The beginning of printing in the 16th century. History of invention. Typography. Ivan Fedorov and his "Apostle"
On March 14, our country celebrates the Day of the Orthodox Book. This holiday was established by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the initiative of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and is celebrated this year for the sixth time. The Day of the Orthodox Book is timed to coincide with the release date of Ivan Fedorov's book "The Apostle", which is considered the first printed book in Russia - its publication dates back to March 1 (according to the Old Style), 1564.
Birch bark letters
Today we would like to acquaint you with the history of the emergence of book printing in Russia. The first Old Russian letters and documents (XI-XV centuries) were scratched on birch bark - birch bark. This is where their name came from - birch bark letters. In 1951, archaeologists found the first birch bark letters in Novgorod. The technique of writing on birch bark was such that it allowed the texts to be preserved in the earth for centuries and we can, thanks to these letters, find out what our ancestors lived.
What did they write about in their scrolls? The content of the found birch bark letters is diverse: private letters, business notes, complaints, business assignments. There are also special entries. In 1956, archaeologists found in the same place, in Novgorod, at once, 16 birch bark letters, dating from the XIII century. These were student notebooks of a Novgorod boy named Onfim. On one birch bark, he began to write letters of the alphabet, but this occupation, apparently, quickly tired of him, and he began to draw. In a childishly awkward manner, he portrayed himself on a horse as a rider, striking the enemy with a spear, and next to him he wrote his name.
Handwritten books
Handwritten books appeared a little later than birch bark letters. For many centuries they have been an object of admiration, an item of luxury and gathering. These books were very expensive. According to one of the scribes who worked at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries, three rubles were paid for the leather for the book. At that time, this money could buy three horses.
The most ancient Russian manuscript book "The Ostromir Gospel" appeared in the middle of the 11th century. This book belongs to the pen of Deacon Gregory, who rewrote the Gospel for the Novgorod mayor Ostromir. The Ostromir Gospel is a true masterpiece of book art! The book is written on excellent parchment and contains 294 sheets! The text is preceded by an elegant splash in the form of an ornamental frame - fantastic flowers on a gold background. In the frame it is written in Cyrillic: “The Gospel of John. Chapter A ". It also contains three large illustrations depicting the apostles Mark, John, and Luke. Diyakon Gregory wrote the "Ostromir Gospel" for six months and twenty days - one and a half pages a day.
The creation of the manuscript was hard and exhausting work. The working day lasted in the summer from sunrise to sunset, in winter they also captured the dark half of the day, when they wrote by candlelight or torch, and monasteries served as the main centers of book writing in the Middle Ages.
The production of ancient handwritten books was also expensive and time consuming. The material for them was parchment (or parchment) - specially made leather. Books were usually written with a quill pen and ink. Only the king had the privilege of writing with a swan and even a peacock feather.
Since the book was expensive, they took care of it. To protect against mechanical damage, a binding was made of two boards covered with leather and had a fastener on the side cut. Sometimes the binding was bound with gold and silver, adorned with precious stones. Medieval handwritten books were elegantly decorated. Before the text, a headband was necessarily made - a small ornamental composition, often in the form of a frame around the title of a chapter or section.
The first, capital letter in the text - "initial" - was written larger and more beautiful than the others, decorated with ornaments, sometimes in the form of a man, an animal, a bird, or a fantastic creature.
Chronicle
There were many chronicles among the handwritten books. The text of the chronicle consists of weather (compiled by year) records. Each of them begins with the words: "in the summer of such and such" and messages about the events that took place this year.
The most famous of the chronicle writings (XII century), describing mainly the history of the Eastern Slavs (the story begins from the Flood), historical and semi-legendary events that took place in Ancient Rus can be called "The Tale of Bygone Years" - the work of several monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and, above all, Nestor the chronicler.
Typography
Books in Russia were valued, collected in families for several generations, were mentioned in almost every spiritual letter (testament) among the values and ancestral icons. But the ever-growing need for books marked the beginning of a new stage of enlightenment in Russia - book printing.
The first printed books in the Russian state appeared only in the middle of the 16th century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who in 1553 set up a printing press in Moscow. For the premises of the printing house, the tsar ordered to rebuild special mansions near the Kremlin on Nikolskaya Street in the vicinity of the Nikolsky Monastery. This printing yard was built at the expense of Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself. In 1563, it was headed by the deacon of the Church of Nikolai Gostunsky in the Moscow Kremlin - Ivan Fedorov.
Ivan Fedorov was an educated man, well versed in books, knew the foundry business, was a carpenter, and a painter, and a carver, and a bookbinder. He graduated from the University of Krakow, knew the ancient Greek language in which he wrote and printed, knew Latin. The people said about him: he was such a skillful man that he could not be found in foreign lands.
Ivan Fedorov and his student Pyotr Mstislavets worked for 10 years on the arrangement of the printing house, and only on April 19, 1563, they began to produce the first book. Ivan Fedorov himself built printing presses, he casted the forms for letters, he typed, he ruled. A lot of work was spent on the production of various headpieces, drawings of large and small sizes. The drawings depicted cedar cones and outlandish fruits: pineapples, grape leaves.
The first book, Ivan Fedorov and his student, printed for a whole year. It was called "The Apostle" ("Acts and Epistles of the Apostles") and looked impressive and beautiful, resembling a handwritten book: by letters, by drawings and by headpieces. It consisted of 267 sheets. This first printed book was published on March 1, 1564. This year is considered the beginning of Russian book printing.
Ivan Fedorov with Pyotr Mstislavets went down in history as Russian first printers, and their first dated creation became a model for subsequent editions. 61 copies of this book have survived to this day.
After the publication of The Apostle, Ivan Fedorov and his assistants began to prepare a new book for publication - The Chapel. If the "Apostle" was produced for a year, then the "Hour" took only 2 months.
Simultaneously with the publication of the Apostle, work was underway on the compilation and publication of the ABC, the first Slavic textbook. The "ABC" was published in 1574. She introduced me to the Russian alphabet, taught me how to compose syllables and words.
This is how the first Orthodox books and alphabet appeared in Russia.
Under Ivan the Terrible, book printing first appeared in Russia (1564).
“Old customs have fallen into disarray” - that is what they pointed out at the Stoglav Cathedral as the main reason for all the church troubles. To restore the old order and keep it in all their purity became the main task of the clergy. Of the writers of that time, perhaps only one Maxim the Greek understood quite clearly that this was not enough and that the Russians needed most of all enlightenment, the awakening of living thought ... Other most prominent writers sought salvation only in the observance of "holy antiquity."
Monument to Ivan Fedorov in Moscow
A very important monument of this time should be considered the "Chetya-Minei" by Metropolitan Macarius. This huge work (12 large books) collected the lives of the saints, words and teachings for their holidays, their creations of all kinds, whole books of Holy Scripture and interpretations on them. For 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 credited with compiling a collection of information on Russian history under the title "Book of Degrees". All these works provided a support for the preservation of antiquity, provided a spiritual weapon for the fight against various "innovations" and "opinions", which were feared more than fire; they even said about them: “to all passions a mother is an opinion; opinion - a second fall ”, they were all the more afraid because at that time in the West“ innovations ”and“ opinions ”of the“ Luthor's heresy ”shattered the old church system.
But no matter how much they cared that no "opinions" would penetrate the Russian land, nevertheless, at this time (1553) the heresy of Matvey Bashkin and Theodosius the Kosoy manifested itself here. Bashkin had heard enough of "Western speculations" and he himself began to explain the Holy Scriptures according to his own mind and speak "perplexed speeches" and found followers in Moscow. The heresy, however, was discovered, and a council was convened to judge the 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 Kirillov monastery, went even further into heresy. Bashkin and his supporters were sent to the monastery prisons. Theodosius, however, managed to escape to Lithuania, where he continued to spread his heresy. Zinovy Otensky (Oten-monastery not far from Novgorod) wrote especially strongly against the heretics.
The fight against heresy, the desire to preserve the unshakable antiquity, forced most of all to think about how to protect church, liturgical books from damage: books in Russia then were still handwritten. As a rule, at monasteries and bishops there were "dobropists" who were engaged in the copying 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 kinds of "four books", which were usually sold at marketplaces.
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 them to be bought - it turned out that out of the huge number of purchased manuscripts, very few were suitable; in others, there were so many omissions, errors, mistakes, distortions, unintentional and deliberate, that there was no way to correct them. This circumstance, in the opinion of some, led the tsar to the idea of starting printing in Moscow. 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 about his intention, he was very pleased with it.
“This thought,” he said, “was inspired by God himself, this is a gift that comes from above!
Then the tsar ordered to build a special house for printing and printing, to look for masters. The construction of the house, or the Printing House, as it was called, lasted ten years. Finally, in April 1563, the printing of the first book "Acts of the Apostles", published in Moscow, began, and on March 1, 1564.
The main master in the first Russian printing house was a Russian man - deacon Ivan Fedorov, and his chief employee was Peter Timofeev Mstislavets. Ivan Fedorov, apparently, studied his business well, perhaps in Italy: he not only knew how to type and print books himself, but also very skillfully cast letters. The same masters printed another Chasovnik the following year, and then had to flee from Moscow: they were accused of heresy and damage to books. They say that the enemies of the first Russian printers set fire to even the Printing House. Ivan Fedorov himself said that he was forced to flee from Moscow "despicable bitterness from many bosses and teachers, who, for the sake of envy, many heresies plotted against us, wanted to turn a good deed into evil, and completely destroy God's deed."
"Apostle" Ivan Fedorov, 1563-1564
The first Russian printers fled to Lithuania and continued to do their business here; however, even after their flight of Ivan Fedorov, printing business in Moscow was again restored, but it was carried out in such an insignificant amount that it could not displace handwritten books written by illiterate scribes from use.
In the fifteenth century AD, there was a craftsman named Johann in Strasbourg. Johann was born in Mainz, but his family was expelled from this city for political reasons after 1420. For unknown reasons, the craftsman changed his father's patrician surname Gensfleisch to his mother's - Gutenberg.
In 1434 in Strasbourg, Johannes Gutenberg was awarded the title of master.
He went down in history thanks to the invention of book printing with the help of movable metal letters. That is, typesetting fonts made of metal movable bars, on which letters were carved in a mirror image. From such bars on the boards, lines were typed, which were subsequently transferred to a special paint on paper. This invention is considered to be the technical basis of printing.
Type-setting boards with movable letters (wooden on the left, metal on the right)
The first book printed using a set of letters, which has survived to this day, was published in 1456. It is a large 42-line Latin Mazarin Bible, also called the Gutenberg Bible. Moreover, the master himself only prepared a set of boards for this book, but the Bible was released by Johann Fust, together with Peter Schaeffer. The book was printed on a press, which Gutenberg was forced to give Fust for debts.
The honor of the invention of printing was disputed by historians of almost all Western European peoples. The Italians defended their position most reasonably. They believe that the movable letters were invented by Pamfilio Castaldi, and, without betraying this invention of special importance, gave it up to Johann Fust, who established the first printing house. However, no confirmation of this fact has reached our days.
So, at present, Johann Gutenberg is considered to be the inventor of book printing with the help of movable letters and the founder of printing, although the first typesetting fonts appeared 400 years before his birth. Chinese Bi Sheng invented to make them from baked clay. However, such an invention did not really take root in China due to the huge number of complex hieroglyphs that made up their writing. The production of such letters turned out to be very laborious, and the Chinese continued to use woodcuts (printing from wooden impressions in which inscriptions were carved) until the beginning of the 20th century.
The printing method invented by Gutenberg existed practically unchanged until the nineteenth century. And, although long before him such methods as woodcut and screen printing were invented, it is book printing with the help of movable metal letters that is considered to be the technical basis of printing.
The art of book printing in the thirties of the sixteenth century brought to Russia Ivan Fedorov - Deacon of the Moscow Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Gostunsky. Ivan received his education at the University of Krakow, which he graduated in 1532.
The first accurately dated Russian printed edition was published by him and his assistant, Peter Mstislavets, in 1564 in Moscow. This work was called "The Apostle". The second edition, "The Clock", came out a year later. And this turned out to be the last book printed in the Moscow printing house of Fedorov.
Not happy with the appearance of printing, scribes staged a massive persecution of printers. During one of the riots, Federov's printing house burned to the ground. After this story, Ivan and Peter Mstislavets fled from Moscow to the Lithuanian principality. In Lithuania they were received with great hospitality by Hetman Chodkevich, who founded a printing house on his estate Zabludove. There, in Zabludovo, Fedorov worked until the seventies, after which, without Mstislavets, he moved to Lviv, where he continued the printing business in the printing house he founded.
The famous Ostrog Bible, the first complete Bible in the Slavic language in the history of printing, was published by the first printer in the city of Ostrog (where he lived for three years before returning to Lvov) on behalf of Prince Konstantin Ostrog in the late seventies of the sixteenth century Goths.
By the way, history remembers Ivan Fedorov not only as the first Russian printer. Having a versatile education, he made good cannons and became the inventor of the multi-barrel mortar with interchangeable parts.
Everything has a beginning. The same can be said about the printing industry in Russia. Although typography 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 Apostle, published by Ivan Fedorov, saw the light. 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, which in modern tradition are usually 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", of course, was not the first Russian printed book. However, if you compare it with the previously published "anonymous" books, then a big difference immediately becomes noticeable.
First, in the case of "The Apostle" we know exactly the date of the book's release. Thus, this work can be safely considered the first Russian printed book, which is definitely dated. Secondly, the print quality is also noticeably different for the better.
A few words should be said about Ivan Fedorov himself. It is curious that not so 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, as well as where he studied. Most sources indicate that Fedorov came from a poor Belarusian nobility and studied in Poland, at the Krakow University, famous all over Europe at that time. In the biography of the Russian first printer, 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 feared 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, and then moved to Lvov, where he also opened a printing house. In addition to publishing printed books, Ivan Fedorov was engaged, in particular, in foundry, making a living by making cannons.
Book printing in Russia became an important milestone in the development of writing and literature. With the development of statehood, the issue of the lack of books became acute. There were written samples, but their creation took a long time.
In Europe during this period (mid-16th century) printing presses already existed. understood the invaluable role of the book in the process of the formation of the state. He contributed to the founding of the first printing house in Moscow.
The most educated people of that time were involved in the work on the first printed edition. The goal of the young tsar was to unite a large number of Orthodox peoples in one territory and into one state. There was a need for widespread ecclesiastical and secular enlightenment, therefore, the priesthood and enlighteners needed a high-quality printed publication.
In contact with
The first Russian printed book - the history of creation
It took a total of a decade to prepare the original source of knowledge. The creation of the first copy of printed art was preceded by a long construction and arrangement of the printing house.
In 1563, the book printer and inventor Ivan Fedorov and his faithful friend and student Pyotr Mstislavets began to print a unique book that had no analogues at that time, which was called The Apostle.
Book printers pored over the first edition for 12 months. The printer Ivan Fedorov put into his brainchild all the knowledge and skills that he acquired throughout his life. The first non-handwritten copy turned out to be a truly masterpiece.
The weighty volume was in a frame made of wood, which the creators covered with fine leather with amazing gold embossing. Large capital letters adorned unprecedented herbs and flowers.
The first edition was dated March 1, 1564. Later, this date was considered the year of the founding of the Russian book press. V modern history Russian state Orthodox Book Day is celebrated on March 14. The "Apostle" remained unchanged until the 21st century, and is in the Moscow Historical Museum.
The beginning of book printing in Russia
As soon as the first book of the Moscow printing house "Apostle" ("Acts and Epistles of the Apostles") was published, the old Russian printers began to create a new church publication called "Chasovnik". This work of printed art was spent not a year, but only a few weeks.
In parallel with the creation of church books, work was underway on the first Russian textbook "ABC". The children's book appeared in 1574.
Thus, in the 16th century, book printing was born and founded in Russia, and the first non-handwritten church books appeared. The creation of a children's textbook was a very important stage in the development of Slavic writing and literature.
Who published the first books in Russia
The founder of book printing in Russia was the inventor Ivan Fedorov. The man, even by modern standards, was very educated and enthusiastic. The man was educated at the university in the city of Krakow (now the territory of modern Poland). In addition to his native language, he spoke two more languages - Latin and Ancient Greek.
The man was well versed in carpentry, painting, foundry crafts. He himself cut and smelted matrixes for letters, made bindings for his books. These skills helped him to fully master the process of book printing. Nowadays, the mention of the first Russian book printing is often associated with the name of Ivan Fedorov.
The first printing house in Russia - its creation and development
In 1553, the first printing house was founded in Moscow by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The printing house, as the printing house was called in ancient times, was located next to the Kremlin, not far from the Nikolsky Monastery, and was built with monetary donations from the ruler himself.
The deacon of the church, Ivan Fedorov, was placed at the head of the printing house. It took 10 years to equip the building of the ancient printing house and create printing equipment. The book printer's room was made of stone, and was popularly referred to as the "printing hut".
The first printed edition "Apostle" was created here, later the first "ABC" and "Chapel" were printed. Already in the 17th century, more than 18 titles of books were printed.
Later, the printer Ivan Fedorov and his assistant, at the slander of ill-wishers, will be forced to flee from Moscow, fleeing the tsar's wrath. But the first printers will manage to save the equipment and take it with them outside the principality of Moscow. The first printing house on Nikolskaya Street will be burned down by book-winners.
Soon Ivan Fedorov will open a new printing house in Lviv, where he will publish several more editions of "Apostle", in the introduction to which the printer will tell about the persecution of ill-wishers and envious people.
Ivan Fedorov's first printing press
The first equipment for printing was extremely unpretentious: a press and several typesetting cash registers. The basis of the ancient printing press was a screw press. Ivan Fedorov's machine tool has survived to this day.
You can contemplate this value, touch history, breathe in hoary antiquity in the Lviv Historical Museum. The weight of the machine is about 104 kg. The typeface was built to resemble the written letters. It was close to a handwriting, understandable to a simple Russian person. Observed tilt to the right, letters are even, of the same size. Margins and line spacing are clearly observed. The title and capital letters were printed in red, while the body text was printed in black.
The use of two-color printing is an invention of Ivan Fedorov himself. Before him, no one in the world used multiple colors on one printed page. The quality of printing and materials is so impeccable that the first printed book "Apostle" has survived to this day and is in the Moscow Historical Museum.
In the 16th century, there were two significant events for the history of Moscow, and later for the history of Russia - the construction of the Cathedral of Ivan the Blessed in the capital and the creation of a printing press by Ivan Fedorov.
The first textbooks in Russia
The development of education was an important matter for the formation of the Russian state. The books, rewritten by hand, were characterized by a large number of errors and distortions. Their authors were not always well educated themselves. Therefore, to teach children to read and write, well-readable, understandable, non-handwritten textbooks were needed.
The first book for teaching children to read and write was the printed volume of Ivan Fedorov "The Watchman". For quite a long time, children learned to read from this book. Two copies of this edition have survived to this day. One volume is in Belgium, the other is in the Leningrad Library. Later in Moscow will be published "Azbuka", which became the first textbook for children. Today this rare specimen of ancient typography is located in the United States.
Tsar Ivan the Terrible, with all the ambiguous attitude towards him, understood that it was impossible to build a strong developed state without smart educated people. It is necessary to keep up with the times and keep up with the advanced states. The source of true truthful knowledge at all times has been and will be a book. Only reading, literate, educated people will be able to build an advanced power and introduce technologies in accordance with the requirements of the time.
The founder of book printing in Russia, Ivan Fedorov, was a genius of his time, who was able to move Russia from the point of ignorance and stupidity, direct it along the path of enlightenment and development. Despite the disgrace and persecution that befell him, Ivan Fedorov did not leave his life's work and continued to work in a foreign land. His first printed editions became the basis of writing and literature of the 16-17 centuries.
