The Presidential Library collection presents the history of Orthodox books

December 25, 2009, at the discretion of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Day of Orthodox books was established, timed to the anniversary of publication of the first printed book in Russia - March 1, 1564. April 19, 1563 the work on the "Acts of the Apostles, councilar letters and letters of St. Paul" began and a year later the book was published. The Presidential Library presents electronic copies of works on the history of printing of the 19th – early 20th cc., allowing to retrace in detail the way from the manuscripts to the first printed copies.

Soon after the invention of typographic machine by Johannes Gutenberg, the western and southern Slavs had their own printed books. With the spread of literacy in the late 15th century, the demand for books in the Moscow Russia began to increase. Prince A. M. Kurbsky in his book, "The Tale of Prince Kurbsky" of 1842, available in the Presidential Library collection, wrote about people "skilled in the book production, careful followers of the scriptures, and noted that in Muscovy there are many young men "eager to study, to learn to write." Copying books by hand was well developed in Russia, and there was no lack of books, which the south-western Slavs complained about. With great diligence scribers copied books that sold in large quantities in marketplaces, which surprised a lot foreign travelers.

Copying of sacred books was considered an important deed that brooked no corrections or any kind of inaccuracies. To reduce the number of errors in the liturgical texts, Metropolitan Macarius gave his blessing to Tsar Ivan IV to print books. So, in 1553 it was decided to organize the first printing house in Moscow. The tsar ordered to construct a special building on Nikolskaya Street near the Kremlin, entitled "The Printing House".   

Creation of the Moscow printing house was entrusted to the deacon of Nicholas Gustunsky Moscow Kremlin Church, Ivan Fyodorov and his friend Pyotr Timofeev Mstislavets. We have very little information about them: in his book "Beginning of book printing in Russia" issued in 1883 and available in the library collection, A. Lyakhnitsky says that Ivan Fyodorov was quite honored with the work entrusted to him, considering it "a gift sent down from above, divine talent, and even self-sacrifice."

Within ten years the printing house in Moscow was completely arranged. The first book of 267 sheets of small format was printed on Dutch paper; along with the ink they used cinnabar to print the contents and the initials. Ivan Fedorov used a method of printing invented probably by him personally: letters that should be printed in red were raised above the surface of the mold and then the imprint was made. After that red letters were removed from the set and the main text was imprinted on the same sheets with black paint.

The book contains a woodcut: an image of evangelist Luke with a scroll, sitting in front of a desk set. In 1556, Ivan the Terrible sent to Novgorod a "master of printing" Mavrusha Nefed'ev to inspect the stone prepared for one of the Moscow churches. Mavrusha told the tsar about a carver, who "was able to do any engraving” named Vasyuk Nikiforov. It was him who was sent to Moscow to make a woodcut depicting the Evangelist, according to S. F. Librovich’s "History of books in Russia" published in 1913.

Above the headings of the book there are fancy decorations in Italian spirit. The Italians taught Russian compositors book skills and had a great impact on them, according to A. A. Kiesewetter’s "Ivan Fyodorov and the beginning of printing in Russia" issued in 1904 and available in the library’s collection. Publishers managed to avoid common mistakes in copying, while the language of "Apostle" was cleared of outdated forms and words, thereby approaching the late Church Slavonic language. In the end of the book there is an epilogue, which contains information about the first printing.

In Moscow, meanwhile, people grumbled at the new venture of the tsar. First of all, the scribes were outraged: printing presses deprived them of earnings; many were jealous of the first printers for the special grace bestowed upon them by the tsar. Mechanical work of soulless tools in contrast to the reliable and quiet manual labor of copyists also seemed embarrassing. Therefore, the question arose if a letter typed by a soulless tool could be as divinely inspired as the written one? Was not the replacement of one by another a crime before God?

People's response to this question was not long in coming: there was a rumor that printers were engaged in the “spiritually harmful witchcraft" and that their printing house should be destroyed immediately. Thus, the printing house, set on fire by unknown, burned like a candle, and printers had to flee the capital of Russia. After fleeing from the popular indignation to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ivan Fyodorov and Pyotr Mstislavets then settled in Lviv where they continued printing. Fyodorov’s work in Moscow was continued by his disciple Andronicus Nevezha, who headed the Moscow printing house for more than 30 years.

The Presidential Library website also provides access to video lectures on the history of printing. Lectures are delivered by: A. V. Sirenov, "Handwritten and Printed Book in Russia in the 16th – 17th cc., 2014"; A. A. Saveliev, "Publications of Ivan Fyodorov in the collection of the Scientific Library"; E. A. Yemelyanova, "450th anniversary of the beginning of printing in Russia, 2014."