A great cultural achievement was the beginning of book printing in Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. The first Russian printer was Ivan Fedorov: born in the 20s of the 16th century, died on December 6, 1583 in Lvov.
The construction of the first state printing house in Moscow ended in 1563, and on March 1, 1564, the first book “Apostle” was published here, the technical and artistic execution of which was excellent. Subsequently, the printing house printed several more books of religious content, then its activities were interrupted. Ivan Fedorov and his assistant Pyotr Mstislavets, persecuted by church and secular reactionaries, were forced to leave their homeland and settle outside its borders, becoming the founders of book printing in Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.
Afterword to "The Apostle", printed by Ivan Fedorov in Lvov. 1574. The first failure did not stop Ivan the Terrible, and he opened a new printing house in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. But printing developed relatively slowly.
Along with Ivan Fedorov, among the first Russian printers one should also name Marusha Nefedyev, Nevezha Timofeev, Andronik Nevezha and his son Ivan, Anisim Radishevsky, Anikita Fofanov, Kondrat Ivanov. Many of them were both engravers and type foundries.
In 1803, when it was 250 years since the beginning of Russian book printing and 100 years since the publication of the first Russian newspaper, the historian Karamzin said: “The history of the mind represents two main eras: the invention of letters and printing.”
To call Ivan Fedorov the creator of the first Russian printing press is not enough.
He is a pioneer. The beginning of book printing in Russia is associated with his name.
The date and place of birth of Ivan Fedorov are unknown. He was born around 1520. The version about his origin from the Novgorod masters of handwritten books can be considered reliable. Historical information related to the origins of Russian book printing is as follows. The first printed Slavic books appeared in the Balkans, but these were Glagolitic letters, which in Russia in the 15th-16th centuries. there were no walks. By the end of the 15th century. the first four books in Cyrillic were printed in Krakow; two of them are dated 1491. The name of their printer is known - Schweipolt Feol. The Belarusian educator Francis Skaryna began printing books in his native language in Prague in 1517. Moreover, there are seven known books printed directly in Russia in the 50s of the 16th century, that is, ten years before the first printed “Apostle”.
However, neither the place nor the date of publication of these books, nor the names of their printers have yet been established. “The Apostle” by Ivan Fedorov, published in 1564 in Moscow, is the first printed Russian book about which it is known who, where, why and when it was printed. This information is contained in the chronicle on the weekend, or title, as we now say, page of the book and in the afterword by Ivan Fedorov.
In this afterword, and in even more detail in the preface to the second edition of the Apostle, Ivan Fedorov sets out the history of the creation of the Russian printing house, the history of the troubles and adversities that befell the first printer of the Russian book.
The first printing house in Moscow was opened in 1.563, and on April 19 of the same year, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets were there.
Unlike Western European ones, the Moscow printing house was not a private, but a state enterprise; funds for the creation of the printing house were allocated from the royal treasury. The establishment of the printing house was entrusted to the deacon of the St. Nicholas Church in the Moscow Kremlin, Ivan Fedorov, an experienced bookbinder, book copyist and carver-artist. The printing house required a special room, and it was decided to build a special Printing Yard, for which a place was allocated near the Kremlin, on Nikolskaya Street. Ivan Fedorov, together with his assistant Pyotr Mstislavets, a Belarusian from Mstislavl, took an active part in the construction of the Printing House.
After construction was completed, the organization of the printing house itself began, the design and manufacture of the printing press, the casting of the font, etc. Ivan Fedorov fully understood the principle of printing with movable type from the words of others.
Perhaps Fedorov visited Maxim the Greek at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, who lived in Italy for a long time and personally knew the famous Italian typographer Aldus Manutius. However, it is unlikely that anyone could explain to him in detail the technique of printing. Fedorov made numerous tests and eventually achieved success; he learned to cast high-quality type, type them and make impressions on paper. Fedorov was undoubtedly familiar with Western European printed books. But when creating the shape of his printed letters, he relied on the traditions of Russian writing and Russian handwritten books. . The first printed "Apostle" is the highest achievement of typographic art of the 16th century. Masterfully crafted font, amazingly clear and even typesetting, excellent page layout. In the anonymous publications that preceded the Apostle, the words, as a rule, are not separated from each other. The lines are sometimes shorter and sometimes longer, and the right side of the page is curvy. Fedorov introduced spacing between words and achieved a completely straight line on the right side of the page. The book contains 46 ornamental headpieces engraved on wood (black on white and white on black). The lines of script, also engraved on wood, were usually printed in red ink, highlighting the beginning of the chapters. The same role is played by 22 ornamental “cap letters”, that is, initial or capital letters. Ivan Fedorov used a completely original method of two-color printing from one printing plate, which has never been found anywhere else.
In 1565, in Moscow, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets published another book - “The Book of Hours”. Ivan Fedorov and his comrade in Moscow were very prominent and respected people. But the oprichnina introduced by Ivan the Terrible caused them great concern. “For the sake of envy, many heresies were plotted against us,” Ivan Fedorov later wrote, explaining his and Metislavets’s departure to Belarus, which then belonged to the Polish Lithuanian state. So Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets published only two books in Moscow, but this is quite enough for Ivan Fedorov to forever remain the first printer of Rus'. Having the ecclesiastical rank of deacon, Ivan Fedorov took from Moscow not only his wife and children, but also the tools and materials necessary to continue printing books.
Soon Fedorov and Mstislavets were able to resume work in Lithuania, on the estate of Hetman Khodkevich in Zabludov. Here in 1569 the “Teaching Gospel” was printed. Unlike the Moscow ones, this book was not liturgical and was intended for home reading. From Khodkevich's estate, Ivan Fedorov moved to Lvov in 1572, despite the fact that Khodkevich, as a reward for his work, gave Fedorov a village where the pioneer printer could engage in farming and live comfortably. But Fedorov abandoned settled life, considering his printing activity an apostolic ministry. (Apostles, which means “sent” in Greek, were the disciples of Christ whom he sent throughout the world to tell about himself.)
In Lvov, on February 14, 1574, the first accurately dated printed book in Ukraine, the so-called Lvov “Apostle”, was published; the font and some of the headpieces in this book were borrowed from the Moscow "Apostol", but the endings and patterned initials were made anew. In the same year, in Lvov, Ivan Fedorov first published a book for Russian children - "ABC".
The second edition of the ABC was published in 1576 in the city of Ostrog, where Fedorov was invited by Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky. In 1580, Fedorov released the New Testament Psalter in a small format, easy to read. This is the first book in Russian history that is accompanied by an alphabetical subject index.
But the real feat of Ivan Fedorov was the colossal work on the complete Slavic Bible. This gigantic Work occupied 1256 pages. Fedorov and his assistants used not only the Greek, but also the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, as well as Czech and Polish translations. And the basis was the text of the Gennady Bible.
It is to this “Ostrog Bible,” as historians now call it, that the Slavic biblical text that exists in modern editions dates back. Only an extraordinary person was capable of such heroic work, and for the first time in the history of Russia, and Ivan Fedorov was just that. He was fluent in several languages - Greek, Latin, Polish. He was well versed in the intricacies of Church Slavonic grammar.
The Ostrog Bible, published in 1580-1581, was Fedorov’s last printed work. After the Bible, Fedorov released only Andrei Rymsha's "Chronology" - the first work of a secular nature printed in Ukraine. Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky lost interest in Fedorov’s publishing activities, and the pioneer printer again had to look for funds to continue his life’s work.
During these years, Ivan Fedorov invents a collapsible cannon and is engaged in
improvement of hand bombards. In search of a customer, he sets off from Lvov on a long and difficult journey for those times - to Krakow and Vienna, where he meets Emperor Rudolf II and demonstrates his invention to him. Rudolf II was completely satisfied with it, but he refused the conditions put forward by Fedorov. Then Ivan Fedorov wrote a letter to the Saxon Kurfürth August: “...So, I master the art of making folding cannons... each, without exception, of this kind of cannon can be disassembled into separate, strictly defined parts, namely fifty, one hundred and even, if necessary, into two hundred parts...” The letter speaks unclearly about the invention; one can only judge that it was a multi-barreled mortar with interchangeable parts.
Returning to Lvov, Fedorov fell ill and on August 3, 1583, “fell ill to the point of death.” Ivan Fedorov died in one of the outskirts of Lviv, which is called Podzamche. He died in poverty, without the funds to redeem the printing property and printed books pledged to the moneylender.
He was buried in the cemetery at the Church of St. Onuphrius, the temple belonged to the Lviv Orthodox Brotherhood. A tombstone was placed on Fedorov’s grave with the inscription: “Drukar of books never seen before.” These words contain, perhaps, the most accurate description of the great deed accomplished by Ivan Fedorov.
Not much is known about the life and work of Ivan Fedorov. What we know about him is known from the books published by the master, or rather from the afterwords to them, which he wrote for each of his publications. The first accurately dated printed book in Russian, “Acts of the Apostles” (“Apostle”), was published in Moscow at the state printing house. This great event for Rus' took place in March 1564. By order of Ivan IV, a large state printing house was created in Moscow in 1553 - the Sovereign Printing House. Its leader was the deacon of the St. Nicholas Church in the Moscow Kremlin, Ivan Fedorov.
Work on the book continued from April 19, 1563 to March 1, 1564. The publication of the “Apostle” marked the beginning of book printing in Rus'. At the same time, a number of publications of the “anonymous” printing house that worked in Moscow in the early 50s are known. XVI century, and, thus, Ivan Fedorov should be considered only the continuer of book printing in Russia. In the publication and design of the book, Ivan Fedorov was helped by Pyotr Timofeev Mstislavets (i.e., a native of the Belarusian city of Mstislavl). The book is printed in the “old printing” style, which was developed by Ivan Fedorov himself on the basis of the Moscow semi-statutory letter of the mid-16th century, and is richly ornamented. At the end of the “Apostle” there was a detailed afterword, which described who printed, where, how and when the Moscow printing house was founded. In October 1565, Ivan Fedorov’s next book, “Chasovnik” (“Book of Hours”), was published in two editions. The “Book of Hours” was a collection of prayers that was used during worship; It was also used to teach children to read and write in Rus'.
In 1566, with the consent of Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich, the printers, taking with them some of the printing materials, left Moscow forever and moved to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The reason for his departure was attacks from the zemstvo clergy and boyars, as Fedorov himself later wrote in the preface to the Lvov edition of the “Apostle” in 1574; he experienced persecution from “many bosses and priests.” Another reason for the departure of printers from Moscow was, in the face of the threat of creating a union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Kingdom of Poland, the spread of the printed word for the purpose of Orthodox propaganda in Belarus and Ukraine. In 1569, on the estate of the Great Hetman Grigory Aleksandrovich Khodkevich, Zabludov, printers at the expense of the latter founded a new printing house, where the “Teacher's Gospel” (1569) was printed - a collection of patristic words and teachings for Sundays and holidays and the “Psalter” with the "Speaker of Hours" (1570). In these books, Ivan Fedorov for the first time called himself “Ivan Fedorovich Moskovitin”, i.e. a native of Moscow. The last book was published by Ivan Fedorov alone, since Pyotr Mstislavets left for Vilna. From Lithuania, having experienced “all kinds of troubles and hardships, the worst,” Ivan Fedorov moved to Lvov. Here, in 1574, he published “The Apostle” and the first Slavic printed textbook, “ABC” (only one copy of the edition of “ABC” has survived, which is currently stored in the library of Harvard University in the USA).
Subsequently, Ivan Fedorov founded a new, fourth printing house on the family estate of the Kyiv governor, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky - Ostrog. Here he published five editions - “The ABC” (1578), “The New Testament” and “The Psalter” (1580), an alphabetical index to the New Testament. “The book is a collection of the most necessary things, briefly, for the sake of finding the New Testament in the book according to the words of the alphabet” (1580), together with Gerasim Smotritsky - a wonderful monument of world typographic art, the first complete Slavic Bible, called the “Ostrozh Bible” (1580-1581 .) and the first printed calendar-leaflet on two pages "Chronology". Compiled by the Belarusian poet Andrei Rymsha, a close associate of Prince Radziwill (1581). Ivan Fedorov’s books amaze with their artistic perfection; many of them are now stored in museums and private collections in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and Lvov, as well as in Poland (Warsaw and Krakow), Yugoslavia, Great Britain, Bulgaria and the USA.
Ivan Fedorov - Russian pioneer printer
Introduction
Ivan Fedorov
1. Life of Ivan Fedorov
2. Printing
3. Printing technology
First books
1 Apostle
2 Hourbook
3 Primer
4 Second edition of the primer by Ivan Fedorov
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
When did the first printed book appear in Rus'? It appeared on March 1, 1564 in Moscow in the state printing house, which was founded by Ivan IV and headed by the Russian pioneer Ivan Fedorov. Full title of the book Acts of the Apostles, Council Epistles and St. Paul's Epistles , but its short name “Apostle” is better known. If you try to briefly talk about his life, it will look something like this: Ivan Fedorov was born around 1510, died in 1583, the founder of book printing in Russia and Ukraine. In 1564 in Moscow, together with P. Mstislavets, he published the first Russian dated printed book, “The Apostle.” Later he worked in Belarus and Ukraine. In 1574 he published the first Slavic ABC and a new edition of the Apostle in Lvov. In 1580-81 in Ostrog he published the first complete Slavic Bible. Let us dwell in more detail on the biography of Ivan Fedorov, on his contribution to the development of printing, consider printing technology and the first books published by him. 1. Ivan Fedorov 1 Life of Ivan Fedorov Ivan Fedorov, real name Ivan Fedorovich Moskovitin, is the founder of book printing in Russia and Ukraine. Scientists were unable to establish the exact date of birth of Ivan Fedorov. It is believed that he was born around 1510. Almost nothing is known about the early years of the pioneer printer. Some historians suggest that he studied at the University of Krakow, others mention his name, which was found in the lists of students at German educational institutions. In the 1530-1550s, apparently, he belonged to the entourage of Metropolitan Macarius, and with him he came to Moscow, where he took the position of deacon in the Kremlin Church of St. Nicholas of Gostunsky - one of the most prominent in the Moscow hierarchy. In 1553, John IV ordered the construction of a special house for a printing house in Moscow, but the latter was opened only in 1563, when the first Russian printers, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets, began working there. Two years later they finished printing the Apostle. Immediately after the publication of the Apostle, persecution of printers by copyists began, and Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets had to flee to Lithuania, where they were cordially received by Hetman Khotkevich, who founded a printing house on his estate Zabludov. Together with Ivan Fedorov, his son Ivan also left Moscow, devoting his entire life to his father’s business. By that time, Ivan Fedorov was already a widower. Some scientists believe that his beloved wife died in a fire. Proof that Ivan Fedorov was widowed in Moscow is his transition from the post of deacon to work setting up a printing house. The fact is that the clergy usually removed widowed ministers from the church. The first book printed at the Zabludov printing house by Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets was “The Teaching Gospel” (1568). Later, Ivan Fedorov, in order to continue his printing business, moved to Lvov and here in 1574, in the printing house he founded, he printed the second edition of the Apostle. A few years later, Prince Konstantin Ostrogsky invited him to the city of Ostrog, where he printed, on the orders of the prince, the famous “Ostrog Bible,” the first complete Bible in the Slavic-Russian language. Soon after this, in December 1583, the “Drukar Moskvitin” died on the outskirts of the city of Lvov, in terrible poverty. Ivan Fedorov printed book 1.2 The first printed book in Rus' Ivan Fedorov printed book Based on the testimony of the first printer, it is believed that the printing house in Moscow was opened in 1563. To begin their typographic activities, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets produced and cast one font using a half-chart design. Making a font is a labor-intensive job. First, a matrix was made - a convex shape for each letter was cut out in hard metal, a 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 required quantity. Then the text was typed from these letters, which required a jeweler's precision in maintaining the spaces between letters and words. “The Apostle” was published as a perfect work of printed art. Researchers have found that the text of the “Apostle” differs from the handwritten “Apostles” that were common at that time. This could only mean one thing - the text was carefully edited. Scientists admit that it was edited either in the circle of Metropolitan Macarius, or by the pioneer printers themselves, Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets. The second book to come out of Ivan Fedorov’s Moscow printing house was “The Book of Hours,” published in two editions in 1565. The first of them was printed on August 7, 1565 and finished on September 29, 1565. Another was printed from September 2 to October 29. We learned to read from this book. We do not know of any other books published by Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets in Moscow. But they most likely existed, since some of them are mentioned by the 18th century bibliographer Bishop Damascus (1737-1795). Unfortunately, soon after the publication of the Book of Hours, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets had to leave Moscow. Persecuted by ill-wishers, they found refuge in the Principality of Lithuania in Zabludovo. We do not know who exactly was the opponent of the pioneer printers. In the afterword to the “Apostle” you can find the following lines describing the reasons for leaving Moscow: “... from the malice that often befalls us not from that sovereign himself, but from many superiors and clergy and teachers, who, out of envy, conceived many heresies against us, wanting to turn good into evil and ultimately destroy God’s work, as is the custom of evil-willed, uneducated and unskilled people in their minds, who have no skill in grammatical subtleties and who do not have spiritual intelligence, but who utter an evil word in vain... This drove us out of the land, the fatherland and our people and forced them to move to strange, unfamiliar countries.” A large Lithuanian land magnate, Grigory Aleksandrovich Khodkevich, invited printers to his estate Zabludovo (near Bialystok) so that they could set up a printing house there and print books to supply Orthodox churches. The first book published in Zabludov was “The Teaching Gospel.” This book differed in many ways from the Moscow editions. The presence of a detailed title page, a preface, and not an afterword, which was written by Chodkiewicz himself - these are the main differences of this book. It should be noted that in the preface Khodkevich mentions the pioneer printers with great respect, calling them by name and patronymic Ivan Fedorovich Moskvitin and Pyotr Timofeevich Mstislavets, while in Moscow they were called people of ordinary rank. The Teaching Gospel was published with the same perfection as the Moscow Apostle, but it became the last book that Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets published together. This is where their life paths diverged. Pyotr Mstislavets left for Vilna, where he continued the work of printing. The last book published in Zabludov was “The Psalter with the Book of Hours” (1570). In 1569, the Union of Lublin was concluded, which finally consolidated the unification of the Polish-Lithuanian state, after which relations with Moscow worsened, and Orthodoxy began to be gradually expelled from the state. It is clear that in such conditions, Ivan Fedorov’s educational activities became impossible. Khodkevich gave Fedorov a village that could feed him, but the pioneer printer did not want to leave his favorite business. And then, together with his son, and possibly with other employees of the printing house, Ivan Fedorov moved to Lvov. The road was difficult: a plague epidemic began in the area that had to be crossed. But having reached Lvov, Ivan Fedorov found himself in completely different conditions than he had been in before. If in Moscow the printing house existed on state funds, and in Zabludov on the funds of a patron of the arts, then in Lvov it was necessary to find either wealthy people or turn to the church. Ivan Fedorov spoke in detail about his ordeals in the afterword to the Apostle, which he nevertheless published in Lvov. And poor priests and poor townspeople helped him. He received help from people who understood the enormous significance of the book. In February 1573, Ivan Fedorov began printing the second edition of the Apostle. The difference between the new edition was a more extensive and emotional afterword. At the end of the book, a whole page is occupied by a typographical stamp by Ivan Fedorov. In a rich ornament, on one side there is the coat of arms of the city of Lvov, on the other - the sign of Ivan Fedorov, which appears in all subsequent editions. At the end of the book, an afterword is printed on 9 pages, which amazes with its content and form. In itself it is a literary monument. From it it becomes obvious that the author is familiar with the works of Maxim the Greek, Andrei Kurbsky, “Stoglav”, as well as the works of his contemporaries. In the same year as “The Apostle,” Ivan Fedorov published “The ABC,” in the afterword to which he writes that he compiled this book “for the sake of rapid infant learning” and lists the sources from which he took the texts. The only copy of this book was found in Rome in 1927; now this rarity is in the USA. In 1575, the famous meeting of Ivan Fedorov took place with Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky, the owner of the large estate of Ostrog (a city in Volyn, northeast of Lviv). This feudal lord belonged to the Orthodox Church and supported the Ukrainian national movement. Wealth helped Ostrozhsky conduct his politics and create educational institutions on his estate. To achieve this goal, he gathered highly educated people on his estate who were engaged in pedagogical and literary activities. Ivan Fedorov was exactly the person he really needed, since there was an acute shortage of printing presses in Ostroh to carry out educational activities. Ivan Fedorov, or simply Drukar, as he was called in Ukraine, was the only person in possession of the Cyrillic script. But the pioneer printer did not immediately begin printing books in the new place. At first, Ostrozhsky appointed him manager of the Dermansky monastery, located on the lands of the prince. But the service weighed heavily on the artistic nature of the pioneer printer. Books were what occupied him entirely. And at the end of 1576 he was again in Lviv, where he was called by numerous matters related to printing. According to various surviving documents, it has been established that at that time Ivan Fedorov had extensive business connections. In 1577 he traveled to Turkey. It is believed that Prince Ostrozhsky sent him to buy a Greek “Bible”. In 1579, Ivan Fedorov finally moved to Ostrog. This was the time when work was underway there to prepare the text of the “Bible” for printing. At first, the scientists who lived in Ostrog wanted to translate the “Bible” into Ukrainian, but then abandoned this idea, fearing inaccuracies in the translation that could distort the content. The Moscow Gennadiev manuscript was taken as a sample of the “Bible”. The printing of the book took a year and a half. From Lvov, the First Printer was able to bring only the large Moscow type “Apostle”, with which he printed his last books. But this font was unsuitable for the Bible - the book would have been too large. Therefore, for printing the book, two new fonts were cast: one for the main text, the other, very small, for the notes. And for the title pages a large Moscow one was used. The afterwords and prefaces were printed in parallel with the Church Slavonic Greek script. The Ostrog “Bible” is a very large book with 628 pages. The text is printed in two columns, which was a new technique in Russian and Ukrainian books. The last page contains an afterword indicating the date of publication and a typographical mark. Unlike the early books of Ivan Fedorov, the Bible does not indicate the beginning of the work; scholars suggest that it began either in 1579 or 1580. In May 1581, Andrei Rymsha’s “Chronology” was published. The author of the book is believed to have been from the Ostrog Higher School. Scientists suggest that a new edition of the ABC was published in Ostrog, which was reprinted several times. This idea is suggested by two “ABCs” in England - in the Cambridge and Oxford libraries. In 1582, Ivan Fedorov returned to Lviv, bringing with him 400 copies of the Bible. The Lviv printing house of the pioneer printer was mortgaged for a large sum, and Ivan Fedorov did not have the money to buy it back. And he decided to found a new printing house, but these plans were no longer destined to come true. 1.3 Printing technology There are no detailed sources preserved about the printing press for the first books; it is only known that it was made according to Italian models. It must be said that all typographic terminology, which lasted until the middle of the 19th century, was entirely borrowed from the Italians. For example: teredor (printer) - tiratore; batyrshchik (printer or painter on letters) - battitore; pian, or pyam (top board of the printing press) - piano; marzan (a block inserted into a printing form where the margins in the book should remain) - margine; punch (steel bar with a letter engraved on the end for punching dies) - punzone; matzah (leather bag stuffed with wool or horsehair, with a handle for putting paint on letters) - mazza; tympanum (a quadrangular frame at the machine, which was covered with parchment and a printed sheet was placed on it) - timpano; shtanba (printing establishment) - stampa. Among the typographical terms of that time, only one German word is found - drukarnia (typography). It was brought to Rus' from southwestern printing workshops. These same terms were used in all European printing houses The only source of information about Fedorov’s press is, perhaps, only the inventory of his printing property, made shortly after the death of the printer in Lvov. There was the following description: “a printing press with all the accessories made of wood, ... a large cast copper screw with a nut and a plate with which the letters are pressed, and a frame in which the letters are placed.” It can be concluded that its size was relatively small, since the indicated weight of all copper parts in total is approximately 104 kg. The earliest surviving documentation of the Moscow Printing House dates back to the first half of the 17th century. The most important evidence of the printing technology used by the first Russian printing house is the Fedorov editions themselves. Considering with a high degree of probability the fact that the equipment and techniques did not change for at least 100 years after the death of the great master, scientists were able to reconstruct the fonts, outlines of forms for illustrations, typesetting, layout and printing techniques, as well as Russian binding techniques first printed books. So, the number of fonts at the disposal of the Anonymous Printing House was 5. In the very first of them, for the typesetting of the narrow-font Four Gospels of 1553, the letters were cast together with superscripts. This technique was borrowed from Western Europe. Starting from the next edition - the Lenten Triodion of 1555 - letters and superscripts were cast separately (historians consider this to be indirect evidence of the appearance of Ivan Fedorov in the Anonymous Printing House). Moskvitin himself used 6 fonts in his work. All Moscow, Zabludov and Lvov editions are typed using a Moscow typeface, imitating a semi-statutory letter of the 16th century. At first this font had only two sizes. Later, in Ostrog, Fedorov cast two more in larger sizes and a Greek font in two sizes. All designs for the fonts and punches were made by the master himself. In the 17th century engraving the punches was already the responsibility of the engravers. This was a very labor-intensive task - it took several months to prepare the punches of the entire type. At the printing house, they strictly ensured that the hand on the cutter was steady. By hitting a hammer, pressing the end of the punch with the letter into a copper block, we obtained matrices for casting letters. Only an experienced craftsman could calculate the force of the blow so that the recess would be the same everywhere. In the XVI-XVII centuries. The secret of the typographic alloy was not yet known to Russian printers, so the fonts were cast from tin. The font characters were stored in the cash registers, but their design was not very convenient, which greatly slowed down the speed of typing. To obtain book illustrations and ornaments, wooden boards, most often made of pear wood, were engraved. It was necessary to cut it into boards along the trunk. The design for the carving was made by the bannermen (artists who painted ceremonial editions with paints and gold). Carving a mirror image on a board was called “armor” carving. It took only 2-3 months to make a board for one engraving. At first, two people worked at the printing press - the batyr worker and the teredor worker. It is quite obvious that in the process of creating the first Moscow publications, Fedorov and Mstislavets shared these positions among themselves. Black paint for printing was made from soot in the printing house itself, and expensive cinnabar was bought. The most difficult process was two-color printing. The anonymous publications used the Moscow one-pass printing technique. At the same time, the entire form was covered with black paint, and from the letters intended for red prints, it was carefully erased, and cinnabar was applied with a brush. Later they switched to two-pass printing, first from two different forms, and then from one. All Fedorov editions were printed using the latest method. Before printing, the paper was moistened on a wet cloth, helping it to better accept the ink. The finished prints were collected in notebooks and each was knocked out with a wooden hammer, not allowing the thickness to increase at the spine. All the notebooks collected together were aligned in a vice and then trimmed. In ceremonial editions (for presentation to the king or patriarch), the edge was gilded or painted. For stitching, hemp threads in several folds were most often used. Boards covered with fabric or leather served as binding covers. As a rule, calf or sheep skins were used, less often horse and goat skins. Leather binding was often decorated with embossing using a special stamp. The book creation was completed by attaching fasteners and corner covers to the binding. It was these fasteners that helped extend the life of works of printing art. With the exception of turning the machine screw to press the printed sheet onto the plate, all operations were done by hand. But there was also editorial, proofreading, literary and artistic work! What titanic work did the pioneer printers put into their work! Day after day for a year they selflessly moved towards the realization of their daring plan. They were helped in this not only by their talent, but also by their high fortitude. 2.1 "The Acts of the Apostles" (1564) The pioneer printers actually created a model that became the basis for subsequent publications by Russian master typographers. Blocks of text on a page have 25 lines, with all lines aligned to the right. Surprisingly, such blocks (21 x 14 cm) almost coincide with the size of a modern A4 page. The size of the font, its slight slant to the right, the length of the line, the distance between the lines - everything is convenient for eye movement and creates comfort when reading. According to all the rules for preparing a printed publication, the Apostle is provided with headers, footers, and subscript and superscript references. The book was printed in two colors. However, in the famous Fedorovsky ornament of headpieces made of grape leaves and cones, developed on the basis of floral ornaments of a handwritten book, only black is used. Intertwining leaves, creating a sense of volume, look no less elegant than multi-colored ones. The talented typographer had a keen sense of the beauty and grace of black and white images. By creatively reworking the ornamental techniques of the school of Theodosius Isographer, the master consolidated the so-called old printing style in book graphics. It should be noted that the ornaments in Fedorov’s books always have a service purpose: they do not push the text into the background, but, on the contrary, highlight and decorate it, attracting the reader’s attention. No less remarkable is the miniature, which is traditionally included in publications of this kind. The ancient Russian apostles usually depicted the author writing a book. The Apostle Luke does not write in Fedorov, but holds the book in his hands. The figure of the evangelist has no background - it seems to be floating in the air. Writing materials are left aside on the table. And the book is held not by the scribe, but by the printer. With this technique, the artist perpetuated the memory of himself as the first creator of Russian printed books. Of course, the very first printed book could not be perfect. Some errors in page numbering suggest that conditions in the printing house were not easy. It was probably necessary to disassemble the set to free up the font for the following texts. 2.2 Book of Hours (1565) This pocket edition is a collection of prayers, which was used for conducting worship and teaching children to read and write. The book of hours and primers of Ivan Fedorov were already types of mass and educational books. They were in great demand and were widely read, so they went through more than one edition. It must be said that Moskvitin retained his passion for creating books for teaching until the end of his life. The pioneer printer subsequently continued his search for the type of book in Ukraine. In particular, the alphabetical subject index “A collection of the most necessary things in brief, quickly for the sake of finding a new Testament in the book according to the words of the alphabet” (1580), which can be considered the first collection of aphorisms in the history of Russian literature, was not typical for the typographer. 2.3 Primer (1574) The very first primer was printed by Ivan Fedorov, the founder of book printing in Rus', in Lvov in 1574. Today, there is only one copy of this book in the world, which, fortunately, has been perfectly preserved. It belongs to the Harvard University Library in the USA. It was purchased in 1950, and only in 1955 did the world see a complete photocopy of a previously unknown textbook. It is curious that the primer came to Harvard from the Paris collection of S.P. Diaghilev. The book does not have any title, so it is also called the alphabet and grammar. It is composed of five 8-sheet notebooks, which corresponds to 80 pages. Each page has 15 lines. The primer was written in Old Church Slavonic. Some of its pages are decorated with headbands characteristic of Ivan Fedorov’s publications in the form of ornaments of intertwined leaves, buds, flowers and cones. The first page is occupied by 45 lowercase Cyrillic letters. Moreover, the alphabet is presented in direct and reverse order, as well as broken down into 8 columns. Probably, this technique of repeating the alphabet helped better memorization. The alphabet uses the subjunctive method, inherited from the Greeks and Romans, which involves learning syllables by heart. First there were two-letter combinations with each vowel in the alphabet (buki - az = ba), then the same syllables with the addition of a third letter (buki - rtsy - az = bra). Here az, beeches, rtsy are letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. In the section “And this ABC is from the book of osmochastny, that is, grammar,” the author placed examples of verb conjugation for each letter of the alphabet, starting with “b”. Here are the forms of the passive voice of the verb biti. The section “According to prosody, and the two things that lie there are imperative and declarative” gives information about stress and “aspiration” in words. And the “By Orthography” section contains individual words for reading, written in full or abbreviated (under the sign “title” - a superscript symbol indicating the omission of letters). The alphabet ends with an acrostic poem. In an elementary acrostic (Greek: “edge of a line”), or an elementary prayer, each line conveying the content of one of the religious truths begins with a specific letter. If you look at the left edge of the lines from top to bottom, you get the alphabet. So the Holy Scriptures were remembered, and the alphabet was fixed. The second part of the primer is entirely devoted to reading material. These are not only prayers, but also excerpts from the parables of Solomon and the letters of the Apostle Paul, which seem to give advice to parents, teachers and students. On the last page there are 2 engravings: the coat of arms of the city of Lviv and the publishing sign of the first printer. Ivan Fedorov himself carefully selected material for inclusion in his first primer. In the afterword about his role as compiler, he wrote: “I wrote to you, not from myself, but from the divine apostles and God-bearing saints, the father of the teachings, ... from grammar and little something for the sake of quick infant learning.” Some researchers compare the work of creating this primer with a scientific feat. After all, Ivan Fedorov proved himself not only as an outstanding book master, but also as a talented teacher. For the first time, the alphabet tried to introduce elements of grammar and counting into the process of learning to read (part of the text was divided into small numbered paragraphs). In addition, the children's textbook contains teachings about education, which must be done “in mercy, in prudence, in humility, in meekness, long-suffering, accepting one another and granting forgiveness.” The first sprouts of humanistic pedagogy were an absolute innovation for medieval Rus'. And a modest little book for basic literacy education went far beyond the scope of the usual alphabet, and was the beginning of an entire era, which is studied by alphabetists. 2.4 Second edition of Ivan Fedorov’s primer (1578) “The book in Greek “Alpha Vita”, and in Russian “Az Buki,” first for the sake of teaching children,” published in 1578 in Ostrog. Having left Lvov, Moskvitin (as the first printer, a native of Moscow, called himself) founded a printing house on the family estate of the Kyiv governor, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky. The alphabet is called Ostrozhskaya. It is known from two surviving copies - in the Royal Library of Copenhagen and the city library of Gotha (Germany). The book is more richly decorated. In addition to headers and endings, headings made in script have already appeared here, as well as drop caps - the first letters of a paragraph one or more lines high, made in the form of an ornament. Repeating the structure of the first edition, the alphabet, in addition to Slavic texts, also includes Greek ones. At the same time, paragraph numbering and Cyrillic numbers at the end of the page have been removed. But the most remarkable difference of this alphabet is that at the end of it, Ivan Fedorov for the first time published a magnificent monument of Slavic literature. This is “The Legend of How St. Cyril the Philosopher Compiled the Alphabet in the Slovenian Language and Translated Books from Greek into the Slovenian Language,” created in the 9th century. Chernoriztsev the Brave. Ivan Fedorov’s entire life was devoted, in his words, to “scattering and distributing spiritual food throughout the world.” The Ostroh alphabet once again confirms this - wherever Moskvitin founded a printing house, everywhere he published books for teaching reading and writing. Conclusion The theme of enlightenment, albeit “divine”, runs through all the afterwords. Moskvitin associates the “Divine Word” with a book. By the 80s of the XX century. scientists counted over 500 copies of 12 editions of the great Russian educator. Many of them are today stored in museums and private collections in Moscow, St. Petersburg, other cities of Russia, Kyiv and Lvov, as well as in Poland (Warsaw and Krakow), Yugoslavia, Great Britain, Bulgaria and the USA. They still amaze contemporaries with their highest artistic perfection. His life was a feat in its purpose, in its dedication and the extraordinary results achieved. Selfless work associated with constant failures and relocations, painful and persistent searches for technical and artistic techniques, philological, proofreading, writing and pedagogical research put Ivan Fedorov not only in the place of an outstanding printing technician. This Russian man was and remains in the memory of all literate people an educator, artist, creator, creator of Russian and Ukrainian books, an outstanding figure in Russian and Slavic culture of the second half of the 16th century. Bibliography 1. Kisivetter A.A. Ivan Fedorov and the beginning of book printing in Rus'. M., 1904 2. Kukushkina M.V. Book in Russia in the 16th century. - St. Petersburg: Petersburg Oriental Studies, 1999, 202 p. Series "Slavica Petropolitana", III. Lukyanenko V.I. Ivan Fedorov’s ABC, its sources and specific features // TODRL. M.-L., 1960. 4. Malov V. Book. Series "What is what", M., SLOVO, 2002. Nemirovsky E.L. Ivan Fedorov. M., 1985. Nemirovsky E.L. Printing technology of Ivan Fedorov and his students. In the book "Ivan Fedorov" M., Nauka, 1959 or Questions of the history of natural history and science, 1984, No. 1. From the alphabet of Ivan Fedorov to the modern primer / Comp. Bogdanov V.P. and others - M.: Education, 1974 Tikhomirov M.N. At the origins of Russian book printing. M., USSR Academy of Sciences, 1959.
Name: Ivan Fedorov
Date of Birth: 1510
Age: 73 years old
Activity: one of the first Russian book printers
Family status: was married
Ivan Fedorov: biography
Today, to print a book, it is enough to charge the printer with ink and the required amount of paper. After waiting three minutes (or half an hour - the power of the device plays a role here), anyone will print the necessary book - be it the Bible or the Anarchist Cookbook. Previously, to carry out this kind of work it would have been necessary to put in much more effort and use much more resources, and only a few could carry out such an operation, including Ivan Fedorov.
Childhood and youth
There is no reliable information about the pioneer printer’s childhood. According to historians, Ivan was born in 1510 in the Grand Duchy of Moscow. This date is largely based on the findings of the Soviet historian Evgeniy Lvovich Nemirovsky, who found a document indicating that between 1529 and 1532 Ivan studied at the Jagiellonian University, which is located in Krakow, the current capital of Poland.
Also, according to Soviet and Russian historians, the ancestors of the first printer were from lands belonging to the current Republic of Belarus. After graduating from the Jagiellonian University in 1532, Fedorov was appointed deacon of the Church of St. Nicholas of Gostun. In those years, Metropolitan Macarius himself became his immediate leader, with whom Ivan would have a long collaboration.
First printing house
In 1552, he made a landmark decision - to begin printing books in Church Slavonic in Moscow. Before this, there were similar attempts to print books in Church Slavonic, but abroad.
The king ordered that a specialist in the field of printing, living in Denmark, be brought to him. This specialist was Hans Messingheim, who became famous for his work not only in his homeland. Under his leadership, the first printing house in Rus' was built.
By decree of the tsar, printing presses and the first letters were brought from Poland - printed elements with symbols of the Church Slavonic alphabet. Later they were updated and supplemented by Vasyuk Nikiforov, invited by the Tsar in 1556. Nikiforov also became the first Russian engraver - his works can be found in surviving copies of books printed in that printing house.
Having confirmed his expectations about book printing, Ivan the Terrible opens the Moscow Printing House, which operates and develops at the expense of the state budget. This event takes place in 1563.
The very next year, the first and, fortunately, surviving book of the printing house, “The Apostle,” will be published. Later it will be supplemented by the Book of Hours. In both cases, Ivan Fedorov takes an active part in the work, as evidenced by the publications. It is believed that the king appointed him a student of Messingame on the advice of Metropolitan Macarius.
"Moscow Apostle" by Ivan Fedorov It is not without reason that the publishing house’s full-fledged debut work was a book of a religious nature, as was the case with Johannes Guttenberg. The church of those years was significantly different from today's churches. Then the priority was the education of the people, and all textbooks were in one way or another connected with the sacred scriptures.
It is worth mentioning that the Moscow Printing Yard has more than once become a victim of arson. It was rumored that this was the work of monastic scribes who saw competition in book printing that could reduce the need for them or, at least, the cost of the services provided by the monks. They were partly right.
In 1568, by decree of the Tsar, Fedorov moved to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On the way, Ivan stops in the city of Zabludov, located in the Grodno Povet. He was sheltered by the former military leader Grigory Khodkevich. Having learned about what Fedorov was doing, Khodkevich, as an active statesman, asked the pioneer printer to help open a local printing house. The opening of the Zabludovskaya printing house took place in the same year.
Having printed several test “books” (each of which had no more than 40 unnumbered pages and no imprint), the workers of the Zabludovskaya printing house, under the leadership of Fedorov, published their first and, in fact, only work - the book “The Teacher's Gospel”. This happens in 1568-1569.
After this, the publishing house stopped working, because, according to Khodkiewicz, more important things arose. By these words he meant changes in the civil and political life of the country associated with the signing of the Union of Lublin in 1569, which led to the unification of Lithuania and Poland into a single country - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
This news did not please Fedorov, so he decided to move to Lvov to open his own printing house there. But even here he was disappointed - the local rich were not eager to invest their finances in book printing, and Ivan did not find support from the clergy - the local priests were committed to copying books by hand.
Nevertheless, Fedorov managed to gain some money, and he began to print books, sell them in Lvov, Krakow and Kolomyia, and print new ones with the proceeds. In 1570, Fedorov published the Psalter.
In 1575, Ivan was offered the post of manager of the Derman Holy Trinity Monastery. Fedorov agreed to this position, believing that printing should be left in the past. However, just two years later, the pioneer printer was busy building a new printing house at the request (and finances) of Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky.
Book by Ivan Fedorov "Ostrozh Bible" The Ostroh printing house published a number of educational books: “ABC”, “Primer” (an expanded and revised edition of “ABC”) and “Greek-Russian Church Slavonic book for reading”. In 1581, an edition of the Ostrog Bible was published, which became the third landmark book in Fedorov’s biography (the previous two were “Apostle” and “Psalter”).
After the publication of the Ostroh Bible, Fedorov handed over the reins of management of the printing house to his eldest son, and he himself began to travel on business trips around Europe - sharing his experience with foreign colleagues, learning about new discoveries and developments, presenting his projects to high-ranking persons (including King Rudolf II of Germany). You can get acquainted with examples of Fedorov’s works on the Internet - photos of surviving publications are posted in the public domain.
Personal life
There is also virtually no information about Fedorov’s personal life. It is known that Ivan was married and that he had two sons, the eldest of whom also became a book printer (and even received the appropriate nickname Drukar, translated from Ukrainian as “printer”). Fedorov's wife died before her husband left Moscow. There is a theory according to which she died just during the birth of her second son. The baby also did not survive.
Death
Ivan died on December 5, 1583. This happened during another business trip to Europe. Fedorov’s body was taken to Lviv, where it was buried in a cemetery located on the territory of the Church of St. Onuphrius.
- In those years when the first printer lived, surnames in the current sense had not yet taken root. Therefore, on the imprint of his publications, as well as in individual business papers, Ivan signed differently: Ivan Fedorov (“Apostle”, 1564), Ivan Fedorovich Moskvitin (“Psalter”, 1570), Ivan, Fedorov’s son, from Moscow (“Ostrog Bible”, 1581).
- In addition to church services and book printing, Fedorov made multi-barreled mortars and cast cannons.
- Ivan Drukar, Fedorov’s son, died three years after his father’s death. This happened under unclear circumstances, but some blame the same monastic scribes (which is unlikely).
- There is a theory according to which Fedorov is far from the first book printer in Rus' - they tried printing before, but the results were much worse, so the typographic craft did not take root from the first try.
Memory
- In 1909, a monument to Fedorov was erected next to the Printing House building.
- In 1933, the image of Ivan Fedorov first appeared on a stamp. It appeared again in 1983 and 2010.
- In 1941, director Grigory Levkoev made the film “The First Printer Ivan Fedorovich.”
- 1977 was the year the Ivan Fedorov Museum opened in Lviv. It was later damaged by a group of religious fanatics, but museum staff and volunteer assistants managed to restore the building and most of the exhibits.
- In 1983, the mint issued a commemorative coin with Fedorov's profile in memory of the 400th anniversary of his death.
- In many cities of Russia and Ukraine there are streets named after Ivan Fedorov.
The name and basic facts of the biography of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov are probably known to many erudite people. But this man’s life path was much more difficult and more exciting than what is taught in schools. We invite you to get acquainted in more detail with how the first pioneer printer in Russia lived and worked.
Historical realities
The biography of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov should be considered in the context of the era in which he lived. So, the 15th century is the period of the reign of the harsh Ivan the Terrible. Russia lags significantly behind Europe; books are copied in the old fashioned way in monasteries by monks. And in the West, printing presses have been in use for many years, making painstaking work faster. Of course, to a modern person the massive structure - the invention of Johannes Gutenberg - will seem strange. The first printing press had bars that attached it to the floor and ceiling, a heavy press, under the force of which impressions were left on paper, as well as a set of letters - letters of the English alphabet in a mirror image. Page layouts were compiled from them.
Ivan the Terrible, not wanting to lag behind Europe, ordered the development of book printing, ordered a printing press, and Ivan Fedorov became the first employee of the ancient printing house.
The beginning of life's journey
A short biography and interesting facts about the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov do not contain an exact date of birth. Therefore, researchers assume that he was born in the 20s of the 16th century. The place of birth is also shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that it is Moscow: it is not for nothing that he signed his name as “Moskvitin”. Information about his childhood and youth has not reached our days, which is understandable - when a person is just born, no one realizes that in the future his life will be of interest to his descendants, so the facts are not recorded anywhere.
However, the name of Fedorov became famous in 1564 - this is the date of birth of Russian official printing.
First printed book
In the development of the culture of Rus', the merits of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov are fully noted. In the short biography for children, special attention is paid to his first book, which appeared after a month of painstaking work by a talented innovator and in many ways resembled a handwritten one. This is the Apostles, also known as the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles. It is distinguished by the following features:
- The presence of initial letters, which are a large letter, the first in a section, exquisitely decorated with ornaments. There are 22 of them.
- The use of ornaments that make the book especially elegant and solemn.
Thanks to Fedorov’s efforts, the book was fully consistent with ancient Russian church traditions.
Follow up
After the appearance of the first printed book, Ivan Fedorov’s work continued. A year later, the Book of Hours was published. However, the innovators had to face fierce resistance from the monks, who did not accept printed books as such. The traditions turned out to be so strong that the biography of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov mentions the fact of the burning of the printing house and the need to leave Moscow. However, the work continued.
Life in Zabludovo
The biography of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov is especially interesting for children. It mentions that after leaving Moscow he settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in Zabludovo, located on the territory of modern Poland. Thanks to the help of Hetman Khodkevich, who treated the innovator kindly, Fedorov established the production of church books. In 1569, the Master's Gospel was published. Soon after this, the pioneer printer parted with his friend and assistant Pyotr Mstislavets, but continued his favorite work. The Psalter from the Book of Hours was published. Further, difficult times begin in the biography of pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov. Due to illness, Khodkiewicz became disillusioned with publishing books, considering this activity unnecessary, and refused to support the innovator. But the desire to do what he loved turned out to be stronger, and difficulties did not break this man’s will.
Moving to Lviv
Left without the hetman's support, the founder of the printing business moved to Lviv. He needed money to open a printing house, but no one was in a hurry to help. However, at this moment the biography of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov becomes instructive: thanks to perseverance, he manages to get money and continue the business. In Lvov, the second edition of the famous “Apostle” was published, which, of course, was inferior in artistic and professional terms to the first version, but still has great historical value. The ABC, the first printed textbook in Russia, was also published here.
Heyday of activity
From the short biography of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov, we learn that, despite his willpower and efficiency, he was unable to get a stable profit, so financial difficulties forced the innovator to leave Lviv and move to the southwest of Rus'. Here, under the patronage of Prince Konstantin Ostrog, the great man managed to publish the first complete Bible in Church Slavonic, the Ostrog Bible.
last years of life
Work in Ostrog helped Ivan Fedorov partially solve his financial problems, so he got the opportunity to return to Lviv and begin work on opening a new printing house. Alas, this was not destined to come true; in 1583, the pioneer printer passed away. The new printing house was sold to moneylenders for debts; the eldest son and student of Ivan Fedorov tried to buy it back, but they did not have enough money. Book printing in Rus' fell asleep for 20 years, only to return in triumph.
A selection of interesting facts
- The first printing press with movable type was invented by Guttenberg, a goldsmith by profession. However, due to financial difficulties, the creator was forced to enter into an unfavorable agreement with the moneylender Fust, which is why for some time it was believed that the credit for printing belonged to the latter.
- While the name of the pioneer printer Fedorov is well known to many, few people know that it was he who began separating words with spaces, which made reading much easier. Before him, texts were written together, the end of the sentence was highlighted with a dot.
- It was the first book printer who introduced some new letters and words into use.
- Even a short biography of the pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov indicates that he was an incredibly educated and erudite person for his time, spoke several languages, and strived to bring his knowledge to the masses.
- Ivan Fedorov’s assistant in creating printed books was his friend and associate Pyotr Mstislavets, information about whose childhood and youth has not survived to this day.
- The biography of pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov mentions several interesting events from his personal life. So, it is known that he was married twice.
- During the life of the first printer there were no surnames, so Fedorov is most likely an abbreviated patronymic “Fedorovich”. Thus, in the “Ostrog Bible” it is indicated that it was printed by John, Fedorov’s son.
The short biography of the first pioneer printer, Ivan Fedorov, is entertaining and instructive. This man, despite the fierce resistance of the clergy, managed to organize the publication of books, putting his whole soul into this matter.
THE FIRST BOOK PRINTER IN Rus' – IVAN FEDOROV
Printing houses and printing books were a necessity. But, as in any new business, it was not without enemies. Printing in Rus' was met with hostility and it was believed that the sacred book should only be handwritten. The printed word was recognized as the machinations of the evil one. The Tsar took an active part in organizing the first printing house. As Ivan Fedorov himself wrote: “the tsar ordered to build a house from his treasury where the printing business could be built.” A place was allocated for this matter on the Nikolsky sacrum. Ivan Fedorov, the most capable master of the first Moscow printing house, became the head of the printing house. This decision of the tsar is a natural result of the policy of centralization that he intensively pursued in all areas of the political, economic and cultural life of Moscow Rus'.
Printing press of Ivan Fedorov
On April 19, 1563, Ivan Fedorov, together with his friend and assistant Peter Timofeev Mstislavets, with the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius, began printing the “Apostle”. On March 1, 1564, the first precisely dated Moscow book was published. At the end there is an afterword (the history of the publication of this book). The second book of the state printing house was the Book of Hours, published in 1565. To date, no one knows about other publications by Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Timofeev Mstislavets. Perhaps they existed, but they did not reach us.
"Apostle" 1564. The first seven pages are occupied by all sorts of prefaces and tables of contents. The eighth sheet is a frontispiece engraved on wood, preceding the main text of the book. This engraving is a portrait of the author of the “Apostle” - the Evangelist Luke. The first figure engraving in the history of our art, the compositional center of which is the image of a person. Luka sits on a small bench with massive legs. The apostle's head is tilted forward, his figure is hunched. He has a book on his lap. Luka supports her with his hands. Bare feet rest on a pad. Nearby there is a stand - a writing slide, on which lies an open scroll. The lines he wrote can be read; The apostle had just finished writing: “First was the word.” There is also an inkwell with a quill pen and a sandbox on the slide. The freshly written text was sprinkled with sand so that it would not smear. The image is framed. This is a triumphal arch with a semi-circular vault and a horizontal ceiling. The vault is supported by columns with magnificent capitals and a richly decorated base.
Spread from the book "The Apostle", 1564
Distribute this photocopy to children.
Soon after the publication of the Book of Hours, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Timofeev had to leave Moscow. They moved to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, on the eastern lands of which lived Ukrainians and Belarusians who professed Orthodoxy and spoke a language that they themselves called “Russian”. This language was the official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All business was carried out on it.
? Why did they have to leave Moscow?
Ivan Fedorov himself, in the afterword of the “Apostle” of 1564, wrote that in Moscow there were people who wanted to “turn good into evil and completely destroy God’s work.” These people “conceived many heresies out of envy,” they declared the activities of Ivan Fedorov ungodly and heretical. The pioneer printer wrote about his persecutors in a tone-deaf tone. We only know that the persecution came “not from the sovereign himself, but from many leaders, and priests, and teachers.” There is no doubt that this is the feudal elite of the church, a convinced enemy of all and any innovations. These are the same “pretending to be teachers” who declared: “It is a sin to simply read the Apostle and the Gospel”!
Having left Moscow, Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets met with a favorable reception in Zabludov, the fortified castle of Hetman Khodkevich. Here in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, printers began on July 8, 1568, and on March 17, 1569, finished printing the “Teaching Gospel,” intended to educate the Orthodox people of the Belarusian and Ukrainian lands. The second Zabludov publication was the “Psalter with the Book of Hours,” published on March 23, 1570. This book and the Book of Hours were used to teach reading.
A page from “ABC” by Ivan Fedorov. Lviv. 1574
The Zabludov printing house of Ivan Fedorov played a significant role in the establishment of permanent book printing in Belarus. But the printing house did not operate for long. Soon Ivan Fedorov went to Vilna and here he founded a drukarny, which for many years printed books for Belarusians. And in 1572, Ivan Fedorov went to Lvov and founded the first printing house on Ukrainian soil. On February 25, 1573, he began, and on February 15, 1574, he finished printing the Apostle. At the end of the book there is an afterword: “This story expresses where it began and how this drukarnya came to pass” - the printer’s story about his labors and misadventures, the first printed work of Russian memoir literature. At the same time, “Azbuka” was printed in the Lviv printing house. It was compiled by Ivan Fedorov himself. "ABC" is a unique example of an ancient Russian manual for teaching literacy. There was a great need for educated people in the Russian state. Knowledge was required not only by the clergy, but also by artisans and traders. They were taught mainly in “family” schools at the homes of teachers: priests, church readers, sextons, professional scribes, literate townspeople and villagers. There were schools at monasteries and churches, where they taught reading, church singing and the order of worship. In Rus', people learned to read from handwritten text prepared by the teacher. Texts were written on birch bark, on cere, on a sheet of parchment or paper. Ivan Fedorov used Russian handwritten primers created before the ABC, and the grammatical work “The Eighth of Honor of the Word” (eight parts of speech). The Church attributed this work to the Monk John of Damascus, a Byzantine theologian, philosopher and hymn writer who lived in the 7th–8th centuries. Another source for the “ABC” is considered to be the ancient Russian grammatical work “The Book of Verb Letters”. It is possible that the printer also used Western European literacy textbooks. The first East Slavic printed primers were published by Ivan Fedorov. “ABC” opens with 45 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. On the back of the sheet the letters are listed in reverse order - from “Izhitsa” to “az”. Having published the “ABC”, on which the typographer worked, as he himself said in the afterword of the book: “for the sake of quick infant learning,” Ivan Fedorov went to the city of Ostrog, where he was invited by the large Ukrainian feudal lord Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky. In 1580–1581 The Ostrog Bible appeared - a large volume of 1256 pages, a wonderful cultural monument. Ostrog was the center of an appanage principality, which was owned by Prince K.K. Ostrozhsky. His two-story castle had a rich library, which, unfortunately, his descendants did not preserve. To this day, volumes that once belonged to K.K. Ostrogsky are found in Polish book depositories. The prince was the recognized head of the cultural and educational circle of large feudal lords in Volyn. He set up a school for children in Ostrog. Subsequently, the famous Ostroh Academy arose here. It was Prince Ostrogsky who came up with the idea of publishing the first complete Slavic “Bible”. The translation of the “Bible” into the national language and its publication in this language pursued goals related to the growth of self-awareness, strengthening the position of the native language, and served the objectives of the struggle of the humanistic worldview with medieval scholasticism. The printing press contributed to this.
Several people, by order of Ostrogsky, left for Turkey and Greece to find and bring the Bible in Greek. Having received several copies of the Bible, the prince decided that the time had come and he could begin publishing the edition.
Ivan Fedorov prepared the typeface and the necessary equipment. In 1580, Fedorov published the New Testament with Psalter. A new edition of the ABC and two primers were printed.
The Ostroh Bible was a true masterpiece of Ivan Fedorov's typographic art. Its volume is 628 sheets. Printed in two columns with a beautiful, close print and six fonts. Beautiful screensavers, initial letters. The title page of the Bible is framed by a frame in which the image of the Evangelist Luke was enclosed in the Moscow “Apostle”. The coat of arms of Prince Ostrog and the typographic sign of Ivan Fedorov were printed. Circulation: about 1000 copies. The first edition of the Bible printed in Cyrillic served as a model for its subsequent Russian editions.