Publications in the Literature section

"Apostle" - the first dated printed book in Rus'

In March 1564, the first printed, dated book, “The Apostle,” was published. The history of book printing in Russia began with it. Let's remember Interesting Facts about "Apostle" and its publishers.

Books "By Hand"

Ivan III Vasilievich. Portrait from the Tsar's Title Book. 17th century

Title page of the manuscript “Stoglava” from the Main Collection of the Library of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

First printer Ivan Fedorov. Ivan Tomashevich. 1904

Printing in Russia was preceded by the era of handwritten books. They copied them in monasteries, and at the same time they did not do without the “human factor”. To prevent errors and deviations from church norms from appearing in books, the rules for the work of “copyists” of sacred texts were published in Stoglav in 1551. The collection also contained church rules and instructions, ancient Russian norms of law and morality.

“The blessed Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' ordered holy books to be bought at auction and invested in holy churches. But among them there were few suitable ones - they all turned out to be spoiled by scribes who were ignorant and ignorant of the sciences. Then he began to think about how to organize the printing of books, so that from now on the holy books would be published in a corrected form.”

Ivan Fedorov, afterword to “The Apostle”

The first printing house in Rus'

Progress helped us begin to solve the problem nationwide. A century earlier, the printing press was invented, and later it appeared in Russia. In the middle of the 16th century, several “anonymous” - without indicating the publisher - books of religious content were published in Rus'. These were three Gospels, two Psalms and the Triodion. In 1553, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of a Printing House using funds from the royal treasury - not far from the Kremlin, on Nikolskaya Street. Of the buildings of the first printing house, the oldest one has survived - the “correction room” or proofreading room.

By order of the sovereign to “find the mastery of printed books,” the deacon of the Kremlin Church of St. Nicholas Gostunsky, Ivan Fedorov, took up the task. Fedorov was widely educated: he knew Greek and Latin, knew how to bind books and was engaged in foundry.

Why "Apostle"

Monument to Ivan Fedorov, Moscow. Photo: artpoisk.info

"The Apostle", 1564. Book cover. Photo: mefodiya.ru

The site of the former printing yard, Moscow. Photo: mefodiya.ru

To print the first edition, they took the “Acts and Epistles of the Apostles,” written by the Evangelist Luke, part of the New Testament. The book was used in divine services, in the training of priests, and for teaching literacy in parochial schools.

Printing such a serious book required careful preparation. For a new endeavor, Ivan Fedorov needed assistants - among them was Pyotr Mstislavets, who is also considered one of the first book printers in Rus'. At first, everyone learned to type text and print it. Fedorov and his assistants made forms for each letter, cast more and more lead letters of different fonts, and cut out wooden ornaments to decorate the chapters. The preparation process was personally supervised by the sovereign.

Ivan Fedorov and Metropolitan Macarius were especially diligent in selecting the primary source - versions of the handwritten “Apostles” were sent from monasteries. At the Printing Yard, a “reference room” was opened, where a sample was prepared for printing. The text of the book itself required elaboration.

“It must be said that Ivan Fedorov “lightened” the book by eliminating from it many official materials that were not part of the canonical text, but were traditionally placed in the handwritten Apostles. These are all kinds of prefaces, interpretations, etc.”

Evgeniy Nemirovsky, book scholar, Doctor of Historical Sciences

Almost ten years passed from the royal command to start the printing press to the actual printing. Only in April 1563 did the craftsmen begin to make the book itself.

Working on a book

Fragment of the book "Apostle". 1564

Fragment of the book "Apostle". 1564

It took almost a year to print the first book. As a result, the font sample was taken from the “handwritten semi-chart” of the 16th century - medium-sized rounded letters with a slight slant to the right. Church books were usually copied in this style. To make the printed book more convenient to read, the craftsmen painstakingly aligned the lines and spaces between words. For printing we used glued French paper - thin and durable. Ivan Fedorov engraved the text himself and typed the text himself.

In 1564, the first Russian printed dated book was published. It had 534 pages, each with 25 lines. The circulation at that time was impressive - about two thousand copies. About 60 books have survived to this day in museums and libraries.

A work of printing art from the 16th century

Frontispiece and title page of "The Apostle". 1564. Copy from the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Fragment of the book "Apostle". 1564. Copy from the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“Apostle” was decorated in the style of ancient Russian handwritten books. The wooden binding was covered with morocco with gold embossing and brass clasps. Inside, “The Apostle” was “with pictures”: the book was decorated with 48 drawings of intricately intertwined herbs with fruits and cones. The printer highlighted the beginning of the chapter with an ornament, and the initial letters and inserts were also highlighted with red - cinnabar. The colors turned out so High Quality that have not faded even after centuries.

With such a traditional design, a new decorative element appeared in the “Apostle”: an engraved frontispiece - a drawing placed on the same spread with title page. It depicts the figure of the Evangelist Luke in an arch on two columns.

“Last year they introduced printing... and I myself saw with what dexterity books were already printed in Moscow.”, - noted the work of Moscow printers in 1564, the Italian aristocrat Raphael Barberini, who visited Russia in those years.

Years of preparation and meticulous work on the book paid off: the researchers did not find a single error or typo in the book.

The author of the afterword spoke about the great church construction “across all the cities” of Muscovite Rus', especially “in the newly enlightened place in the city of Kazan and within its borders,” and the need for printed church books, not distorted by scribes: “all corruption from the prescriptive unlearned and unskilled in mind."

Other books by Ivan Fedorov

A year after the release of “The Apostle,” Ivan Fedorov published a collection of prayers called “The Book of Hours.” The book was published in two “factories,” that is, publications. The pioneer printer spent about three months on the job, after which he left Moscow for Lvov.

“...It is not fitting for me to shorten the time of my life either by plowing or sowing seeds, because instead of a plow I master the art of hand tools, and instead of bread I must sow spiritual seeds in the Universe and distribute this spiritual food to everyone according to rank...”

Ivan Fedorov

Later, he published another version of “The Apostle” and the first Russian textbook, “The ABC,” following his life principle of “sowing spiritual seeds.” Ivan Fedorov published another book in the printing house of the city of Ostrog in 1581 - the Ostrog Bible.

The most unusual building not only on Nikolskaya, but probably in all of Moscow is the Synodal Printing House complex. This is the birthplace of book printing in Russia. Ivan the Terrible and Metropolitan Macarius set up a Sovereign printing house on Nikolskaya. Most likely, books were printed here back in the 1550s. The first indisputable author of the dated book was Ivan Fedorov, a deacon of the Kremlin Church of St. Nicholas Gostunsky, who worked here together with Pyotr Mstislavets. They went down in history as the first Russian printers. The first dated book, The Apostle, was published on March 1, 1564, 120 years after Gutenberg.

During the turmoil of 1611, the printing house burned down, by 1620 it was rebuilt and worked intensively throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, producing liturgical books and textbooks. In 1703, by decree of Peter I The first newspaper was published in the printing house of the printing yard, marking the beginning of the Russian periodical press. In 1722, the printing house was transferred to the then created Holy Synod, and until 1917 there was the Moscow Synodal Printing House, one of the largest and best equipped in Russia. Was at the printing house unique set fonts, including Coptic and Syriac.

In 1642, during the time of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, Trefil Sharutin and Christopher Galloway built new stone chambers with a tower and a gate to Nikolskaya. The gate was decorated with a lion and a unicorn. In 1773, a crack appeared in the tower, and in 1810 the courtyard had to be dismantled due to disrepair.

The design of the new building of the Synodal Printing House was entrusted to the architect I.L. Mironovsky. He built a quaint and fashionable building in the time of Alexander I Gothic style, then considered ancient Russian. Due to the war with Napoleon, construction was completed only in 1814. The lion and unicorn were moved here from the old gate: they symbolized power. Two plaques on the sides on the facade of the central risalit of the building say that the first printing house building was built under the first tsar from the house of Romanov, and the second under Alexander I . The facade is decorated with pointed Gothic windows and turrets, twisted columns with intricate patterns. The pediment was decorated with a double-headed eagle, which later replaced the coat of arms of the USSR. There are two sundials on the façade.

The oldest building of the complex – the Correct Chamber, Teremok – is located in the courtyard. Famous archaeologist A.G. Wexler established that the underground floor of this chamber dates back to the end of the 15th century, that is, it is based on the oldest civil structure in Moscow. The Teremok was skillfully restored by the architect Artleben in 1872-75. A porch was added, the top was rebuilt in the Russian style of the 17th century, and the facade facing Teatralnaya Square was decorated. The interiors were painted by Palekh masters. In 1875, Alexander visited the correct ward II . At the beginning of the 20th century there was a museum of printing in Russia.

After the revolution there was Goznak, then archives and the Central Archival Administration. In the 1930s, the Historical and Archival Institute was created, and since 1991, the Russian State University for the Humanities.

The Printing House Printing House is the oldest printing house in St. Petersburg, created by decree of Nicholas I in 1827 for printing the Complete Collection of Laws Russian Empire. The highest decrees were also printed here in 6 copies. Two copies were made on expensive vellum paper, which was used for drawing miniatures and pastel paintings, and were presented to the Emperor for signature.

For many years, the State Printing House (since 1922 - “Printing Yard”) was located in the center at the address: Embankment of the Catherine Canal, No. 2. Since the documentation was constantly multiplying, the printing house needed not just a new building, but a specialized complex. They bought a plot of land for him on the Petrograd side. According to the design of the famous architect L. N. Benois with the participation of L. L. Shreter, a huge main building was erected along Geslerovsky Lane (now Chkalovsky Avenue, No. 15) and Gatchinskaya Street. However, construction, which lasted from 1909 to 1911, was not completed before the revolution - the buildings occupied only half a block.

Production buildings stand along the perimeter of the courtyard, covered with metal trusses and illuminated by skylights. Thanks to this arrangement, convenient areas were created for printing machines and utility warehouses. The three-story buildings were also occupied by a forwarding office, warehouses for finished products, workshops and various services. The main entrance was from Gatchina - it is marked by a powerful Doric portico with a pediment. The passage connected the buildings with the workers' dormitory. There was a theater hall (now a dining room), “where the best singers and actors of the city performed for workers and employees”, as recalled by D.S. Likhachev, who lived with his parents in 1917–1928 on the second floor of a residential wing on Oranienbaumskaya Street, No. 27.

The layout is based on the utilitarian principle inherent in Art Nouveau architects. It is also used in the strict design of the facades: blades, wide and high windows alternate rhythmically, the base is lined with crushed granite, brickwork combined with rough plaster cladding. The ascetic appearance is reminiscent of the industrial architecture of Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century and the tendencies of constructivism. It is immediately noticeable that this is a factory, but a special one, a printing one; the location and structure of its premises are dictated by the technological process.

When the State Printing House was built, it became one of the best in the country and remained so for a long time thanks to constant re-equipment. In 1922, the printing house was given the name “Printing Yard” - in memory of the first Russian printing house in Moscow, created by I. Fedorov and P. Mstislavets. For the new workshops, constructivist Ya.D. Tartakovsky erected an extensive building from reinforced concrete on the corner of Oranienbaumskaya in 1930–1936. Before the Great Patriotic War, the book giant (Tartakovsky once visited it), bearing the name of A.M. Gorky since 1936, employed 3,500 people (now 700) and printed up to a billion sheets annually. During the war, the printing house's work stopped due to damage from artillery shelling. Some of the equipment and workers were taken to Perm during these years. In 1944, work resumed and progressed, because the printing house was turned into a training ground latest technologies. Only she was assigned to publish full meetings works of V.I. Lenin.

Nowadays “Pechatny Dvor” is the largest printing plant in the North-West, annually producing 20 million copies of a wide variety of printed products, most of which state documentation has no relation.

© (based on network materials)

I Printing yard

in Moscow, the first Russian state printing house. P. D. was founded around 1563 with the support of Ivan IV and Metropolitan Macarius; was in Kitay-Gorod (in the area modern street the 25th of October). In 1564, Ivan Fedorov (See Fedorov) and Pyotr Mstislavets (See Mstislavets) published the “Apostle” on the P.D., and in 1565 - the “Book of Hours”. After Fedorov and Mstislavets left Moscow, work on the P.D. was continued by Andronik Timofeev Nevezha and Nikifor Tarasiev, who published the Psalter in 1568. After 1568, book printing moved to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. In Moscow, the printing of books on the printing house resumed in 1587. After the fire of 1611, a new printing house was built on the same site (operating since 1614). In 1645 and 1679 P. D. was rebuilt. At the end of the 17th century. More than 500 different books were published on P. D., not counting individual letters. The average circulation of the book was about 1200 copies. Few secular books were published; Of these, it is worth noting the “Primer” by V. F. Burtsov-Protopopov (See Burtsov-Protopopov) (1634), the translated “Teaching and cunning of the military structure of infantry people” by Johann Jacobi von Wallhausen (1647), “Grammar” by Meletiy Smotritsky (See . Smotritsky) (1648), “Code” (1649). At the end of the 17th century. The printing house began to be called a printing house. In 1708, the first book of the civil press, “Geometry,” was published here. In 1712, part of the P.D. machine tools was transported to St. Petersburg. From 1721 to 1917, the Synodal Printing House was located in the buildings of the Pedagogical House.

Lit.: At the origins of Russian book printing, M., 1959; Nemirovsky E. L., The emergence of book printing in Moscow, M., 1964.

V. A. Kuchkin.