Monuments of book culture: The exhibition “Rare books in the collection of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve. From handwriting to book printing”

October 16, 2015 in the exhibition rooms of the Lihudov housing in the Novgorod Kremlin is opened the exhibition "Rare books in the collection of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve. From handwriting to book printing".

The exhibition shows the richness and diversity of the book collection of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve. Currently, the collection has more than 700 manuscripts of the XI-XX centuries, more than 1,500 books Cyrillic printing of the XVI-XX centuries and more than 2,000 early printed books of civil printing. The exhibition features about 50 unique book monuments of XI-XVIII centuries, as well as archaeological excavations. The displayed birch bark manuscripts, handwritten codes and scrolls (columns) on parchment and paper as well as printed books first Russian printing houses illustrate the history of the formation of the national literacy and book printing.

Special value among the manuscripts is represented by the earliest copies written on parchment: Menaion September (XI-XII centuries), Gospel Aprakos (XIV century) and the Octoechos (XV century). A special attention pays to monuments of Novgorod the letter: The Ladder of St. John of Sinai (1400-1410) and the Gospel Aprakos (1496), written in the Novgorod Lisicki Nativity of the Virgin Monastery. It should be noted that the book, written in Novgorod, considered a benchmark for the copyists of books in other cities, so book monuments of the Novgorod letter received fairly widespread. According to the calculations of researchers from all extant ancient books of the XI-XIV centuries Novgorod written records account for at least half from the manuscripts of the XVI century. It should be noted, first of all, the Gospel Temp (1575), the so-called Gospel Andreychiny in which four sewn parchment sheet with tempera polychrome miniatures evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John on the gilded background.

Among the books produced on a printing press, books of special interest are related to early poreprinting. First of all, this is an anonymous Gospel, published in Moscow in 1563-1564 years. A total the book world counts 23 known instances of this publication. The exhibition also presents the early publications of the Moscow Mint, Upper typography, printing Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and Iveron Mother of God of Svyatoozersky Monastery.

The exhibition will run until January 17, 2016.