Rice. 4.2. Doe. An engraving from the "General History of the Quadruped", 1790

In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the range of printed materials expanded, periodicals began to be printed. For the first time there was a printed newspaper. Ancient handwritten news bulletins are considered the prototype of the newspaper. In the XVI century. in Venice, a small coin was paid for such a report, which was called gazzétta, from where the Russian word "newspaper" came from. The first printed newspaper appeared in Germany in 1609. A weekly newspaper was published in Paris in 1632, and a daily and regular newspaper (Leipziger Zeitung) in Germany in 1669. In 1665, the world's first scientific journal began to appear in France (Journal des savants). The assortment of printed books has also changed. In the 16th century, as we remember, religious themes prevailed among European books, and the books themselves were printed in Latin. Since the 17th century, the number of political books, short stories, and novels has been increasing, and these books are not printed in Latin, but in folk languages ​​- French, German, Dutch, etc. As for Russia, the first books were printed there in the Old Slavic language and also had a religious character. At the beginning of the 17th century, along with printed books, handwritten books were widespread, which fully satisfied the need for secular literature, since literate people in Russia were few, but from the middle of the 17th century. books of a secular nature also began to be published.

In 1702, from January, the first Russian newspaper Vedomosti was also published. It is considered a continuation of the Russian handwritten newspaper Courant, which was published in a single copy at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Since 1728, the first monthly magazine in Russia has been published, which was a supplement to the newspaper Sankt-Peterburgskie vedomosti and was called Monthly Historical, Genealogical and Geographical Notes in Vedomosti. In 1769, the first Russian paper money was printed in St. Petersburg, which represented banknotes of 25, 50, 75 and 100 rubles. Finally, in 1796 in Perm, Pyotr Filippov published the first book on printing, which was called "History, Professions, Technique and Technology of Printing".

In 1707-1710. in Russia, the reforms of Peter I were carried out. The emperor personally ruled the type drawings. He removed from the Russian alphabet a number of letters that he considered unnecessary. A decree was issued on the use of civil script. The Cyrillic alphabet was allowed to be used only for church books. In 1711 the first printing house was built in the young capital - Petersburg.

Books with engravings in leather bindings were expensive, so they had limited demand. Both publishers and readers were interested in making the book cheaper. Therefore, during the XVIII century. leather binding was gradually replaced by cardboard and paper covers; the buyer could, over time, order for a book in a cover, a binding, or even do without it. To increase the sale of books at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. the title of the book and the surname of the author on special paper stickers began to interfere on the spines of books and on the front pages of covers. A reader attracted by such advertising, going into a bookstore for one edition, could buy others.

Typography developed successfully. Over the past 10 years at the end of the 18th century, 900 new newspapers were founded in European countries, the circulation of books, newspapers, magazines increased, and hundreds of private publishing houses were opened. With an increase in the range of printed products, with an increase in circulation, the demand for paper also increased. Therefore, as we reported earlier, during this period of time, two inventions were made that made it possible to satisfy the need for paper. In 1670, a roll was constructed in Holland - a device for grinding fibrous materials in the production of paper. And in 1799 the world's first paper-making machine was manufactured.

During the 17th-18th centuries, printing technology was also improved. Flat printing was invented - lithography, engraving was created with printing elements deepened to different depths. In 1677 Simon Gutovsky built the first metallographic machine in Russia. At the end of the 17th century. from a deep engraving, the entire primer was printed, compiled by the monk Kariyon Istomin. Typographic fonts were improved, new typefaces were created. Pierre Fournier was the first to propose a typographic system of measures for measuring and unifying font sizes. An attempt was made, albeit unsuccessful, to speed up the manual dialing. In 1725 the Scotsman T. Wildim suggested using logos for typing (from the Greek logos - word and typos - imprint). This was the name of the letters with the most common words and individual syllables. In 1729, Wilm Guesde proposed casting stereotypes - monolithic copies from a set, made on a 1: 1 scale. For casting stereotypes, he used plaster matrices. These matrices contained in-depth gypsum impressions obtained from the strips of the set. Such a matrix is ​​kept in the British Museum. In 1789, a method was proposed for the manufacture of a letterpress printing plate by metal etching. At the end of the XIII century. an outstanding discovery was made concerning woodcut - end-face woodcut was invented. The printing technique was also improved. In 1790 W. Nicholson patented several designs of printing machines in England. Unlike a printing press, printing presses mechanized not only the creation of pressure to transfer ink from the form to the paper, but also other stages of the printing process, for example, the application of printing ink to the form. Finally, in 1800 in England, Charles Stengop first made a printing press that was made entirely of metal and allowed printing from plates that had twice the area of ​​those used on wooden presses.

In 1643, the Dutchman Ludwig von Siegen created an engraving with printing elements deepened to different depths, later called mezzotinto (from Italian mezzo - medium and tinto - colored). In the manufacture of such forms, the surface of the metal plate was pretreated with a special tool - a rocking chair with sharp teeth. Small depressions, evenly distributed over the surface, remained on the plate, giving a black tone when printing. When making a mold, the engraver smoothed out individual areas with the help of special tools, as a result of the depressions they became smaller, and the thickness of the paint layers that were transferred from them became smaller, and, consequently, their brightness increased. Such printing plates were made by hand, but the nature of their printing elements is the same as that of modern gravure printing plates.

In 1765, the Frenchman Jean Leprince, who had worked in Russia for a long time, created an engraving of aquatint. Such an engraving also contains print areas, deepened in different ways, but it is made using etching. The technological process was as follows. First, the contours of the pattern were applied to the copper plate and slightly etched. Then it was dusted with rosin powder and heated. As a result, shallow depressions appeared on the plate, the so-called aquatint grain. Then the molten resin was removed, the lightest areas of the future image were covered with acid-resistant varnish and again etched. The operation was repeated several times. As a result, printing elements were obtained, deepened to different depths in accordance with the transmitted tones.

Around 1720, French artist Jacques Leblond developed the technology multicolor printing from several in-depth engravings. At first, he tried to decompose a color halftone image into seven basic colors by eye and then reproduce it on a combined print. Soon the artist realized that it was enough to limit himself to three colors - red, blue and yellow. Subsequently, he introduced additional brown (according to some sources, black) paint, using it as a contour. Leblond used what is now called “pin register” to accurately register inks when printing. In each mold, Leblond drilled holes located the same in relation to the images, and on the table of the intaglio machine he fixed metal pins on which he slipped the forms during the printing process. The traces of holes left on the prints made it possible to reliably control the coincidence of colors during printing (register). Later, for these purposes, they began to apply "crosses" on the edged fields. In the works of Leblond, the foundations of color separation were laid, which were then used in the practice of multicolor printing. They were improved and became widespread much later, when photoreproduction processes entered the practice of color reproduction. Today digital technologies are used for these purposes. As we will see later, color originals are reproduced in four colors - magenta (red-blue), cyan (blue-green), yellow (red-green), and black, and color separation is performed using optical devices called light filters.

At the beginning of the 18th century. woodcuts were almost supplanted by in-depth metal engraving, characterized by high image quality and good halftone reproduction. But metal engraving had a number of drawbacks. As we know, printing from an in-depth engraving required a very high pressure, so it could not be combined with the text in one printing form. In addition, the very process of making such an engraving was very laborious.

At the end of the 18th century. Englishman Thomas Buick revived woodcut by creating crosscut woodcuts. For his work, he used cross-cut boards made of hardwood. He made the boards from small blocks, selecting them in such a way that they used cross-sections of the fibers. In fig. 4.1 shows the process of making a board for end woodcuts. First, the log was sawn into circles with a thickness of about 30 cm, which were then planed, polished and brought in thickness to the height of the typographic type (25.1 cm) (Fig.4.1a), then rectangles were cut out of the circles (Fig.4.1b), from which then the end boards were assembled (Fig. 4.1c). On end boards, all cutting directions are equivalent, so very thin strokes can be cut and various halftones can be transmitted by hatching. End woodcuts are also called halftone. T. Buick's works illustrate the "General History of the Four-footed", published in 1790 and "The History of English Birds" (1797-1804). In fig. 4.2 shows an engraving from the "History of the tetrapods". Soon, T. Buick's front woodcut begins to occupy a dominant place in the decoration of the book, and is also used in the illustration of newspapers and magazines. Only at the end of the 80s. XIX century. it was gradually replaced by raster autotype, i.e. converting a grayscale image into a micro-line image at the stage of photographing using an optical instrument - a raster. We will get to know this process in more detail later.

The first forms of flat printing, lithography (from the Greek lithos - stone) were intended for direct transfer of ink to paper and were made on stone - limestone (Fig. 4.3). On such forms, hydrophobic printing elements were created by drawing with bold paint or a bold pencil, and hydrophilic ones by processing with a special solution consisting of a polymer (gum arabic) and nitric acid.

Alois Senefelder, the inventor of flat printing, was born in 1773 in Prague into a poor family. He graduated from high school in Munich and wanted to become a playwright.

Senefelder decided to print his plays himself, but he did not have the funds to buy typographic type. Then he decided to make a letterpress plate out of stone (limestone), deepening the blanks with nitric acid. It should be noted that at the end of the 18th century. printing plates made of stone were already known: Simon Schmid carried out printing from stone slabs, engraving printing plates on them, both with elevated and in-depth printing elements.

First, Senefelder, having painted an image on limestone and etched a stone in areas free from the image, received the form of letterpress. On it, the printing areas had an insignificant height - a little more than 2 mm. It was problematic to get good prints from this form, but Senefelder successfully used it to print sheet music.

Later, the inventor noticed that oily printing ink adheres much better to those areas where it already was. After writing a few words on the surface of the stone, he treated it with a weak solution of nitric acid. An insignificant relief was formed, which could not be used for letterpress printing, since the paint would roll up gaps during application. Then he moistened the form with water, to which he added a polymer - gum arabic and nitric acid, and then applied paint to it, which lay only on the printing areas. This is how the forms of flat printing appeared, in which, as we already know, both the gaps and the printing areas lie practically in the same plane, but the gaps perceive only water (they are hydrophilic), and prints only ink (they are hydrophobic). This happened a little over 200 years ago in 1798 (according to some sources in 1797).

Senefelder constantly improved his lithography. Later he designed and built the first lithographic press (Fig. 4.4), in addition, he wrote a textbook on lithography.

In lithographic printing, a direct method of transferring ink to paper was used, so the image on the form had to be mirrored. At first, the text was written in a mirror image with a bold pencil or special ink on a stone, which was inconvenient. Senefelder suggested using translated lithography. With this method, the direct image was first drawn with bold paint on paper, and then transferred onto a stone.

Lithography, or as it was then called "chemical printing", invented at the end of the 18th century, later became widespread. First of all, lithography has found application for printing illustrations. The main advantage of lithography in comparison with woodcuts or metal engravings was its cheapness. much less labor was spent on the manufacture of the printing plate. It is not for nothing that this method was called “poor man's engraving”. From the printing industry, lithography was gradually replaced by flat offset printing. But, due to the fact that lithography has good pictorial capabilities, it, along with woodcut and metal engraving, has found wide application as easel graphics: artists themselves created and printed lithographs. Adolphe Menzel, Delacroix, Daumier worked in the field of lithography. Lithographs were also created by such famous Russian artists as Kiprensky, Shishkin, Repin, Serov, etc.

By the 18th century. includes the activities of typographers and typographers such as John Baskerville (1750-1779) and Giambatista Bodoni (1740-1813). The Baskerville and Bodoni typefaces they developed were also used in the 20th century. It should be noted that even initially the Bodoni typeface was developed for the Russian type as well.

Until the middle of the 18th century. there was no standardization of typographic fonts. Each typographer made the type of letters he saw fit. Therefore, it was impossible to mix in one typesetting form products received from different typesetters. Although even in the special literature of that time there were statements that all letters should have the same height (height), typesetters did not follow these recommendations. In 1737, Pierre Fournier proposed a typographical point equal to 1/364 of a royal foot, or 0.375 mm, as a unit of measure for fonts. Fournier calculated the size of the printing point inaccurately. He was later corrected by Firmen Didot; the typographical system of measures got his name and was used as long as the metal set existed. It was based on a point equal to 0.3759 mm. 12 points were cicero or 1/4 of a square; four cicero - one square. In England and the United States, a different system was in force, in which a point is 0.35 mm, and 12 points are a peak. In connection with the transition to computer typing, this system is now operating everywhere.

Fournier also improved the typesetting toolkit. He designed a typometer that could measure the letters, lines and stripes of a set.

Modern life cannot be imagined without the invention that a simple German craftsman gave to the world. The printing press, of which he became the founder, changed the course of world history to such an extent that it is rightfully attributed to the greatest achievements of civilization. His merit is so great that those who, many centuries before, created the basis for the future discovery, are undeservedly forgotten.

Imprint from a wooden board

The history of book printing originates in China, where, in the 3rd century, the technique of the so-called piece printing came into use - an imprint on textiles, and later on paper, various drawings and short texts cut on a wooden board. This method was called woodcut and from China quickly spread throughout East Asia.

It should be noted that printed engravings appeared much earlier than books. Some samples have survived to this day, made already in the first half of the 3rd century, when representatives ruled in China.In the same period, the technique of three-color printing on silk and paper appeared.

First woodcut book

Researchers attribute the creation of the first printed book to 868 - this date is on the earliest edition, made using the woodcut technique. It appeared in China and was a collection of religious and philosophical texts entitled "Diamond Sutra". During the excavations of the Gyeongji Temple in Korea, a sample of a printed product was found, made almost a century earlier, but, due to some peculiarities, it belongs more to the category of amulets than books.

In the Middle East, piece printing, that is, as mentioned above, made from a board on which a text or drawing was cut, came into use in the middle of the 4th century. Woodcut, called "tarsh" in Arabic, became widespread in Egypt and reached its heyday by the beginning of the 10th century.

This method was mainly used for printing prayer texts and making written amulets. A characteristic feature of Egyptian woodcut is the use of not only wooden boards for impressions, but also made of tin, lead and fired clay.

The emergence of movable font

However, no matter how the piece printing technology improved, its main drawback was the need to cut out the entire text for each next page. A breakthrough in this direction, thanks to which the history of printing received a significant impetus, also occurred in China.

According to the eminent scientist and historian of the past centuries Shen Ko, the Chinese master Bi Shen, who lived from 990 to 1051, came up with the idea to make movable letters from baked clay and place them in special frames. This made it possible to type certain text from them, and after printing the required number of copies, scatter and reuse in other combinations. This is how the movable type was invented, which is used up to the present day.

However, this brilliant idea, which became the basis for all future book printing, did not receive proper development at that time. This is explained by the fact that there are several thousand hieroglyphs in the Chinese language, and the production of such a font seemed too difficult.

Meanwhile, considering all the stages of typography, it should be admitted that non-Europeans first used typesetting letters. The only book of religious texts that has survived to this day is known, made in 1377 in Korea. The researchers found it was printed using movable type technology.

European inventor of the first printing press

In Christian Europe, the piece printing technique appeared around 1300. On its basis, all kinds of religious images made on fabric were produced. They were sometimes quite complex and multi-colored. About a century later, when paper became relatively available, Christian prints began to be printed on it, along with playing cards. Paradoxical as it may seem, the progress of printing has served both holiness and vice.

However, the full history of book printing begins with the invention of the printing press. This honor belongs to the German artisan from the city of Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg, who in 1440 developed a method of repeatedly applying impressions to sheets of paper using movable letters. Despite the fact that in the following centuries the primacy in this area was attributed to other inventors, serious researchers have no reason to doubt that the appearance of book printing is associated precisely with his name.

The inventor and his investor

Gutenberg's invention consisted in the fact that he made letters from metal in their inverted (mirror) form, and then, typing lines from them, made an impression on paper using a special press. Like most geniuses, Gutenberg had brilliant ideas, but lacked the funds to implement them.

To give life to his invention, the ingenious artisan was forced to turn to a Mainz businessman named Johann Fust for help and conclude an agreement with him, by virtue of which he was obliged to finance future production, and for this he had the right to receive a certain percentage of the profit.

Companion who turns out to be a clever businessman

Despite the outward primitiveness of the technical means used and the lack of qualified assistants, the inventor of the first printing press was able to produce a number of books in a short time, the most famous of which is the famous "Gutenberg Bible", which is kept in the museum of the city of Mainz.

But the world is so arranged that in one person the gift of an inventor rarely gets along with the skills of a cold-blooded businessman. Very soon, Fust took advantage of the part of the profit that had not been paid to him on time and through the court took over the whole matter. He became the sole owner of the printing house, and this explains the fact that for a long time it was with his name that the creation of the first printed book was mistakenly associated.

Other contenders for the role of first printers

As mentioned above, many peoples of Western Europe challenged Germany's honor to be considered the founders of book printing. In this regard, several names are mentioned, among which the most famous are Johann Mentelin from Strasbourg, who in 1458 managed to create a printing house similar to that of Gutenberg, as well as Pfister from Bamberg and Dutchman Lawrence Coster.

The Italians also did not stand aside, claiming that their compatriot Pamfilio Castaldi is the inventor of the movable type, and that it was he who transferred his printing house to the German merchant Johann Fust. However, no serious evidence of such a claim was presented.

The beginning of book printing in Russia

And, finally, let us dwell in more detail on how the history of book printing in Russia developed. It is well known that the first printed book of the Muscovite state is the "Apostle", made in 1564 at the printing house of Ivan Fedorov, and both of them were students of the Danish master Hans Missenheim, sent by the king at the request of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The book's afterword indicates that their printing house was founded in 1553.

According to the researchers, the history of book printing in the Moscow state developed as a result of the urgent need to correct numerous errors that crept into the texts of religious books, copied by hand for many years. Through carelessness, and sometimes deliberately, the scribes introduced distortions, which became more and more every year.

The church council, which took place in Moscow in 1551, which received the name "Stoglavogo" (according to the number of chapters in its final resolution), issued a decree, on the basis of which all handwritten books in which errors were noticed were withdrawn from use and subject to correction. However, this practice often only led to new distortions. It is quite understandable that the solution to the problem could only be the widespread introduction of printed editions that repeatedly reproduce the original text.

They were well aware of this problem abroad, and therefore, pursuing commercial interests, in many European countries, in particular in Holland and Germany, they established the printing of books with the expectation of selling them among the Slavic peoples. This created a fertile ground for the subsequent creation of a number of domestic printing houses.

Russian typography under Patriarch Job

A tangible impetus for the development of printing in Russia was the establishment of the patriarchate in it. The first primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Job, who took the throne in 1589, from the first days began to make efforts to provide the state with an adequate amount of spiritual literature. During his reign, book printing was headed by a master by the name of Nevezha, who published fourteen different editions, in their characteristic features very close to the "Apostle", which Ivan Fedorov printed.

The history of printing of a later period is associated with the names of such masters as OI Radishchevsky-Volyntsev and AF Pskovitin. From their printing house, not only a lot of spiritual literature came out, but also educational books, in particular, manuals for the study of grammar and the development of reading skills.

Subsequent development of printing in Russia

A sharp decline in the development of the printing business occurred at the beginning of the 17th century and was caused by the events associated with the Polish-Lithuanian intervention and called the Time of Troubles. Some of the masters were forced to interrupt their occupation, while the rest died or left Russia. Mass printing was resumed only after the accession to the throne of the first sovereign from the House of Romanov - Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.

Peter I did not remain indifferent to printing production. Having visited Amsterdam during his European voyage, he concluded an agreement with the Dutch merchant Jan Tessing, according to which he had the right to produce printed materials in Russian and bring them to Arkhangelsk for sale.

In addition, the sovereign gave an order for the production of a new civil font, which came into widespread use in 1708. Three years later, in St. Petersburg, which was preparing to become the capital of Russia, the largest printing house in the country was established, which later became synodal. From here, from the banks of the Neva, book printing began to march across the country.

The newspaper first appeared in Germany in 1609. Weekly in Paris in 1632. Daily and regular in Germany in 1669. In 1665 in France, the first scientific journal. The assortment of books has changed. In the 17th century. the number of political books, short stories, and novels is growing, and they are published in folk languages. handwritten books were widespread, they satisfied the need for secular literature. Books of a secular nature began to be printed. In 1670 in Holland a roll-up device for refining fibers on paper was constructed. In 1677 Gutovsky built the world's first metallographic machine. At the end they printed an ABC book.

Characteristics of book printing in the 18th century.

In 1702 the first Russian newspaper “Vedomosti”; it is considered a continuation of the "chime". Since 1728, the first in Russia monthly journal “monthly historical, genealogical and geographical notes in Vedomosti” has been published. In 1769 the first Russian paper money was printed in St. Petersburg. In 1796 in Perm, Pyotr Filippov published the first book on printing "history, professions, technique and technology of printing." In 1707-1710, the reforms of Peter 1 were carried out in Russia. He removed from the Russian alphabet a number of letters that he considered unnecessary. A decree was issued on the use of civil script. Cyrillic - only for church books. In 1711, the first printing house in St. Petersburg. Books with engravings in leather bindings were expensive, so leather binding was replaced by cardboard and paper covers. The title and author were placed on the spine of books and on the first pages of the covers. Typography developed successfully, 900 new newspapers were created, the circulation of books, newspapers, magazines, and about a hundred publishing houses increased. The need for paper has increased. In 1799, the world's first paper machine. In 1725 T. Wildim suggested using logos for typing. In 1729, Wilm Guesde proposed casting stereotypes. In 1789, a method of manufacturing a letterpress printing plate by metal etching. End woodcuts were invented at the end of the 13th century. In 1790 in England W. Nicholson patented several designs of printing machines. In 1800 in England, Charles Stengop made a printing press, which was made of metal and made it possible to print from forms that had twice the area of ​​those used on wooden presses.

In the XVII century. handwritten book business in Russia continued to develop and played a major role in Russian culture and education.

Monasteries were still the center for the production of handwritten church service books. Business writing represented various clerical documents and acts and was under the jurisdiction of a special system of order institutions and the institute of areal clerks who performed notarial functions.

Compared with the previous century, the number of professional scribes has increased. In the XVII century. the number of secular scribes reached 45. One of the forms of organizing the work of scribes-artisans was workshops. For example, gold painters worked in the art workshops of the Posolsky Prikaz - artists, scribes, bookbinders, who mainly carried out orders from the royal court and the Posolsky Prikaz, but sometimes took orders from private individuals.

Existed in Russia in the 17th century. and private workshops for booksellers and artists. The work of scribes was characterized by a division of labor - each manuscript was composed by several masters.

The introduction of book printing in the Moscow state, as already noted, did not lead to the elimination of the handwritten method of producing books. Until the 18th century. the handwritten book in Russia was still more widespread than the printed book. There were a number of reasons for this. This is both the imperfection of the handicraft technique of printing, and the high cost of a printed book in comparison with a cheaper handwritten one; this is also the influence of the church, which for a long time regulated the reading, including of the printed book, - a fact that is characteristic not only of Russia. "In those cases when, for one reason or another, a printed book could not satisfy the public interest, a handwritten book came to the rescue, not so closely related to the censorship and political control that existed over the printed word."

Basic typography. In the XVII century. the largest and, in fact, the only publishing center in the Moscow state was the Printing House in Moscow. Over the course of a century, it was built, expanded, and its printed products grew.

In the first decade of the 17th century. there were three printing houses in Moscow. After the death of Andronicus Nevezhi in 1602, his son, Ivan Andronikov Nevezhin, became the head of the Printing House.

In 1605, a second "hut" was opened at the Printing House. It worked as a "printed book binder". Originally from Volyn, he may have studied typographic craft from Ivan Fedorov himself. At the head of the third "hut" was the master. Thus, already in the first decade of the 17th century. in Moscow there were three printing presses, each of which had its own master. Church service books were printed in them: the gospels, the Menaion, the church charter.

During the Polish-Lithuanian invasion, "the printing house and the entire headquarters of that printing business from those enemies and adversaries went bankrupt and was burned by fire ...".

In this difficult time for the country, book printing continued in Nizhny Novgorod. Anikita Fofanov moved here from Moscow. In 1613 he published a small brochure (notebook), the so-called "Nizhny Novgorod monument", in the afterword to which tells about the invasion of the Polish gentry into the Russian land and the atrocities committed. The author expresses joy at the liberation of the homeland from enemy troops and the revival of the Moscow state.

In 1614, the Moscow Printing House was restored, and Anikita Fofanov, who had returned from Nizhny Novgorod, resumed its activities there.

In the second decade of the 17th century. the handicraft stage in the development of book printing, when almost all production operations were carried out by one person, is giving way to the manufacturing stage, with its inherent specialization and division of labor. At this time, typesetters, disassemblers, typists (printers), batyrs (they applied paints to the typesetting form), punson cutters for casting letters, typewriters, bookbinders, bannermen (decorated "tray" copies intended for the tsar and his immediate entourage ). One of the main institutions of the Printing House was becoming the correct one with a large staff of directors, readers and scribes, who were entrusted with the "right", i.e. proofreading and editing of printed books. Correctness also made sure that only those books were printed that were approved by the church and corrected accordingly. Among the clerks there were many highly educated people for their time: Fedor Polikarpov, Sylvester Medvedev, Epiphany Slavinetsky, Arseny Sukhanov, and others.

In the early 30s. XVII century a new master appeared at the Printing House - Vasily Fedorovich Burtsov-Protopopov. He headed a special department of the printing house and was called the "clerk of the alphabet business." From 1633 to 1642 he published 17 books.

In the late 70s. the so-called "Upper" palace printing house was set up in the Trinity Tower of the Kremlin. It was the personal printing house of the tsar, which worked under the direction of the famous scientist, poet and playwright Simeon of Polotsk. Unlike other printing houses, it had the right to publish books without the special permission of the patriarch. During the four years of its work - from 1679 to 1683 - the "Upper" printing house published six books, including several works by Simeon of Polotsk himself ("Rhymed Psalter", "The Story of Barlaam and Josaph", "Soul Lunch", "Supper sincere ").

In addition to the Moscow Printing House in the 17th century. there was a printing house in the Iversky monastery of the Novgorod region. Here, by order of Patriarch Nikon, in 1655 the seal of the Kuteinsky Monastery (near the city of Orsha) was transferred. During the years 1658-1665. in the Iberian printing house three small books and a royal letter of gratitude to the Iversky monastery were printed. In 1665 the printing house was transferred to New Jerusalem (Istra).

From 1647 to 1679 a printing house worked in Novgorod Seversky. Several editions were published in it in Slavic and Polish, the most significant of which was "Anfilagion". In 1680 she was transferred to Chernigov.

Subject and types of publications. In the XVII century. the subject matter of the handwritten book is becoming more and more diverse - it begins to gradually lose its specific religious character, becomes more secular and closer to life. Interest in natural science and humanitarian knowledge is growing in Moscow society. Original Russian and translated works on history and geography are distributed in handwritten lists. Interest in natural science is reflected in the so-called "herbalists" - a kind of healers describing herbs, their healing properties and methods of collecting them. In the XVII century. interest in general issues of biology develops. Translated works on agriculture and animal husbandry appeared. The importance that accurate calendar calculations had for practical economic activity gave rise to the interest of Russian people in astronomy. In the middle of the 17th century. the first expositions of Copernicus's views on the world appeared ("The Disgrace of All Universes, or a New Atlas", "Selenography", etc.). Among the handwritten books there were works giving information from the field of mechanics, physics, chemistry. We also note the appearance of handwritten books of technical content - on chemical technology and mining, on military technology. A remarkable monument of a Russian manuscript book of a technical nature is the "Statute of cannon and other matters pertaining to military science", one of the compilers of which was the already well-known typographer and expert in military technology Anisim Radishchevsky.

The manuscript book reflected the development of Russian historical thought. Presentation of the events of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. contained in the book "New Chronicler", written ca. 1630 A number of works describe historical events of the past, in particular, the annexation of Siberia ("Siberian Chronicles").

The vast majority of literary works of the 17th century were distributed in manuscripts. Along with historical novellas, works of legendary character, everyday stories (“The Story of the Russian nobleman Frol Skobeev”, “The Story of the Grief-Evil Part”) were circulating. The first dramatic compositions in Russian, written in syllabic verses, appeared. Their author was Simeon Polotsky. A large place among literary works was occupied by satire, denouncing the vices of the nobles and clergy, depicting poverty and lawlessness of the people ("The ABC of a Naked and Poor Man", "The Tale of the Shemyakin Court", "Service to the Tavern"). In the second half of the 17th century. translated collections of moralizing novellas and short stories became widespread in Russia: "The Great Mirror", "The Bright Star", "Roman Acts".

By the 17th century. the appearance of the first Russian (still handwritten) periodicals belongs to. These are the so-called "Chimes" or "Vesti". Sometimes they were also called "Columns". Named so because they were written on long - several meters - narrow sheets of paper, "pillar", i.e. top down. The Chimes were read aloud to the tsar in the presence of a small number of close boyars. They paid the main attention to military events abroad, court life, trade and various incidents. In "Courants" there are information about the Moscow State, gleaned by officials of the Ambassadorial Prikaz from foreign mail: about the split ("the great turmoil about faith"), about the Streltsy revolt, about the struggle of the Ukrainian people for independence. The earliest, not preserved numbers of the Moscow "Chimes" date back to 1621. At first they were drawn up in one copy as a diplomatic secret document. In the last two decades of the 17th century. they were already copied in several copies, and they gradually began to lose their secret character. The Chimes existed until 1701, serving as the basis for the first Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti.

In contrast to a handwritten book, varied in subject matter, the content of printed books of the 17th century. was determined mainly by the needs of the church. "Apostles" and "psalters" still make up the bulk of the products of the Moscow Printing House.

At the same time, changes in the life of Moscow society - the development of the economy, government administration, shifts in culture and education - lead to some important changes in the publishing activity of the Printing House. A progressive factor should be considered the release of essays intended not for the actual church service, but for everyday reading. This group includes the works of church writers Ephraim the Syrian, John Chrysostom and others: collections composed of the works of Byzantine writers, Ukrainian and Russian authors. This should also include the "Prologue" - an extensive collection of hagiographic and moralizing articles. Both the collections (or, more precisely, the "cathedrals") and the "Prologue" were very popular with the Russian reader. The Moscow edition of the Prologue in 1641 was the first Russian printed book to be read.

A special group of publications of the 17th century. compose primers and alphabets intended for teaching reading and writing. Their main text consisted of prayers, but at the same time they bore the imprint of the pedagogical and literary personality of the publisher.

Vasily Burtsov-Protopopov initiated the publication of primers in Moscow. In 1634 he published a printed "Primer". Its first edition sold out very quickly, and already in 1637 the book was reprinted. In the second edition, in addition to church texts, verses about the goals and methods of teaching were placed. "Primer" or "ABC" by Burtsov is also interesting because for the first time in a Russian printed book of the 17th century. there was an engraving of secular content - a frontispiece, which depicts a scene of the punishment of a guilty student.

In the middle of the 17th century. the demand for printed primers has increased markedly. They were often reprinted in large print runs for their time. One of the most interesting primers of the 17th century. - "Primer of Slovenian Russian Letters" by Karion Istomin. It was the first to use the method of memorizing letters using pictures. The primer was published for Alexei, son of Peter I. The entire text was engraved on copper in 1694 by Leonty Bunin. Karion Istomin also owns another remarkable primer, printed in 1696 in the usual typographic way.

In 1648 the first Moscow edition of "Slavic grammar" by Meleg Smotritsky was published. The Moscow edition was supplemented with excerpts from the works of Maxim the Greek and examples of grammatical analysis of sentences. For its time, this was a serious scientific work, which was used until the 18th century. "Slavic Grammar" is one of seven secular books published in Moscow in the 17th century. Among them - "Teaching about the cunning of the military structure of infantry people" - a translation of the German manual on the military affairs of Walhausen. Large format book with 35 copper engravings and a continuous engraved title page based on a drawing by Grigory Blagushin. Printed in 1647. The engravings in it were made by a special order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in Holland.

In 1649 the first printed edition of the set of Russian laws “Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The development of trade, the strengthening of the influence of the merchants caused the appearance of such special books as "The Charter on Customs Duties" (1654), "Convenient Reading (1682), intended for people who" bathe and sell. " In 1699, the last secular printed book of the 17th century was published in Moscow. - "Teaching about the structure of infantry regiments."

Book printing in Russia became an important milestone in the development of writing and literature. With the development of statehood, the issue of the lack of books became acute. There were written samples, but their creation took a long time.

In Europe during this period (mid-16th century) printing presses already existed. understood the invaluable role of the book in the process of the formation of the state. He contributed to the founding of the first printing house in Moscow.

The most educated people of that time were involved in the work on the first printed edition. The goal of the young tsar was to unite a large number of Orthodox peoples in one territory and into one state. There was a need for widespread ecclesiastical and secular enlightenment, therefore, the priesthood and enlighteners needed a high-quality printed publication.

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The first Russian printed book - the history of creation

It took a total of a decade to prepare the original source of knowledge. The creation of the first copy of printed art was preceded by a long construction and arrangement of the printing house.

In 1563 the book printer and inventor Ivan Fyodorov and his faithful friend and disciple Pyotr Mstislavets started printing a unique book that had no analogues at that time, which was called The Apostle.

Book printers pored over the first edition for 12 months. The printer Ivan Fedorov put into his brainchild all the knowledge and skills that he acquired throughout his life. The first non-handwritten copy turned out to be a truly masterpiece.

The weighty volume was in a frame made of wood, which the creators covered with fine leather with amazing gold embossing. Large capital letters adorned unprecedented herbs and flowers.

The first edition was dated March 1, 1564. Later, this date was considered the year of the founding of the Russian book press. In the modern history of the Russian state, the day of the Orthodox book is celebrated on March 14. The "Apostle" remained unchanged until the 21st century, and is in the Moscow Historical Museum.

The beginning of book printing in Russia

As soon as the first book of the Moscow printing house "Apostle" ("Acts and Epistles of the Apostles") was published, the old Russian printers began to create a new church publication called "Chasovnik". This work of printed art was spent not a year, but only a few weeks.

In parallel with the creation of church books, work was underway on the first Russian textbook "ABC". The children's book appeared in 1574.

Thus, in the 16th century, book printing was born and founded in Russia, and the first non-handwritten church books appeared. The creation of a children's textbook was a very important stage in the development of Slavic writing and literature.

Who published the first books in Russia

The inventor Ivan Fedorov became the founder of book printing in Russia. The man, even by modern standards, was very educated and enthusiastic. The man was educated at the university in the city of Krakow (now the territory of modern Poland). In addition to his native language, he spoke two more languages ​​- Latin and Ancient Greek.

The man was well versed in carpentry, painting, foundry crafts. He cut and melted matrixes for letters himself, made bindings for his books. These skills helped him fully master the process of book printing. Nowadays, the mention of the first Russian book printing is often associated with the name of Ivan Fedorov.

The first printing house in Russia - its creation and development

In 1553, the first printing house was founded in Moscow on the orders of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The printing house, as the printing house was called in ancient times, was located next to the Kremlin, not far from the Nikolsky Monastery, and was built with monetary donations from the ruler himself.

The deacon of the church, Ivan Fedorov, was placed at the head of the printing house. It took 10 years to equip the building of the ancient printing house and create printing equipment. The book printer's room was made of stone, and was popularly referred to as a "printing house".

The first printed edition "Apostle" was created here, later the first "ABC" and "Chapel" were printed. Already in the 17th century, more than 18 titles of books were printed.

Later, the printer Ivan Fedorov and his assistant, at the slander of ill-wishers, will be forced to flee from Moscow, fleeing the tsar's wrath. But the first printers will manage to save the equipment and take it with them outside the principality of Moscow. The first printing house on Nikolskaya Street will be burned down by book-winners.

Soon Ivan Fedorov will open a new printing house in Lviv, where he will publish several more editions of "Apostle", in the introduction to which the printer will tell about the persecution of ill-wishers and envious people.

Ivan Fedorov's first printing press

The first equipment for printing was extremely unpretentious: a press and several typesetting cash registers. The basis of the ancient printing press was a screw press. Ivan Fedorov's machine tool has survived to this day.

You can contemplate this value, touch history, breathe in hoary antiquity in the Lviv Historical Museum. The weight of the machine is about 104 kg. The typeface was built to resemble the written letters. It was close to a handwriting, understandable to a simple Russian person. The slope to the right is observed, the letters are even, of the same size. Margins and line spacing are clearly observed. The title and capital letters were printed in red, while the body text was printed in black.

The use of two-color printing is an invention of Ivan Fedorov himself. Before him, no one in the world used multiple colors on one printed page. The quality of printing and materials is so impeccable that the first printed book "Apostle" has survived to this day and is in the Moscow Historical Museum.

In the 16th century, there were two significant events for the history of Moscow, and later for the history of Russia - the construction of the Cathedral of Ivan the Blessed in the capital and the creation of a printing press by Ivan Fedorov.

The first textbooks in Russia

The development of education was an important matter for the formation of the Russian state. The books, rewritten by hand, were characterized by a large number of errors and distortions. Their authors were not always well educated themselves. Therefore, to teach children to read and write, well-readable, understandable, non-handwritten textbooks were needed.

The first book for teaching children to read and write was the printed volume of Ivan Fedorov "The Watchmaker". For quite a long time, children learned to read from this book. Two copies of this edition have survived to this day. One volume is in Belgium, the other is in the Leningrad Library. Later in Moscow will be published "Azbuka", which became the first textbook for children. Today this rare specimen of ancient typography is located in the United States.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible, with all the ambiguous attitude towards him, understood that it was impossible to build a strong developed state without smart educated people. It is necessary to keep up with the times and keep up with the advanced states. The source of true truthful knowledge at all times has been and will be a book. Only reading, literate, educated people will be able to build an advanced power and introduce technologies in accordance with the requirements of the time.

The founder of book printing in Russia - Ivan Fedorov - a genius of his time, who was able to move Russia from the point of ignorance and meager mind, direct it along the path of enlightenment and development. Despite the disgrace and persecution that befell him, Ivan Fedorov did not leave his life's work and continued to work in a foreign land. His first printed editions became the basis of writing and literature of the 16-17 centuries.