Russian book printing began during the reign. History of printing in Rus'

Maybe some people won’t like it, but the facts are stubborn: Rus' is not an innovator in this matter. Despite the fact that there are known outstanding monuments of Russian literature of a very respectable age (the same “The Tale of Bygone Years” or “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”), they began to publish books in Rus' quite late, and this art was learned in the West.

Imported samples

It is important to take into account that there were two directions of Slavic book printing: Russian proper and “for Russians”. The second appeared earlier - after all, many Slavic lands were part of states where Gutenberg’s technical ideas reached faster.

It is important to understand that primarily church books were published; and the population of the territories of modern Belarus and Ukraine at the end of the Middle Ages used the same Church Slavonic for worship as Moscow. In general, there were very few differences in the written language, and the rules of grammar were not clearly defined.

So it is quite possible to consider the publications of Schweipolt Fiol (Krakow, late 15th century) or Francysk Skaryna (Prague, Vilna, first third of the 16th century) as Russian examples. Orthodox literature was published in the Ostrog printing house, and in general in Right Bank Ukraine the Orthodox Church and Orthodox magnates encouraged publishing activities (as a means of combating the results of the Brest Church Union of 1596).

Ivan the Enlightened

The founding father of organized printing in the Moscow kingdom should be considered.... Before becoming Terrible, he was the most educated monarch of his time and an active reformer. By a special decree, the Tsar ordered to invite master printers to Moscow. One of them, the Dane Hans Missingheim, studied with Pyotr Mstislavets and Ivan Fedorov, considered the founders of Russian printing itself.

Fedorov’s legendary “Apostle” was published in 1564, but in the afterword the master himself indicated that his printing house had been operating since 1553. From here we need to count the history of Russian book printing.

Fedorov and Mstislavets were forced to leave Moscow in 1565 (the reasons given are vague, but suggestive). But the printing house remained, and the introduction of the patriarchate in 1589 gave a new impetus to the development of printing. The patriarchs sought to unify church literature, but the handwritten literature contained many discrepancies and trivial typos.

The sovereign's business

It is important to understand the fundamental difference in the approach to the development of printing in Rus' and in the West. There it was a personal matter of a particular church parish or a wealthy person, a business. Ivan the Terrible initially made book printing a “sovereign affair”; Fedorov’s printing house was financed from the state treasury. The patriarchal period did not change the situation much, since at that time it was impossible to even hint at any separation of church and state.

For a long time, Rus' lagged behind Western countries in terms of the range and quantity of products produced, but its quality was excellent. A breakthrough in this matter (as in many others) was made by Peter the Great. The rapid development of the education system during his reign required a huge number of textbooks in various disciplines, and the newly emerged vibrant social life required entertaining literature for easy reading, and all this should have been accessible even to not very rich people. The appearance of the periodical press finally turned publishing in Rus' into a mass occupation. Since then (and until today), the “sovereign” printing business and private publishing houses successfully coexist with each other.

Despite the fact that the rewriting of books by the end of the 15th century. turned into a real manufacturing industry, the handwritten method of duplicating books was not productive enough and too labor-intensive, and therefore could not satisfy the growing demand for books.

The introduction of printing, in fact, was one of the government measures that in the 50-60s. XVI century conducted by Ivan the Terrible. In the afterword to the “Apostle” of 1564, which is one of the main sources on the history of the beginning of book printing in Moscow, several reasons for this are indicated. One of them is the need for a large number of church books for newly built churches in Moscow and other cities. Especially many books were required in connection with the introduction of Christianity in Kazan, conquered in 1552. Ivan the Terrible ordered that holy books be bought at auction “and placed in holy churches.” But it turned out that most of the books were unusable - they were distorted by “ignorant and unreasonable” copyists and contained errors, which contributed to the generation of heresies. Therefore, the second important reason was the need to correct “corrupt” books and create correct books. This question was raised at the Council of the Stoglavy, which decided to confiscate uncorrected manuscripts and implement censorship. But it was difficult to exercise control over the rewriting of books, which was carried out in many cities and churches of the Russian state. Control could only be carried out with a centralized method of reproducing books. Printing was thus assigned to serve the needs of the church. Handwritten books from the middle of the 16th century. and in the 17th century they served the purpose of storing and distributing non-church reading.

From the middle of the 16th century. The government of Ivan the Terrible begins to search for funds and people to organize book printing. By this time, works of Western European printing were already known in Rus' - for example, examples of publications by the Italian Aldus Manutius back in the first quarter of the 16th century. Maxim Grek brought with him. Other printed books were also known.

The appearance of the first printed books in Slavic languages ​​is associated with the name of Schweipolt Fiol, who in 1491 in Krakow printed in Cyrillic the books “Octoechos”, “Book of Hours”, “Colored Triodion” and “Lenten Triodion” (both Triodions were published anonymously, without output information). The first accurately dated book in the Slavic language, “The Apostle,” was published in Vilna in 1525 by the Belarusian pioneer printer and educator Francis Skaryna, who founded his own printing house there.

The beginning of book printing in Moscow dates back to the middle of the 16th century. A group of anonymous publications printed at this time is known - these are the Gospels, Psalms, etc. The books are printed in two colors - black and red, the font graphics reproduce the semi-charter. They do not contain imprint data - time, place, name of the publisher, and they date back to 1553-1564 based on paper, technology, and records preserved in them. The printing technique for these books is very imperfect.

The establishment of a centralized printing business in Russia is associated with the name of Ivan Fedorov, a deacon of one of the churches of the Moscow Kremlin. The first Russian dated printed book is the Apostle, which was printed from April 19, 1563 to March 1, 1564.

In terms of printing technique, quality of typesetting and design, this book is much higher than anonymous publications. “Apostle” was printed in two colors - black and red paint; the technique of double-roll printing from one plate was used for the first time. In addition, in Russian printed publications of the 16th-17th centuries. The method of double-roll printing from two typesetting forms, accepted in all Western European printing houses, was also used. On the frontispiece of the “Apostle” there is an engraving depicting the Evangelist Luke. The book contains many elegant headpieces, engraved initials, and 24 lines of script. The afterword tells about the creation of a printing house in Moscow and glorifies Metropolitan Macarius and Ivan IV. The Apostle has been edited and spelling and language have been improved.

In 1565, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets published two editions of the Book of Hours. The educational nature and small format of this publication led to the fact that the book was quickly read, it became dilapidated, and thus, single copies were preserved, mainly in foreign book collections. Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets left Moscow due to accusations of heresy, but managed, however, to take with them matrices, punches, and carved boards. First, they left for Lithuania, where, under the patronage of Hetman G. A. Khodkevich, they continued to print Russian books (the coat of arms of Khodkevich was placed on the back of the title of these books). In Lithuania in 1569 they published the Gospel (which had a title page with a preface by Chodkiewicz) and the Psalter with the Book of Hours, which is a very rare edition - three defective copies of this book have survived. In 1572, Ivan Fedorov moved to Lviv and equipped a printing house. In 1574, a new edition of the Apostle was carried out there. In addition, in Lvov, Ivan Fedorov released the first “ABC” - the only known surviving copy of it was bought in 1927 by S. P. Diaghilev in Rome. The book has 78 pages, decorated with headbands. The text is typed in Moscow font by Ivan Fedorov. This publication became a model for Russian alphabet books published in the next decade. Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky invited Ivan Fedorov from Lvov to print the Bible in the Slavic language. It took several years to find and collate different versions of the Bible. There, in Ostrog, Ivan Fedorov published another “ABC” with the title “The Beginning of Teaching for Children” (a copy of this alphabet is kept in the Royal Library in Copenhagen) and two primers (stored in the libraries of Cambridge and Oxford). The Ostrog Bible was published in 1580-1581. It consisted of 628 sheets (1256 pages), printed in two columns in six different fonts. It has a lot of headers and capital letters. The circulation of the Bible was 1000-1200 copies, about 250 copies have survived. It was a luxurious, large-format book that was handled with care.

After Ivan Fedorov left Moscow, other masters continued his work. In 1567-1568, Andronik Nevezha and Nikifor Tarasiev equipped a printing house in Moscow, which published the Psalter in 1568. In 1571, during a fire in Moscow, the entire Printing Yard burned down. The printing house was equipped in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. Secular books were also published there.

According to the latest data, in Moscow in the second half of the 16th century. nineteen editions were published; their circulations, as a rule, did not exceed 1200 copies, although modern researchers suggest that the circulation of the first printed “Apostle” was more than 2000 copies, and the “Apostle” published by Ivan Fedorov in Lvov (1574) was no less than 3000. The largest collections of first-print Russian books are kept in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, the Russian State Library and the State Historical Museum in Moscow. Early printed (early printed) Russian books include all dated editions of Ivan Fedorov, his closest students and associates, as well as books from the Moscow “anonymous” printing house (1553-1556). The nature of the design and materials of first-printed and early printed Russian books are directly related to the design system of handwritten books of the 11th-16th centuries. Further development of book printing in Russia in the 17th century. contributed to the appearance of a large number of printed books, which are gradually beginning to supplant handwritten publications, of which, however, quite a lot were produced in the 17th century.

On March 1, 1564, by order of Ivan the Terrible, the first printed publication in Rus' was published - the “Apostle” published by Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavets. Both masters went down in history as the first printers, and the date of publication of their creation is considered the date of the beginning of book printing in Rus'. The original two-color printing technique, clear and beautiful font, excellent layout, impeccably literate text, excellent frontispiece - all this delights in the first book.

Ten years after the publication of the first anonymous narrow-font Gospel in Moscow, a book was published that indicated the place and time of printing, the names of not only the printers, but also the customer publishers, and even stated the reasons for the publication. This was the famous first printed Apostle of 1564 - the work of Moscow masters Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Timofeev Mstislavets. Thanks to this publication, the exact date associated with the history of book printing in Russia is known.

If in the early 50s of the 16th century. By decree of Tsar Ivan IV, “...they began to seek the skill of printing...”, then in the early 60s the Tsar “ordered to build a house at the expense of the royal treasury where printing would be carried out.” The publication of such a reputable book as the Apostle required a lot of preliminary work. Therefore, the craftsmen had to get down to business long before 1563, when, according to the testimony of the printers themselves, they “began printing for the first time this holy book of the Acts of the Apostles and the Council Epistles in the first year 7070, April 19th. They were graduated in the year 7070 on the second of March on the 1st day under Archbishop Athanasius, Metropolitan of All Rus'...”

Let us remember what time it was. Ivan Fedorov worked on “The Apostle” just when the famous St. Basil’s Cathedral was being built on Red Square by the great architects Barma and Postnik. A lot of construction was carried out in Moscow by craftsmen from Vladimir, from Pskov, from abroad, and the Annunciation Cathedral of the Kremlin was painted. These are the years when Rus' gained strength, acquired the features of a single centralized state, when trade expanded, cities grew, power was centralized, and the foundations of natural and technical knowledge were laid. Churches were widely built in Moscow and the annexed eastern regions, especially in Kazan and its environs. The newly opened churches had to be supplied with liturgical books, but, the author says, the handwritten books contained many errors and inaccuracies, so when Ivan the Terrible found out about this, he decided to open a state printing house in which the texts would be carefully checked and edited. Ivan IV, according to Fedorov, did not hesitate to give money from the treasury to his “doers.”

The Moscow Apostle of 1564 is an innovative work in many ways. Ivan Fedorov freed the book's language from archaisms and non-Slavic expressions and phrases, and improved the spelling. The text is presented very thoughtfully, systematically; at the beginning of each section, the table of contents of the subsections and their brief content are given. The Apostle does not yet have a title page, but there is an afterword that contains all the imprint of the book and the history of its publication: the “pious” tsar, Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich, whose command “began to discover the craftsmanship of printed books,” and the enlightened Metropolitan Macarius are glorified, and the how the printing house was established in Moscow. This afterword was most likely written by Ivan Fedorov himself and is of a secular nature. It can be considered the first printed journalistic work in the history of Russian literature.

As for quality, this is one of the best works of its time. The printing technique, quality of typesetting, and ornamental decorations far exceed the quality of anonymous publications. The book is equipped with a large frontispiece engraving depicting the Evangelist Luke, inserted into an artistically executed frame, which Ivan Fedorov used in his other publications. The ornamentation of the Apostle uses examples of the floral style of handwritten books from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. In some elements of this ornament one can see a reflection of the Renaissance. What is innovative in the book is the use of two-color printing technology in two runs. Some important changes have been made to the fonts as well. There are no numerous forms of the letter “o”, wide “e” and “s” have been eliminated. All this was a departure from the handwritten tradition, but the text was easier to type and read.

Unfortunately, Ivan Fedorov soon had to leave Moscow. In the afterword to the second “Apostle,” he will write about the reasons for leaving: “... because of the malice that often befalls us, not from that sovereign himself, but from many leaders and clergy and teachers, who, out of envy, conceived many heresies against us, wanting turn good into evil and ultimately destroy God’s work, as is the custom of evil-willed, unlearned 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 earth, fatherland and our people and forced them to move to strange, unfamiliar countries.”

In 1569, Ivan Fedorov moved to Lviv. Here the pioneer printer found himself in completely different conditions than he had been in before. If in Moscow the printing house existed on state funds, then in Lvov it was necessary to find either wealthy people or turn to the church. He received help from educated, albeit poor, priests and townspeople. In February 1573, Ivan Fedorov began printing the second edition of the Apostle. At the end of the book, on 9 pages, there is an afterword, which is amazing in its content and form. It is a literary monument in itself.

Descendants highly appreciated the services of Ivan Fedorov in the enlightenment of Rus'. One of the oldest and best printing houses in Russia (now the Publishing and Printing Holding "Ivan Fedorov") in St. Petersburg is named after the pioneer printer; the Publishing and Printing College (now a college) bears his name, in 2010 in connection with the 80th anniversary of On the day of its foundation, the name of Ivan Fedorov was given to the Moscow State University of Printing Arts (formerly the Printing Institute), the largest university in the country training specialists in the field of printing and publishing.

And one more evidence of respect for the memory of the first printer: in 2009, the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church canonized Ivan Fedorov as “Holy Righteous Deacon John, printer of Slovenian books.” His memorial day is December 5, old style.

Yu.S. Vereshchetina, journalist

In the second half of the 15th century, printing had already become widespread in the Slavic lands.

In the Czech Republic, the first printed book was published in 1468, and in Poland, at the end of the 15th century, five books in the Church Slavonic language were already printed in the Krakow printing house of Fiol. In 1517, Francis Skaryna began making the Bible in Prague. Having moved from Prague to Vilna, he founded a printing house there, from which the first printed book in the Belarusian language was published in 1525. The publications of Fiol and Skaryna became widespread in Moscow.

In Montenegro, Cetinje, the first book in the Slavic language was printed in 1493, and in Serbia, in Belgrade, in 1553. Preparations began for the organization of printing in Moscow.

In 1552, the Danish king Christian III sent an ambassador with a letter to Ivan IV the Terrible, in which he convinced the young sovereign to accept the Lutheran faith and suggested that the king allow his subject Hans Missenheim to print the Bible and two more Protestant books in several thousand copies translated into the Russian language, so that “In this way it will be possible in a few years to contribute to the benefit of your churches.” Ivan IV rejected this offer. In Rus' they were determined to organize the printing business in Moscow with their own resources and resources.

One of the supporters of printing was the most prominent cultural figure of that time, Metropolitan Macarius. But there were also many opponents. A large group of book copyists was worried about the prospect of losing their income; some boyars were afraid of weakening their political influence and strengthening the authority of the tsarist government and the church; among the clergy they were afraid of the spread of “heretical ideas” among the people. However, the tsar and supporters of printing paid little attention to the opposition. The church was in dire need of liturgical books, a demand for which the scribes could not satisfy. Especially in the huge, recently annexed Kazan side. In addition, there were many errors, various insertions and absurdities in the handwritten liturgical books. It was necessary to clear them of discrepancies and replace them with printed books.

Supporters of book printing began to look for a capable craftsman who could organize the printing business. Such a master turned out to be Ivan Fedorov, deacon of the St. Nicholas Church in the Kremlin, an experienced bookbinder, carpenter and scribe. Almost no information about his origin and life has been preserved. As E. L. Nemirovsky established, in the promotion book of the University of Krakow there is a record that in 1532 “Johannes Theodori Moscus” was awarded a bachelor’s degree. This, in turn, suggests that Ivan Fedorov was born around 1510. The master used in his typographic sign elements of the coat of arms of the Shrenyava family, to which more than a dozen Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish noble families living at that time in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania belonged. This indicates that Ivan Fedorov himself was also from this family.

First, the Printing Yard was built in Moscow, in the construction of which Ivan Fedorov and his assistant Pyotr Mstislavets, a Belarusian from Mstislavl, took an active part. As soon as a beautiful building was built on Nikolskaya Street, not far from the Kremlin, they began organizing a printing house and the first experiments in printing books. Thus, the development of printing in Rus' owes its appearance to the state, while in the West, book printing appeared thanks to private individuals.

It was not enough to have only a printing press; in addition, cast metal type was also required. Unlike the books of Francis Skaryna, who adapted European fonts for Slavic printing, the books of Ivan Fedorov continued the traditions of Russian handwritten books. His fonts are surprisingly elegant and go back to the Moscow semi-statutory letter.

The first book produced by Ivan Fedorov is “The Apostle”. It took almost a year to type and print and was published on March 1, 1564.

In the afterword to it about the appearance of the first printed books it was said: “Blessed

Tsar and Grand Duke Ivan Vasilyevich of All Rus' ordered holy books to be bought at market places and placed in churches... But among them there were few that were suitable, the rest were all corrupted (spoiled) by prescriptives that were unscientific and unskilled in the mind and did not correct what they wrote. When this reached the ears of the king, he began to think about how to present printed books, like the Greeks, and in Venice, and in Italy, and in other languages, so that henceforth the holy books would be presented correctly... and so he announced his thought to the Most Reverend Macarius , Metropolitan of All Rus'. The saint, having heard this, rejoiced greatly and told the king that he had received a message from God and a gift that had come down from above.” Soon the king gave the order to begin production of the second book - “The Book of Hours”. Its printing began on August 7, 1565 and was completed on September 29 of the same year. Ivan Fedorov placed the printing business in Moscow very highly. The Italian merchant Barbarini, who visited the Printing Yard, was amazed at the skill of the Russians in book printing: “Last year they introduced printing... and I myself saw with what dexterity books were already printed in Moscow.”

Meanwhile, clouds were gathering around the Moscow printing house and Ivan Fedorov. His opponents and envious people - “chiefs” (boyars) and “sacred superiors” (dukhoven tvo) - accused the master of heresy, trying to ruin the business, as is typical of “malevolent, unlearned and stupid people.” In 1563, Metropolitan Macarius, who patronized Moscow printers, died. This forced Ivan Fedorov and his assistant Pyotr Mstislavets to flee “from the land and fatherland” to “other unknown (unknown) countries.”

But they failed to destroy the great cause. In 1568, the Moscow Printing House resumed its activities with the help of other masters - Nevezha Timofeev and Nikifor Tarasiev, perhaps students of the Moscow pioneer printer.

The exact time of Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets’ escape from Moscow is unknown. In 1568, they were already in Zabludov, the estate of a major Belarusian magnate Grigory Aleksandrovich Khodkevich. A staunch opponent of unification with Catholic Poland, Chodkiewicz fought against the Poles of the population of Lithuanian and Belarusian lands. To support the Orthodox Church and protect the Belarusian people, he decided to print liturgical books in the Slavic language. Khodkevich invited the Moscow fugitives to organize a printing house on his estate. The proposal was accepted, and the Teaching Gospel was published in Zabludov in less than nine months.

Soon Pyotr Mstislavets left Zabludovo and went to Vilna, where he began organizing the printing house of the merchant brothers Mamonich, and the remaining Ivan Fedorov in 1570 printed another book - “The Psalter”. But that was the end of Ivan Fedorov’s typographic activity in Zabludov. Khodkevich refused to continue the work he started. As a reward for his work, he offered Ivan Fedorov a village, but the pioneer printer refused this gift.

Ivan Fedorov himself defined his life’s calling this way: “I must scatter this spiritual food throughout the world and distribute it to everyone.” After much ordeal, he managed to organize a printing house in Lviv, in which, at the end of February 1573, he began printing the first book in the new place. It was the same “Apostle” that the master had once printed in Moscow. In appearance, the Lviv edition of the Apostle, published a year later, resembled the Moscow edition; the same font was used. However, it was not possible to continue the work begun in Lvov. The pioneer printer's financial situation was greatly shaken; he fell into debt with moneylenders and was forced to leave the city.

At the suggestion of Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, Ivan Fedorov arrived at his estate. Prince Ostrozhsky was also a defender of the Orthodox faith and the Ukrainian people from the onslaught of the Polish Catholic Church and the Jesuits. From the beginning of 1577, Ivan Fedorov began printing the Ostrog Bible, which later became famous, in a new printing house. While the text of the Bible was being corrected, he began publishing the “New Testament with the Psalms of David,” which was published in September 1580 “for the dissemination of the entire Russian people.” As for the Bible, it, with the text finally corrected, was completed on August 12, 1581. Its external and internal decoration was remarkably beautiful. The Ostroh Bible became the “swan song” of the Moscow master.

Soon, due to some misunderstandings with the powerful prince, he decided to return to Lvov, where his family remained. He went there with his assistant Grinya and with books from the Ostroh press. Upon arrival in Lvov, at the end of 1582, Ivan Fedorov again organized a printing house. But the pioneer printer was unable to resume the business that was dear to him. In the autumn he fell ill, and died on December 5, 1583. The famous master died in complete poverty. All property was used to pay off numerous debts. A tombstone was placed on the grave of the great son of the Russian land. In the center of it is a printer's book sign carved. Below is the inscription: “Drukar of books never seen before”

A great cultural achievement was the beginning of book printing in Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. The first Russian printer was Ivan Fedorov: born in the 20s of the 16th century, died on December 6, 1583 in Lvov. The construction of the first state printing house in Moscow ended in 1563, and on March 1, 1564, the first book “Apostle” was published here, the technical and artistic execution of which was excellent. Subsequently, the printing house printed several more books of religious content, then its activities were interrupted. Ivan Fedorov and his assistant Pyotr Mstislavets, persecuted by church and secular reactionaries, were forced to leave their homeland and settle outside its borders, becoming the founders of book printing in Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

The first failure did not stop Ivan the Terrible, and he opened a new printing house in Alexandrovskaya Sloboda. But printing developed relatively slowly.

Along with Ivan Fedorov, among the first Russian printers one should also name Marusha Nefedyev, Nevezha Timofeev, Andronik Nevezha and his son Ivan, Anisim Radishevsky, Anikita Fofanov, Kondrat Ivanov. Many of them were both engravers and type foundries.

Ivan FEDOROV
(1520-1583)

In 1803, when it was 250 years since the beginning of Russian book printing and 100 years since the publication of the first Russian newspaper, the historian Karamzin said: “The history of the mind represents two main eras: the invention of letters and printing.”

To call Ivan Fedorov the creator of the first Russian printing press is not enough. He is a pioneer. The beginning of book printing in Russia is associated with his name.

The date and place of birth of Ivan Fedorov are unknown. He was born around 1520. The version about his origin from the Novgorod masters of handwritten books can be considered reliable. Historical information related to the origins of Russian book printing is as follows.

The first printed Slavic books appeared in the Balkans, but these were Glagolitic letters, which in Russia in the 15th-16th centuries. there were no walks. By the end of the 15th century. the first four books in Cyrillic were printed in Krakow; two of them are dated 1491. The name of their printer is known - Schweipolt Feol. The Belarusian enlightener Francis Skaryna began printing books in his native language in Prague in 1517. Moreover, there are seven known books printed directly in Russia in the 50s of the 16th century, that is, ten years before the first printed “Apostle”.

However, neither the place nor the date of publication of these books, nor the names of their printers have yet been established. “The Apostle” by Ivan Fedorov, published in 1564 in Moscow, is the first printed Russian book about which it is known who, where, why and when it was printed. This information is contained in the chronicle on the weekend, or title, as we now say, page of the book and in the afterword by Ivan Fedorov. In this afterword, and in even more detail in the preface to the second edition of the Apostle, Ivan Fedorov sets out the history of the creation of the Russian printing house, the history of the troubles and adversities that befell the first printer of the Russian book.

Read also other articles on our website t7t.ru about Ivan Fedorov.