the first Slavic book published in Venice is only two years behind the firstborn of Slavic printing, the Krakow Osmoglasnik of 1491.
In Lithuanian Rus at the beginning of the 16th century there was a wonderful educator-printer Francysk Skaryna, so Moscow felt that
that to some extent, neighbors, especially Western ones, bypass it in this sense. There are assumptions about the arrival of Skaryna in Moscow as part of one embassy, however, not documented. However, handwritten books were still widely used in Rus'.
The idea of creating a printing house in Moscow came from circles close to Metropolitan Macarius, the head of the Russian Church, who was most interested in both expanding the production of church books and correcting them.
Among the supporters of the introduction of printing was the enlightened elder Artemy. Little is known about him. Some sources claim that he was tonsured in Vologda, others - in the Pskov-Caves Monastery. In 1553, Artemy was accused of heresy, convicted and exiled to the Solovetsky Monastery. Some time later, he fled from there to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Artemy expounded his views in the Epistles to various persons; the manuscript of the messages was found in the middle of the last century by the bibliographer and collector of ancient books Vukol Mikhailovich Undolsky.
Two Epistles, according to the unanimous opinion of historians, are addressed to Tsar Ivan Vasilevich, although the name of the tsar is not in them. They were written around 1551, when the question was being practically decided: to have book printing in Moscow or not. Artemy sets out a fairly clear humanistic program, defending the “book teaching”. Opponents of enlightenment, says Artemy, declare that the book is the cause of human ailments. The obscurants also have another argument: “Do not honor many books, but you will not fall into heresy!” Artemy denies any connection between heresies and enlightenment. Moreover, he believes that those who are unfamiliar with book wisdom fall into heresy. Heretics, in his words, “do not seduce themselves from book reading, do not wake it up, but from their own foolishness and wickedness.”
The epistles also talk about textbooks, which were few in Rus'. “We really need,” Artemy writes to the king, “this divine ABC to teach children.”
The question of how to improve the education system was also decided at the Stoglavy Cathedral. “And we, on the royal advice,” it was said in one of the sections of Stoglav, “laid in the reigning city of Moscow and in all cities ... elect good spiritual priests, and deacons, and deacons, married and pious ... who could and others use and read and write honor and write much. And from those priests and from deacons, and from clerks, instigate in the houses of the school, so that all Orthodox peasants betray their children to them for the teaching of reading and writing and the teaching of book writing.
1 Anonymous typography
Approximately in the 50s of the 16th century, the so-called anonymous printing house appeared. Sometimes she is associated with people close to the sovereign (Adashev, Sylvestor). Even one of its employees is known - Marusha Nefediev. There are also several publications that do not have imprint data, but which, according to various indirect signs, are classified as products of this printing house.
One of the great mysteries of Russian typography, Russian typography - who exactly founded the typography? who gave the money to make it work?
It can be assumed that initially the Italians were the masters, or maybe the teachers of the Russian masters were the Italians, since the entire vocabulary of the printing business of that time, including the process of typography itself, was taken from the Italian language. Already in due time V. \E. Rumyantsev noted that at the Moscow Printing Yard even in the 16th century. terms of Italian origin were used - an extremely expressive fact, since in the 17th century. the appearance of these terms in Moscow seems belated. But according to tradition, Italian terms in typography could linger at the Moscow Printing Yard already from the initial period of Russian typography. Therefore, the incomprehensible term "shtanba", denoting book printing, corresponding to the Italian term stampa (print), appeared in the afterwords of the books of the Moscow Printing Yard.
1.2 Emergence of typography
However, there came a point when the state and the church decided to exert their centralizing effort in order for a large enterprise to arise. It was located not far from the current monument to Ivan Fedorov, the first printer, on Nikolskaya Street, next to the Nikolsky Crossroads. In order to put the work on an industrial level, two people were appointed - Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets.
The introduction of printing was one of the state events that in the 50-60s. 16th century conducted by Ivan the Terrible. One of the reasons is the need for a large number of church books for newly built churches in Moscow and other cities. Especially many books were required in connection with the introduction of Christianity in Kazan conquered in 1552. Ivan the Terrible ordered to buy holy books at the auction "and in the holy churches to believe." But it turned out that most of the books are unusable - they were distorted by "ignorant and unreasonable" scribes and contain errors, which contributes to the generation of heresies. Therefore, the second important reason was the need to correct "corrupted" books and create correct books. This question was raised at the Stoglavy Cathedral, which decided to confiscate uncorrected manuscripts and conduct censorship.
But, as usual, not only technical benefits determined the book business. The royal and spiritual authorities showed particular interest in printing, and for the reason that books already in the middle of the 16th century. were a means of propagating not only certain creeds, but also certain political ideas.
Typography appeared difficult and painful, because in addition to technological problems, there were worldview problems. Christianity, in general, is a culture of the book. Everything is related to the book. One of the reasons why the book is now being supplanted is that now there is a completely different attitude towards the book. During the period referred to in this essay, the book was not even a source of information as such. Now we can open the Internet and get what we need. In the 16th century, the book was the link between man and God. She was the go-between. A person can read a prayer many times, he does not discover a new meaning for himself, but it is in this repeated repetition that he suddenly comprehends divine truth. At that time they said that it was not scribes who wrote these books, but God led them by hand. As a rule, texts were written without an author for the same reason.
For the Russian people, typing became a Western technological game that broke this established connection and, indeed, caused resistance.
Metropolitan Macarius blessed the beginning of book printing, in 1547 for the first time in Rus' he crowned Tsar Ivan to the kingdom. And in 1563, the sovereign ordered "to build a house from his royal treasury, where the printing business is being built," so that "from now on the holy books will be presented righteously." This house, later called the Printing House, was founded on Nikolskaya Street near the Nikolsky Monastery, on the site where the Historical and Archival Institute of the Russian State University for the Humanities is now located.
The printing house was built for 10 years. At first it was a stone building on two floors with cellars. The windows in it were mica, and the roofs were wooden. The Printing Yard was fenced with a wooden palisade. Large wooden gates led out into the street.
The "correct chamber" of the printing house, where editors and proofreaders worked - the most educated people in Russia, was the spiritual center of Moscow in the 17th century.
When in 1814, after the fire of 1812, the old building was dismantled, a new one was built "based on" the old one. The "Gothic" façade uses decorative motifs from the ancient buildings of the Printing Yard: a sundial, images of a lion and a unicorn, columns twined with vines, and white stone carvings.
The products of the Printing House were mainly liturgical books. However, under Patriarch Joseph (1642-52), during the heyday of Moscow book publishing, secular works were also published. In 1647, a translation of the Dutch textbook of military affairs "The Teaching and Cunning of the Military Structure" was published, and in 1648, the "Grammar" of the Slavic language by Meletiy Smotrytsky. In March 1708, the famous "Geometry" - the first Russian book printed in a new civil type - was published in the Printing Yard in the amount of 200 copies.
2. First printed editions
The appearance of the first printed books in Slavic languages is associated with the name of Schweipolt Fiol, who in 1491 in Krakow printed the books Oktoih, Book of Hours, Colored Triode and Lenten Triode in Cyrillic (both Triode were published anonymously, without output information).
The first accurately dated book in the Slavic language "Apostle" was published in Vilna in 1525 by the Belarusian pioneer and educator Francis Skorina, who founded his own printing house there.
The beginning of printing in Moscow dates back to the middle of the 16th century. There is a known group of anonymous publications printed at that time - these are the Gospels, Psalms, etc. The books are printed in two colors - black and red. They do not have output data - time, place, name of the publisher, and they date back to 1553-1564 according to paper, technology, and records preserved in them.
The establishment of a centralized printing business in Russia is associated with the name of Ivan Fedorov, a deacon of one of the churches of the Moscow Kremlin. The first Russian dated printed book is Apostol, which was printed from April 19, 1563 to March 1, 1564. In terms of printing technique, quality of typesetting and design, this book is much higher than anonymous editions. "Apostle" is printed in two colors - black and red, for the first time the technique of two-roll printing from one form was used. In addition, in Russian printed editions of the XVI-XVII centuries. the method of double-roll printing from two typesetting forms, adopted in all Western European printing houses, was also used. On the frontispiece of the "Apostle" is an engraving depicting the Evangelist Luke. The book has many elegant headpieces, engraved initials, 24 lines of tie. The afterword tells about the creation of a printing house in Moscow, glorifies Metropolitan Macarius and Ivan IV. The apostle has been edited, spelling and language have been improved.
In 1565, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets published two editions of The Clockwork. Unfortunately, single copies have been preserved, since the book was of an educational nature and a small format, so it was quickly read out, it was dilapidated. Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets left Moscow because of accusations of heresy, having managed, however, to take with them matrices, punches, and carved boards. First, they left for Lithuania, where, under the auspices of Hetman G.A. Khodkevich continued to print Russian books (on the back of the title of these books was the coat of arms of Khodkevich). In Lithuania in 1569 they published the Gospel (which had a title page with a foreword by Khodkevich) and a Psalter with a Book of Hours, which is a very rare edition - three defective copies of this book have survived. In 1572 Ivan Fedorov moved to Lvov and equipped a printing house. In 1574 a new edition of the Apostle was made there. In addition, in Lvov, Ivan Fedorov released the first "ABC" - the only known surviving copy was bought in 1927 by S.P. Diaghilev in Rome. The book has 78 pages, decorated with headpieces. The text is typed in Moscow type by Ivan Fedorov. This edition became a model for Russian alphabets printed in the next decade. Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky invited Ivan Fedorov from Lvov to print the Bible in the Slavic language. It took several years to find and verify various versions of the Bible. In the same place, in Ostrog, Ivan Fedorov published another "ABC" with the title "The Beginning of Teaching to Children" (a copy of such an alphabet is stored in the Royal Library in Copenagen) and two primers (stored in the libraries of Cambridge and Oxford). The Ostroh Bible came out in 1580-1581. It consisted of 628 sheets (1256 pages), printed in two columns in six different fonts. It has a lot of screensavers and capital letters. The circulation of the Bible was 1000-1200 copies, about 250 copies have survived. It was a luxurious large-format book, handled with care.
As you know, the activities of the Moscow pioneers Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets did not last long. But one cannot ignore the significant fact that both Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets from the very beginning of their activities were not simple technical workers, but also consisted of a kind of editors and "referencers" of the books they published.
Ivan Fedorov called himself "Moskvitin". The nickname Fedorov is his patronymic, since ordinary people at that time usually did not have a surname, but called themselves by their father.
Peter Mstislavets, judging by his nickname, came from the city of Mstislavl in the Smolensk region. Subsequently, he concentrated his activities in Belarus. His publications began to appear in Vilna (Vilnius), the then capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where a significant part of the population was Belarusians.
In the future, it turns out that Ivan Fedorov left Moscow abroad, to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, along with his young son Ivan. Abroad, Ivan Fedorov no longer calls himself a deacon and does not mention his belonging to the clergy. Perhaps this means that he managed to become a widow, but did not want to become a monk, as was customary in Russia, where widowed priests and deacons were considered a kind of renegades.
Abroad, Ivan Fedorov is no longer a clergyman. This is a printer, this is the manager of magnate estates, this is an outstanding technician who even took part in the casting of cannons. After the departure of Ivan Fedorov from Moscow, other masters continued his work. In 1567-1568 Andronik Nevezha and Nikifor Tarasiev equipped a printing house in Moscow, in which in 1568 the Psalter was published. The new book, the Psalter, printed in Moscow in 1568, differed from the editions of Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets in its external design, in particular, in its curly initials. In the very afterword to the Psalter of 1568, there are signs that this book did not at all repeat the traditions of early printed editions. The work begun by Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets, already two decades after the publication of the "Apostle" in 1564, bore fruit. The first printed editions were a kind of rarity, while at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. printed books became the property of many churches and monasteries. They are listed in the scribe books in the inventories of the property of the monasteries of the city of Kolomna, as well as other Russian cities. The printing business was already on such firm footing that the master Andronik Timofeev continued to work under all the governments that succeeded in Russia at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. In 1606, during the reign of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, Andronik Timofeev printed "Lenten Triod". The 17th century can be called the golden one in the history of Moscow book printing, since during this period more publications were published at the Printing Yard than in the printing houses of all of Europe combined. There are separate workshops where narrow specialists work. The number of camps is increasing (from two to twelve). Documents from the Printing Yard of 1624 testify to the existence of a special “model” mill, which served as a model for the manufacture of new mills, and stood “covered with red skin” in the ward where the “principal people” were sitting. Printing from the very beginning tried to imitate handwritten books, reproducing them by mechanical means. Instead of miniatures decorating manuscripts, woodcuts were placed in the printed book. Engravings from a copper board in Russia began to be widely used only at the end of the 17th century. In 1679, Simeon of Polotsk, a famous educator of the 17th century, founded the Upper Printing House in Moscow, where he published 6 books. Four of them are illustrated with engravings on copper. The drawing in them was made by Simon Ushakov, and the engraver of the Armory A. Trukhmensky cut on copper. During the reign of Peter I, a radical restructuring of the entire book business was carried out, the purpose of which was the creation of secular book publishing. At the direction of Peter I, the Cyrillic font in publications on secular subjects was replaced by a civilian font. The first book to be printed in the new font was Geometry of Slavonic Land Surveying in 1708. During the reign of Peter I, printing houses were created in St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg (1710), Alexander Nevsky (1720), Senate (1721). For these printing houses, both printing presses and copper plate engraving mills were built. In addition, Peter I created a camp printing house, for which a camp camp was built in 1711. After the death of Peter, this machine was until 1934 within the walls of the Moscow Synodal Printing House. It is currently kept in the State Historical Museum. typography artistic printing Conclusion Printing in Russia was introduced in the middle of the 16th century. This was due to a number of social, cultural and political reasons. Initially, book printing was of a state nature. This was due to the need to eliminate numerous errors in liturgical books, as well as to introduce a unified teaching of literacy in order to strengthen the centralized state power. The question remains open about the first Russian printers and about the participation of Ivan Fedorov, the publisher of the first dated Moscow printed book "The Apostle", in the activities of the Anonymous Printing House. It is also unknown where Fedorov and his colleagues studied the skill. As the printing industry developed, so did the technique of printing. The masterpiece of Russian printing is Ivan Fedorov's Apostle, published in 1564. For a long time it was considered the first Moscow printed book. Fedorov's "Apostle" served as a model for many subsequent editions. The spread of book printing in Russia played an important role in the development of social thought, science, and education. Being a consequence of the political and cultural development of Russia, book printing, in turn, contributed to the further progress of society and the state. It was one of those progressive measures in the reign of Ivan the Terrible, which served to strengthen Muscovite Rus' and its exaltation. Bibliographic list 1. Nemirovsky, E.L. Journey to the origins of Russian printing / E.L. Nemirovsky. - M.: Enlightenment, 1991. 2. Tikhomirov M.N. Russia in the XVI century / M.N. Tikhomirov. - M., 1962. 3. Shomrakova I.A., Barinbaum I.E. General history of the book. - St. Petersburg: Profession, 2005. 4. Berezov P. Miracle of miracles. - M.: Moskovsky worker, 1964. - S. 53 450 years of Ivan Fedorov's printing house 6. Katsprzhak E.I. History of writing and books. - M.: Art, 1955 Sidorov A.A. The beginning of Russian book printing and Ivan Fedorov // 400 years of Russian book printing 1564-1964. T.1. - M.: Nauka, 1964. 8. Hour of Truth TV "Printing and education in Russia XVII".
On March 1, 1564, by order of Ivan the Terrible, the first printed edition in Rus' was published - the Apostle published by Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets. Both masters went down in history as the first printers, and the date of publication of their creation is considered the date of the beginning of book printing in Rus'. The original technique of two-colour printing, clear and beautiful type, excellent layout, impeccably literate text, excellent frontispiece - all this delights in the first book.
Ten years after the publication of the first anonymous narrow-type Gospel in Moscow, a book was published that indicated the place and time of printing, the names of not only printers, but also publishers-customers, and even outlined the reasons for the publication. It was the famous first printed Apostle of 1564 - the work of Moscow masters Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Timofeev Mstislavets. Thanks to this edition, the exact date associated with the history of book printing in Russia is known.
If in the early 50s of the XVI century. according to the decree of Tsar Ivan IV, "... they began to seek the skill of printing cases ...", then in the early 60s the tsar "ordered to build a house where printing was done at the expense of the tsar's treasury." The publication of such a solid book as the Apostle required a great deal of preliminary work. Therefore, the craftsmen had to get down to business long before 1563, when, according to the testimony of the printers themselves, they “began to print for the first time this holy book of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the Council in the year 7070, the first, April 19th. They were finished in the year 7070 on the second of March on the 1st day under Archbishop Athanasius, Metropolitan of All Rus' ... ".
Recall that it was for the time. Ivan Fedorov was working on the "Apostle" just when the famous St. Basil's Cathedral was being built on Red Square by the great architects Barma and Postnik. Great construction was carried out in Moscow by masters from Vladimir, from Pskov, from abroad, the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin was painted. These are the years when Rus' was gaining strength, acquiring the features of a single centralized state, when trade expanded, cities grew, power was centralized, and the foundations of natural and technical knowledge were laid. Churches were widely built in Moscow and the annexed eastern regions, especially in Kazan and its environs. The opened churches had to be supplied with liturgical books, but, the author says, the handwritten books contained many errors and inaccuracies, so when Ivan the Terrible found out about this, he decided to open a state printing house in which the texts would be carefully verified and edited. Ivan IV, according to Fedorov, did not spare money from the treasury to his "doers".
The Moscow Apostle of 1564 is an innovative work in many respects. Ivan Fedorov freed the language of the book from archaisms and non-Slavic expressions and phrases, improved spelling. The text is presented very deliberately, systematically, at the beginning of each section there are subsection titles and a brief summary of their content. The Apostle does not yet have a title page, but there is an afterword that contains all the imprint of the book and the history of its release: the “pious” tsar, Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, is glorified, whose command “begins to find the mastery of printed books” and the enlightened Metropolitan Macarius, tells about how the printing house was started in Moscow. This afterword, most likely, was written by Ivan Fedorov himself and is of a secular nature. It can be considered the first printed journalistic work in the history of Russian literature.
As for the quality, this is one of the best works of its time. The printing technique, the quality of the set, and the ornamental decorations are far superior to the quality of the anonymous editions. The book is provided with a large frontispiece engraving depicting the Evangelist Luke, inserted into an artistically executed frame, which Ivan Fedorov also used in his other editions. In the ornamentation of the Apostle, samples of the floral style of the handwritten books of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery are used. In some elements of this ornament, a reflection of the Renaissance is seen. Innovative in the book is the use of two-color printing technology in two runs. Some important changes have been made to the fonts as well. There are no numerous forms of the letter "o", the wide "e" and "s" are eliminated. All this was a departure from the handwritten tradition, but the text was easier to type and read.
Unfortunately, soon Ivan Fedorov had to leave Moscow. In the afterword to the second “Apostle”, he writes about the reasons for his departure: “... from the malice that often happens to us not from the sovereign himself, but from many bosses and clergymen and teachers who, out of envy, plotted many heresies against us, wishing turn good into evil and finally destroy God’s work, as happens in the custom of evil-minded, unlearned and unskillful people in the mind, who have no skill in grammatical subtleties and do not have a spiritual mind, but in vain utter an evil word ... This drove us out of the earth, fatherland and our people and forced them to move to foreign unfamiliar countries.
In 1569 Ivan Fedorov moved to Lvov. Here the first printer found himself in completely different conditions than he had been before. If in Moscow the printing house existed on public funds, then in Lvov it was necessary to find either wealthy people or turn to the church. He received help from educated, though not rich, priests and townspeople. In February 1573, Ivan Fedorov began printing the second edition of The Apostle. At the end of the book, on 9 pages, an afterword is printed, which amazes with its content and form. In itself it is a literary monument.
The descendants highly appreciated the merits of Ivan Fedorov in the enlightenment of Rus'. One of the oldest and best printing houses in Russia (now the Ivan Fedorov Publishing and Printing Holding) in St. Petersburg was named after the pioneer printer; On the day of its foundation, the name of Ivan Fedorov was given to the Moscow State University of Printing Arts (formerly the Polygraphic Institute) - the country's largest university that trains specialists in the field of printing and publishing.
And one more evidence of respect for the memory of the pioneer printer: in 2009, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church Ivan Fedorov was canonized as "Holy Righteous Deacon John, Printer of Slovenian Books." His memorial day is December 5, old style.
Elena Shikova
