Ivan Fedorov, pioneer of printing, interesting facts for children. Pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov: a short biography for children and adults. An alternative theory of the beginning of printing in Ukraine

A significant event in Russian and world history is the invention of printing. The innovation came around the 16th century. One of the figures whose name is associated with the advent of printing during the time of Ivan the Terrible speaks to many famous Ivan Fedorov. The story of this man is familiar not only to adults and enlightened people. - the first printer - available for children to study at school.

How did it all begin?

Each person in history has an interesting and unique line of his own destiny. Life sometimes takes unexpected turns. Everyone has encountered this. And, of course, he is no exception - he is a pioneer in the field of Russian book printing.

The biography of Ivan Fedorov, the first printer, begins with a legend. The chronological framework of his birth varies from 1510 to 1530. Oddly enough, no reliable information has been preserved about where exactly the pioneer printer was born and spent his childhood. But, in all likelihood, this happened in the Kaluga province. Information has been preserved that he held the position of deacon of the Church of St. Nicholas of Gostunsky. He taught literacy, like many clergy in churches. Already in 1532 he graduated from the University of Krakow. This is evidenced by the fact that the first printer had a bachelor's degree.

Church service

As a result of his activities, pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov met Metropolitan Macarius. A short biography says that perhaps this is what gave the impetus to the fact that Fedorov would soon be entrusted with such an important task as the printing of the Apostle.

As you know, Macarius was close to Ivan the Terrible, and, having noticed a capable young man, could contribute to his future fate.

By order of the tsar, in the 1550s, work began on the development of the first Moscow printing house. Fonts and other equipment necessary for the functioning of the printing business were selected in a special way. At first, the enterprises were anonymous. But then the case began to spread widely.

The birth of the first Russian book - “Apostle”

The biography of Ivan Fedorov, the pioneer printer, prepared for children, mainly tells about the creation of the first printed book. In 1564, the first Russian printed book in the Slavic language, “The Apostle,” was published. Ivan Fedorov and his assistants, Pyotr Mstislavets and Marusha Nerefiev, took an active part in its appearance. Preparations for this event took about a year. The completion of the work was marked by success, since this copy was much better in quality than previous books. This work received the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius, but, unfortunately, Macarius did not live to see the publication of “The Apostle.”

This is what Ivan Fedorov is famous for - the first printer. Biography for children sometimes focuses only on this.

But, of course, everything was not limited to one book. Book printing became more widespread. In 1565, at the behest of Ivan the Terrible, another liturgical book called “Book of Hours” was to be published. Ivan Fedorov (the first printer) also did this. The biography indicates that two copies were made. Subsequently, she was of great benefit to society. Various prayers and songs were recorded there. A daily church ritual was performed on them. But the main thing is that it was the basis for teaching reading.

Persecution of pioneer printers

But the situation has actually worsened. The development of printing was unprofitable for many. Firstly, to the scribes, who, in essence, lost their position, and therefore their monetary profit. The upper strata of the population were also dissatisfied; they were afraid that increasing the level of public education could subsequently lead to them losing their privileges. The people risked the emergence of ideas that would help organize a rebellion against officials, landowners, the clergy, and so on. There was also an opinion that the soul was put into handwritten books, since this is the hard work of a specific person. But printing on machines did not carry such properties, and was taken for something unclean. The biography of Ivan Fedorov, the first printer, tells about the difficult position of the figure.

The culmination was a fire that occurred in 1566 in the printing house. Moreover, the activities of the pioneers in printing began to be considered heresy. After this event, it was decided that the pioneer printers, including Pyotr Mstislavets and Ivan Fedorov, should go to Lithuania.

Work in Lithuania

A printing house was organized in Zabludiv, the estate of Hetman Khodkevich. The first book published from this book was the Teaching Gospel. Subsequently, the book was given the name Zabludovsky. This happened significant event in 1568-1569. Again the same pioneer printers supervised the work. But further activities these people are disconnected. As the brief biography of Ivan Fedorov, the pioneer printer, explains, he remains and continues to work in Zabludov. Peter Mstislavets goes to Vilna. As a result of work in Zabludovo, Ivan Fedorov created the book “Psalter with the Book of Hours.”

But here fate presented another unpleasant surprise, which Ivan Fedorov (the first printer) encountered. The biography reads as follows. Khodasevich due to old age, reluctance to take part in organizing the printing house, absence large quantity money decided to stop operating the printing house. Khodasevich offers Ivan Fedorov to take up farming, but he refuses, because he considers himself not meant for such a task. He leaves Zabludovo by 1573.

Moving to Lviv

A short biography of Ivan Fedorov, the pioneer printer, indicates that he himself had to transport all the tools necessary for the functioning of the printing business. Here the man managed to organize his own printing house. The work began again, and in 1574 the first printed book in Ukraine, “The Apostle,” was published, with the same name as the Moscow copy. The content is also similar to that which was released back in 1564. True, something was added here. For example, several introductory texts. At the end there was a rather interesting afterword, which was personally compiled by Ivan Fedorov, the first printer. The biography saved the lines: " A real story shows where this printing press began and how it was created." This is what the title of the afterword looked like. Through the work of Ivan Fedorov, about a thousand reprints of the Apostle were made. This meant that book printing developed not only in Russia, but also on the territory of modern Ukraine.

In 1574, the printing house of Ivan Fedorov published “Azbuka” - the first East Slavic textbook, which we have heard about many times. The books were small in size and contained everything necessary for learning to read and write.

Ostrog Bible

Then the following event occurs. In 1575, Ivan Fedorov, the first printer, received an invitation from Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky. The prince's biography calls him one of the richest personalities of the Polish-Lithuanian state. A proposal was received to establish a new printing house in Ostrog in Volyn, that is, on the estate of Konstantin Ostrozhsky. The prince himself cared about the development of science and education in his lands. There was even an Orthodox school organized there. In 1578, the next “ABC” was published, for which the first printer Ivan Fedorov was responsible. The brief biography adds that a year earlier work began on the famous “Bible,” which was published in 1580.

What makes it even more significant is that it is the first fully published Bible written in Church Slavonic.

Sunset of life

In 1582, the first printer Ivan Fedorov returned to Lviv to his family. He wants to continue his business. But the plan cannot be fully implemented. In 1583 he leaves this world. They buried him in the St. Onufrievsky Monastery, and over the grave they placed a slab with the inscription “Drukar (i.e., printer) of books never seen before.” This is precisely the title that Ivan Fedorov, the first printer, assigns to himself.

The biography for children and adults ends here. The memory of the great book printer is forever preserved in Russian history.

The first printed book, as everyone knows well, was “The Apostle,” and the first person to print this book was Deacon Ivan Fedorov. Wanting to once again remind compatriots of the importance of books for the spiritual culture of the people, the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to establish “Orthodox Book Day” and celebrate it on the day when the first printed book appeared in Rus' - March 14.

— Born in 1510.

In old Moscow, in the Kremlin, there was a wonderful church in honor of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, nicknamed Gostunskaya. The glory of the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker spread throughout Russia and turned out to be so great that in June 1506, by order of the Grand Duke Vasily III The miraculous Gostun icon was transferred to Moscow. A stone temple in place of a wooden one was built in just 9 weeks, and the miraculous image was decorated with gold, precious stones and pearls.

— Studied at the University of Krakow,where did you get it academic degree bachelor's degree

Ivan Fedorov studied at the University of Krakow in 1529 -1532 - in the latter’s “promotional book” there is a record that in 1532 “Johannes Theodori Moscus” was awarded a bachelor’s degree.

In the 1550s, John Feodorov was honored to serve as a deacon in this church, where many Slavic and Greek books were kept. The servants hired here were especially literate. This was the main St. Nicholas Church in the Kremlin.

He was highly revered by both sovereigns and ordinary Muscovites. The kings were present here at the liturgy, and on patronal holidays, metropolitans and patriarchs always served there with the obligatory distribution of alms. It is known that Tsar Ivan the Terrible greatly revered the Gostun image of St. Nicholas and often prayed in front of it.

— In 1563, the first printing house opened in Moscow, created with the blessing of St. Macarius and dated from the royal treasury.

A new stage in the development of Russian book printing began in 1563, when a “shtanba” (printing house) was created in Moscow using money issued from the royal treasury. It was headed by experienced craftsmen Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets.

- March 1, 1564, together with Peter Mstislavets published the first accurately dated Russian book "Apostle"

- a masterpiece of typographic art. 61 copies of this book masterpiece have survived to this day. The afterword, written by Ivan Fedorov himself, talked about the creation of the printing house, established by order of Tsar Ivan IV “from his own royal treasury,” indicating the names of the “workers” and the purpose of the publication - the production of “righteous” printed books.

— In 1565 he published the Book of Hours- the main educational book in Rus', preserved in 7 copies.

The manual labor of a book copyist was a very profitable business in Rus', and many book copyists showed dissatisfaction; their work was devalued with the release of printed books. But the printing of books provided the enlightenment of Rus' among its people to a wider circle of people, which Ivan Fedorov could not help but think about. Metropolitan Macarius soon dies. Work on the production of books in Moscow comes to a halt. Apparently, all this was the reason for the arson of the printing house.

In 1566, under pressure from public opinion, the masters left for Lithuania, taking with them part of the printing equipment purchased with government money. It is unlikely that this could have happened without the will of the king. Indirect confirmation of this is the subsequent revelations of Ivan Fedorov, who wrote that he was expelled “not from that sovereign himself, but from many a boss, a priest, and a teacher.” Their printing house, in the Western Russian style, called drukarnya, was located in the city of Zabludov in the possession of the Lithuanian hetman Grigory Khodkevich,

famous patron of Orthodox education in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

— In March 1569, Fedorov and Mstislavets published the “Teaching Gospel” in Zabludov.

This book was the last joint work of the pioneer printers. Soon after this, Peter Mstislavets moved to the capital of Lithuania, Vilna, where he founded his own drukarnya. Left alone, Ivan Fedorov did not lose heart and began to prepare the publication of a new book.

— In 1570, the Psalter with the Book of Hours was published.

Undoubtedly, the first printer was overwhelmed with new ideas, but the aged hetman Grigory Khodkevich closed the Zabludov drukarny. As a reward for his efforts, the hetman gave the unemployed craftsman a small estate, Mizyakovo, near Vinnitsa.

— In the fall of 1572, he already settled in the city of Lvov,

where he began to prepare a new edition of the Apostle, which was printed in February 1574 in a huge circulation for those times - 3000 copies. The book quickly sold out.

— Inspired by success, Fedorov published the first Russian “ABC” in 1574.

They opened the “ABC” with 45 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, arranged first in forward and then in reverse order, and supplemented the alphabet itself various examples and grammatical structures, educational texts, as well as prayers, messages, parables. It was a full-fledged educational book that sold like hot cakes and was literally read to the gills. The only surviving copy of Fedorov’s ABC is today in the library of Harvard University in the USA.

Soon Ivan Fedorov entered the service of one of the richest magnates of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Ostrozhsky,

who owned hundreds of cities and villages. His first appointment with the new owner was not related to publishing activities. Fedorov became the manager of the Derman Holy Trinity Monastery in Volyn. Only later did he manage to convince the prince to found his own drukarnya.

— Fedorov’s fourth printing house operated in the city of Ostrog at the turn of 1570-1580.

Here the “ABC”, “The New Testament with the Psalter”, as well as “The Book, a collection of the most necessary things in short for the sake of finding the New Testament in the book” - a kind of alphabetical index to the Gospel - were published. Finally, it was in Ostroh that Fedorov printed the first complete Slavic Bible. It is well known to specialists under the name “Ostrog Bible”. The publication of the Bible, which was widely distributed throughout all Slavic lands, became one of the main acts of the hectic life of Ivan Fedorov.

He was buried in the cemetery at the Onufrievsky Monastery. At the end of the 18th century, the remains of Fedorov, as a particularly outstanding person, were transferred to the church itself and reburied in the vestibule near the main doors. On the tombstone there was an inscription: “Drukhar of books never seen before.”

The merit of the Russian pioneer printer Ivan Fedorov. Unfortunately, history keeps the secret of many pages of the biography of the pioneer printer.

It is not known for certain when Ivan Fedorov was born, and it is also not known exactly to which class the pioneer printer belonged. The approximate date of birth of Ivan Fedorov is considered to be the second decade of the 16th century. Place of birth is a mystery. Some claim that Fedorov is from Moscow, others from a village near Kaluga.

In 1563, Ivan Fedorov, at the request of Metropolitan Macarius and Tsar Ivan the Terrible, created the first printing house in Moscow. It is not for nothing that Ivan was the first Russian book printer. He was well literate, expressed his thoughts well and read a lot.

Historians fully admit that by the time the printing house was built, he was already known as a master of printing. Fedorov, together with his associates, specially selected fonts for the printing house and prepared the printing press. On March 1, 1564, the first Russian book printed at his printing house, “The Apostle,” was published. The book turned out well. The second book printed at the printing house was the Book of Hours. The Book of Hours was published within two months.

Metropolitan Macarius soon dies. The work on producing books in Moscow ends here. The boyars set fire to the printing house. Printing masters fled to Lithuania in fright. Ivan Fedorov also leaves Moscow. Ivan and his children settled in Lithuania, on the Zabludovo estate, owned by Hetman Khodkevich. The Polish nobility spared no expense on the development of printing. Thus, Ivan Fedorov founded a new printing house in Lithuania. The printing house did not work for long, releasing several books; due to certain circumstances, the production would close.

Hetman Khodkevich gave Ivan Fedorov a village. For some time, Ivan will be engaged in farming. The fate of a simple landowner does not appeal to him and he goes to Lvov. His path was difficult. Fedorov was the father of a large family, and the time was turbulent - there was an epidemic, and in addition, there were many bulky and heavy typographic tools in his belongings. In Lviv, the idea of ​​building a printing house was not successful at first. Ivan Fedorov did not despair, and turned to ordinary townspeople with a request to donate money for construction, the people responded. But local artisans were very afraid of competition, and due to the peculiarities of local laws, they in every possible way prevented the building of a printing house.

The pioneer printer overcame all the difficulties and adversities. The printing house was ready. There was a whole year ahead painstaking work. And so, on February 25, a new edition of the book “Apostle” is published. Fedorov is working on the ABC set. Things go with varying degrees of success; several times he mortgaged his printing house. In 1575, at the request of Konstantin Ostrozhsky, Ivan headed the Dermansky monastery. Here Fedorov worked a lot, and finally solved all his financial problems. Within the walls of the monastery, he was engaged in the publishing of the Slavic Bible - the Ostrozhev Bible. The book came out to be of very high quality in terms of layout, and one can also speak exclusively in positive terms about the content. When compiling the book, Ivan Fedorov read and analyzed a lot of literature, even went to Turkey to compare sources.

In the period from 1578 to 1581, Ivan Fedorov published such books as: “Psalter with the New Testament”, “Chronology of Andrei Rymsha”. In 1582, Ivan Fedorov returned to Lvoy. Here he unsuccessfully tries to buy out his printing house, then organize a new one. IN recent years life, the talented Russian pioneer printer Fedorov develops a collapsible model of the cannon, and even offers it to Saxony and Austria. The rulers of these states did not like the development. Ivan Fedorov died on August 3, 1583.

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

References

Introduction

When did the first printed book appear in Rus'? She appeared on March 1, 1564 in Moscow in 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 it is better known short name"Apostle".

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. ABOUT early years Almost nothing is known about the first printer. Some historians suggest that he studied at the University of Krakow, others mention his name, which was found in the lists of German students 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, on 9 pages, there is an afterword, which is amazing in its content and form. In itself it is 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 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 activity. 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 translation inaccuracies 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 latest 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 Ostroh "Bible" is a very big book, which contains 628 sheets. 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 Ostrog high 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 Lvov printing house of the pioneer printer was founded in a large amount, and Ivan Fedorov did not have the money to buy it. 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 that lasted until mid-19th c., was entirely borrowed from the Italians.

Here, 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 is 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 that imitates the 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 blowing a hammer, pressing the end of the punch with the letter into a copper block, matrices for casting letters were obtained. 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 at 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. First books

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 headbands made of grape leaves and cones, developed on the basis floral ornaments handwritten book, only black color is used. Intertwined 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.

Having creatively reworked the ornamental techniques of the school of Theodosius Isographer, the master consolidated book graphics the so-called early printing style. 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 teaching aid. 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 other 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 upbringing, 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 for medieval Rus' unconditional innovation. 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 kept 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 puts 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 as an educator, artist, creator, creator of Russian and Ukrainian books, an outstanding figure in Russian and Slavic culture second half of the 16th century

References

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.

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