It is believed that the very first book was printed in China, in 868. In fact, it was not even a book in the usual sense, but was a gray scroll wrapped around a wooden base. The book is known as the "Diamond Sutra" (more - "The Sutra of Perfect Wisdom, cutting through the darkness of ignorance like a lightning bolt"). This is a treatise on the virtues necessary for entering the path of a righteous life - a kind of Buddhist Bible. Which is not surprising, because, as a rule, religious texts turned out to be the first printed editions, since it was they that were of the greatest value to people of those times. Even the name of the printer who made this copy of the sacred sutra is known: Wang Ji.

The "Diamond Sutra" was printed using the xylography method, that is, an impression from a wooden board on which . Typesetting was at that time too time-consuming for the Chinese, because they had thousands of hieroglyphs.

History of printing in Europe

The first European printed books were also printed using the woodcut method and were called incunabula. The most famous of these was the so-called "Bible of the Poor", printed around 1423. Incunabula has survived to our time a little. They were in many ways similar to handwritten books, as the xigograph printers tried to imitate handwritten type as closely as possible. Distrustful of everything new, citizens did not immediately appreciate the merits of printed books and continued to value texts manually copied in monasteries much more.

The real flowering of printing came in Europe after the invention of typesetting by Johannes Gutenberg. In order to print a book, it was no longer necessary to cut out the text of its pages on wooden boards - printed galleys became type-setting, consisting of individual letters-letters. Gutenberg's first printed book was a 42-line Bible published in 1455.

Russian printed books

The first Russian printed books appeared in the 50s of the 16th century and were also created using the woodcut method. The titles of these books and the names of the publishers have not survived to this day. The first famous Russian printer was Ivan Fedorov. Great amount time, effort and skill he invested in a two-color edition of the famous book "Acts of the Holy Apostles", also known under the short title "Apostle", which was published on March 1, 1564.

The book contains highly artistic illustrations cut and engraved by Fedorov himself, elegant headpieces, beautifully executed fonts. It took a year to prepare the Apostle for publication. The circulation of the publication was about 1200 books. Fedorov printed all of them with his own hand. Later, he also published the first Russian textbook under the well-known name "ABC", as well as several religious treatises and prayer books.

"Books are ships of thought, roaming the waves of time and carefully carrying their precious cargo from generation to generation" - Francis Bacon

The history of the first book in Russia dates back to the era of the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the very tsar, the myths and rumors about which are highly exaggerated - in terms of his "severity".

But it was under him that the first printing house was opened in Russia - more than 450 years ago. Whether it is worth considering the personal merit of Tsar Ivan in the desire of Great Russia to develop spiritually and mentally - one can only guess, but somehow joyfully for the harsh tsar that he was remembered from different sides, and certainly Ivan Vasilyevich was not an evil tyrant.

And the most obvious reasons for the establishment of the first printing house were, like in any “sane” state, the need for development, expansion of territories, development in the economy and trade, etc. But as you know, any development is a secondary process, or the end result. This unsophisticated chain is headed by “knowledge”. But for implementations government plans, ambitions and ideas of knowledge were required in proportion to the amount of state development.

Great Russia required more and more knowledge in various economic and political directions and areas, including for spiritual enrichment.

The need for printed editions arose due to the imperfection of handwritten copies. Books rewritten by hand, in most cases, distorted the information, and sometimes even the meaning of the manuscript. The population grew, the number of handwritten books increased, and their quality rapidly declined. People's trust in scribes quickly dried up, because no one wanted to read expensive, untrue manuscripts with little meaning.

In 1563, Peter Mstislavets and Ivan Fedorov became the first printers in Russia. The very first precisely dated printed edition was the book "Apostle", which, in those days, was considered the main textbook for the study of the clergy. Monks, peasants, nobles studied on it. "Apostle" is not just a book, but a kind of "ABC" for parochial schools of tsarist times.

Reproduction of the painting "Ivan the Terrible at the Pioneer Ivan Fedorov" by artist G. Lissner.

The process of publishing the book "Apostle" turned out to be difficult and quite creative, and took the printers a whole year. painstaking work. They cast fonts, created and improved printing equipment, diligently introduced new printing techniques, and were able to show the whole world a real masterpiece!

Paper for the book was brought from France, it was distinguished by the fact that it was thin and very durable. The letters in the book are handwritten, which means that the printers poured out a special font that was attractive with its beautiful shape, curls and lines. And for the convenience of readers, Peter and Ivan came up with uniform spaces between words, indents from the edge of the page, which were the same on the left and right.

Peter and Ivan became real pioneers in printing, because in the book "Apostle", they made engravings that they reworked in their own creative way. The first engravings served the development of illustration in books.

The first printed book in Russia "Apostle"

The “Apostle”, like the Gospel, existed in Russia in two main versions - in one the texts were arranged sequentially (the book of Ivan Fedorov also belongs to it), in the other they were placed in the order of reading the church calendar. In Russia, it was customary to richly decorate the handwritten "Apostles".

"Apostle" in its printing design for many years became a model for book publishers. The arrangement of the text on the printed strip, the decoration of the book with ornaments and engravings depicting the holy Apostle Luke laid the foundations of printing skills for several centuries, which were followed not only by printing houses in Russia, but also by publishers of the Cyrillic book outside of it.

Centuries passed, engravings turned into pictures and became a bright decoration of printed publications, especially for children. The script has become standard and much more understandable than it was five centuries ago.

The first printed book in Russia is still a relic of our Great Power. The ancient publication "Apostle" is the ancestor of the printing industry, which, step by step, led society to progress, new knowledge and self-knowledge.

On March 14, the Day of the Orthodox Book is celebrated in our country. This holiday was established by the Holy Synod of Russian Orthodox Church initiated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and is celebrated this year for the sixth time. Orthodox Book Day is timed to coincide with the release date of Ivan Fedorov's book "The Apostle", which is considered the first printed book in Russia - its publication is dated March 1 (according to the old style) 1564.

Birch bark letters

Today we would like to introduce you to the history of book printing in Russia. The first ancient Russian letters and documents (XI-XV centuries) were scratched on birch bark - birch bark. Hence their name - birch bark letters. In 1951, archaeologists found the first birch bark letters in Novgorod. The technique of writing on birch bark was such that it allowed the texts to be preserved in the ground for centuries, and thanks to these letters we can find out how our ancestors lived.

What did they write about in their scrolls? The content of the found birch bark letters is varied: private letters, household notes, complaints, business assignments. There are also special entries. In 1956, archaeologists found in the same place, in Novgorod, 16 birch-bark documents dating back to the 13th century. These were student notebooks of a Novgorod boy named Onfim. On one birch bark, he began to write the letters of the alphabet, but this occupation, apparently, quickly tired him, and he began to draw. Childishly clumsily, he depicted himself on a horse as a rider, striking the enemy with a spear, and wrote his name next to it.

handwritten books

Handwritten books appeared a little later than birch bark. For many centuries they have been an object of admiration, a luxury item and gathering. These books were very expensive. According to one of the scribes, who worked at the turn of the XIV-XV centuries, three rubles were paid for the skin for the book. At that time, three horses could be bought with this money.

The oldest Russian manuscript book, the Ostromir Gospel, appeared in the middle of the 11th century. This book belongs to the pen of Deacon Gregory, who rewrote the Gospel for the Novgorod posadnik Ostromir. "Ostromir Gospel" is a true masterpiece of book art! The book is written on excellent parchment and contains 294 sheets! The text is preceded by an elegant headpiece in the form of an ornamental frame - fantastic flowers on a golden background. Inscribed in the frame in Cyrillic: “The Gospel of John. Chapter A. It also contains three large illustrations depicting the apostles Mark, John and Luke. Deacon Gregory wrote the Ostromir Gospel for six months and twenty days - one and a half sheets a day.

The creation of the manuscript was hard and exhausting work. The working day lasted in the summer from sunrise to sunset, in winter they also captured the dark half of the day, when they wrote by candlelight or torch, and monasteries served as the main centers of book writing in the Middle Ages.

The production of ancient handwritten books was also an expensive and time-consuming affair. The material for them was parchment (or parchment) - the skin of a special dressing. Books were usually written with quill pen and ink. Only the king had the privilege of writing with a swan and even a peacock feather.

Since the book was expensive, it was kept. To protect against mechanical damage, a binding was made of two boards covered with leather and having a fastener on the side cut. Sometimes the binding was bound with gold and silver, decorated precious stones. Medieval handwritten books were elegantly decorated. Before the text, they always made a headband - a small ornamental composition, often in the form of a frame around the title of a chapter or section.

The first, capital letter in the text - "initial" - was written larger and more beautiful than the rest, decorated with an ornament, sometimes in the form of a man, animal, bird, fantastic creature.

Annals

There were many chronicles among the handwritten books. The text of the chronicle consists of weather records (compiled by years). Each of them begins with the words: "in the summer of such and such" and reports of the events that took place that year.

The most famous of the chronicles (XII century), describing mainly the history of the Eastern Slavs (the narrative begins from the Flood), historical and semi-legendary events that took place in Ancient Russia can be called "The Tale of Bygone Years" - the work of several monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and, above all, Nestor the chronicler.

Typography

Books in Russia were valued, collected in families for several generations, mentioned in almost every spiritual letter (testament) among the values ​​and family icons. But the ever-increasing need for books marked the beginning of a new stage of education in Russia - book printing.

The first printed books in the Russian state appeared only in the middle of the 16th century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who in 1553 set up a printing press in Moscow. To house the printing house, the tsar ordered the construction of special mansions not far from the Kremlin on Nikolskaya Street in the vicinity of the Nikolsky Monastery. This printing house was built at the expense of Tsar Ivan the Terrible himself. In 1563, it was headed by the deacon of the church of Nikolai Gostunsky in the Moscow Kremlin - Ivan Fedorov.

Ivan Fedorov was an educated man, well versed in books, knew the foundry business, was a carpenter, a painter, a carver, and a bookbinder. He graduated from the University of Krakow, knew the ancient Greek language in which he wrote and printed, knew Latin. The people said about him: such a craftsman that you can’t find it in foreign lands.

Ivan Fedorov and his student Pyotr Mstislavets worked for 10 years on the establishment of a printing house, and only on April 19, 1563, they began to produce the first book. Ivan Fedorov himself built printing presses, he himself cast forms for letters, he typed, he corrected. A lot of work went into the production of various headpieces, drawings of large and small sizes. The drawings depicted cedar cones and outlandish fruits: pineapples, grape leaves.

Ivan Fedorov and his student printed the first book for a whole year. It was called "Apostol" ("Acts and Epistles of the Apostles") and looked impressive and beautiful, resembling a handwritten book: by letters, by drawings and by screensavers. It consisted of 267 sheets. This first printed book appeared on March 1, 1564. This year is considered the beginning of Russian book printing.

Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets went down in history as the first Russian printers, and their first dated creation became a model for subsequent editions. Only 61 copies of this book have survived to this day.

After the release of The Apostle, Ivan Fedorov and his assistants began to prepare a new book for publication - The Clockworker. If the "Apostle" was produced for a year, then it took only 2 months for the "Hourmaker".

Simultaneously with the publication of the Apostle, work was underway on the compilation and publication of the ABC, the first Slavic textbook. The ABC was published in 1574. She introduced me to the Russian alphabet, taught me how to compose syllables and words.

And so the first Orthodox books and the alphabet appeared in Russia.

At the end of 2000, on the eve of the transition to the new millennium, journalists liked to compile all sorts of ratings summing up the two millennia of the Christian era, which we, following European historians, call "ours." So, the most important invention of mankind over the past two thousand years in all ratings was called printing.

Meanwhile, we know very little about the life of the man who printed the first book and thereby pushed Europe in the direction of universal literacy. If it were not for the scrupulous works of historians, we would be dealing with a man of mystery. And, perhaps, they would not even know that his name was Johannes Gutenberg (Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg) (1397 or 1400 - 1468). Indeed, in the Middle Ages, the deeds of the rulers of the worldly and spiritual were recorded in the annals, and Johannes Gutenberg was only a citizen of the city of Mainz, who belonged to the jewelers' workshop. Thanks to several lawsuits related to his invention, Gutenberg's name has remained in the archives of his hometown of Mainz, as well as the city of Strasbourg, where he lived and worked. Now, in both cities, monuments to the brilliant inventor have been erected. The portrait of which, however, also did not survive.

Most scholars who have studied the life of Johannes Gutenberg believe that he published the first book in 1440, when he lived in Strasbourg, where he worked as a jeweler and made mirrors. In the same place, he organized on shares a certain enterprise, records of which have been preserved in the judicial acts of Strasbourg. And although the judicial acts do not speak directly about typography, some expressions and testimonies of witnesses suggest that we are talking about the creation of typesetting for printing and a printing press.

Strictly speaking, it was not Gutenberg who came up with the method of printing drawings and texts from embossed wooden boards. A hundred years before it was born in Europe, playing cards were already being printed from stencil boards. Similarly, from the 12th century in Italy, designs were printed on fabric, and in China, leaflets and small books were already printed in the 10th century.

Gutenberg came up with the idea of ​​making columns from hard wood or lead, on the top of which mirror images of letters were carved. By the way, the word "letter" goes back to the name of the tree from which the first typographic fonts were made, "beech". This is where the German title of the book "der Buch" comes from.

But that's not all. Gutenberg came up with the idea of ​​collecting these columns (which printers later called letters) into lines, laying them down and fixing them on a board of hard material. Then the set was smeared with black paint, a slightly damp sheet of paper was placed on it and this sheet was pressed against the painted surface using a press. Thus, in a few minutes, one book page was obtained. In the production of a single page, such a process of reproduction was not faster than the usual manual copying of books for that time. But the fact of the matter is that this process was pre-designed for mass production. The printing house could print a thousand books, the scribe, no matter how hard he tried, was not able to accomplish such a feat.

But the books printed by Gutenberg at this time have not survived. It is assumed that the first printed matter his businesses were leaflets and popular prints. It is unlikely that such products had a great chance to survive.

But the books that Gutenberg printed, returning to his native Mainz, have been preserved. This is the first, the Bible printed on September 30, 1452. In addition, two Bibles have been preserved, which were printed between 1453 and 1456. Several sheets of Latin grammar are also dated 1456.

Gutenberg opened a printing house in Mainz not with his own money, but with borrowed money. He could not pay the interest on this loan, and was summoned to court. It was thanks to the verdict of this court of November 6, 1455 that it was definitely established that the inventor of printing was Johannes Gutenberg and that his printing house had been operating since at least 1452.

After the trial in 1455, Gutenberg found himself another partner and until his death in 1468 he was engaged in the production of books.

Publications in the Literature section

"Apostle" - the first dated printed book in Russia

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

Books "By hand"

Ivan III Vasilievich. Portrait from the "Royal titular". XVII century.

The title page of the manuscript "Stoglav" from the Main Collection of the Library of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

Pioneer Ivan Fedorov. Ivan Tomashevich. 1904

Printing in Russia was preceded by the era of handwritten books. They were rewritten in monasteries, and at the same time they could not do without the "human factor". To prevent errors and deviations from church norms from appearing in books, the rules for the work of "writers" 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 Russia ordered to buy holy books at auction and invest in holy churches. But among them there were few suitable ones - all turned out to be corrupted by scribes, ignorant and ignorant in the sciences. Then he began to think about how to organize the printing of books, so that henceforth the holy books would be published in a corrected form.

Ivan Fedorov, afterword to the "Apostle"

The first printing house in Russia

Progress helped to start solving the problem on a national scale. A century earlier, the printing press was invented, and later it appeared in Russia. In the middle of the 16th century, several "anonymous" - without specifying the publisher - books of religious content were published in Russia. These were three Gospels, two Psalms and a Triodion. In 1553, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of the Printing Yard at the expense of the tsar's treasury - not far from the Kremlin, on Nikolskaya Street. Of the buildings of the first printing house, the oldest one has been preserved - the “correct” or proofreader.

By order of the sovereign "to find the skill of printed books," the deacon of the Kremlin church of St. Nicholas Gostunsky Ivan Fedorov took up the matter. Fedorov was widely educated: he knew Greek and Latin, knew how to bind books and was engaged in foundry business.

Why "Apostle"

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

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

Place of the former printing house, Moscow. Photo: mefodiya.ru

For printing 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 preparation of priests and for teaching reading and writing in parochial schools.

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

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

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

Evgeny Nemirovsky, bibliologist, doctor of historical sciences

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

Book work

Fragment of the book "Apostle". 1564

Fragment of the book "Apostle". 1564

Printed the first book for almost a year. As a result, a "handwritten semi-ustav" of the 16th century was taken as a font sample - medium-sized rounded letters with a slight slope to the right. Church books were usually copied in this style. To make the printed book easier to read, the craftsmen painstakingly aligned the lines and spaces between words. For printing, glued French paper was used - thin and durable. Ivan Fedorov himself engraved 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. To this day, about 60 books have been preserved in museums and libraries.

A work of printing art of the 16th century

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

The 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 marked the beginning of the chapter with an ornament, and the letters and inserts were also marked with red vermilion. The colors were so High Quality that have not faded even after centuries.

With such a traditional design in the "Apostle" appeared and new element decor: engraved frontispiece - a drawing placed on the same spread with the 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 by the Italian aristocrat Rafael Barberini, who visited Russia in those years.

Years of preparation and scrupulous work on the book paid off: the researchers did not find a single mistake or misprint in the book.

The author of the epilogue spoke about the great church building "throughout the city" of Muscovite Russia, especially "in the newly enlightened place in the city of Kazan and within it", and the need for printed church books that were not distorted by scribes: mind."

Other books by Ivan Fedorov

A year after the release of The Apostle, Ivan Fedorov published a collection of prayers called The Clockworker. The book came out in two "factories", that is, editions. The first printer spent about three months at work, 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 handicraft tools, and instead of bread I have to sow spiritual seeds in the Universe and distribute this spiritual food to everyone according to order ... "

Ivan Fedorov

Later, he published another version of the "Apostle" and the first Russian textbook - "Azbuka", following his life principle- "scatter spiritual seeds." Ivan Fedorov published another book in the printing house of the city of Ostrog in 1581 - the Ostrog Bible.