The first books. The first Russian printed book. The first printed book

The history of the appearance of books is very fascinating. It all started back in Mesopotamia about five thousand years ago. The first books had little in common with modern models. These were clay tablets, on which the signs of Babylonian cuneiform writing with the help of a pointed wand were applied. Most of these records were of a household nature, but archaeologists were lucky enough to find descriptions of important historical events, myths, legends. Our ancestors wrote on each such plate two or three times, easily erasing the previously traced. The first books in Babylon were dozens, and sometimes hundreds of peculiar clay pages, placed in a wooden box, which in those ancient times had been bound.

Of particular interest is the huge library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. It was the place of storage of tens of thousands of books with information on a wide range of industries. Unfortunately, not all unique artifacts have survived to this day.

Egyptian innovations

At present it is very difficult to find a person who knows absolutely nothing about the culture of Ancient Egypt. Most of us immediately come to mind papyrus - a prototype of paper. He grew in large quantities along the banks of the great Nile. The stems of the plant were cut into strips, dried and glued together. After all these manipulations, the papyrus was carefully ironed with stones to make it smooth.

Of course, nobody knew about ink then, so the first manuscripts were created with the use of paints of plant origin. A thin reed served as a peculiar feather. Ancient Egyptians are credited with the invention of the first self-recording pen. Folk craftsmen began to pour paint into the hollow reed, providing a continuous flow of the prototype ink.

For the convenience of using the papyrus book, one end of the tape was attached to a stick, and the scroll itself wound on it. Wooden or leather cases served as bindings.

Not Egypt is one ...

Naturally, books were created not only in the country of the pharaohs. Hindus, for example, collected the first books from palm leaves, which were then neatly sewn and were bound in wood. Unfortunately, due to numerous fires and natural disasters, not a single copy of those times has survived.

The Europeans left their notes on parchment. This prototype paper was a specially treated skin. Before the invention of paper, the Chinese wrote on planks made of bamboo stalks. According to one hypothesis (it was confirmed only partially), the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom derived hieroglyphs with the help of knots, tied in a special way. However, this version has many unspecified facts, so we can not consider it plausible.

Most sources state that the paper's creator, Tsai Lun, lived in the Land of the Rising Sun approximately in the hundred and fifth year BC. Over the next few centuries, the recipe for making paper was the strictest secret. For her disclosure threatened a terrible punishment.

Distinguished in this matter and the Arabs: representatives of this people among the first created their own samples of paper, most reminiscent of the modern version. The main material was washed wool. When gluing individual sheets, long scrolls were obtained (up to fifty meters).

After the adoption of Christianity and the creation of Slavic writing in Russia, too, the first manuscript books began to appear.

Go to the machine

The typography was invented twice: in China and in Europe in the Middle Ages. Historians have not yet come to a consensus on when the first printed book was published. According to some information, inventive Chinese created a machine in 581 BC. According to other sources, this occurred between the 936th and 993rd year. In this case, the first printed book, the date of creation of which was documented, was published in 868. It was an exact xylographic copy of the Buddha's Diamond Sutra.

The Europeans have their father printing. This is Johann Guttenberg. He is the creator of the printing press. In addition, Gutenberg came up with a typeface (a landmark event took place in 1440). The first printed book was still very similar to the manuscript, with a multitude of engravings, a richly decorated cover and a stylized font. At first, the books that were published were very expensive, since they were as difficult to create as handwritten ones.

The second half of the fifteenth century was marked by the distribution of printing houses throughout Europe. So, in 1465 the workshop in Italy was founded. In 1468 the first publishing house was opened in Switzerland, and in 1470 - in France. After three years - in Poland, Hungary and Belgium, three years later - in England and the Czech Republic. In 1482 a printing workshop was opened in Denmark and Austria, in 1483 - in Sweden, and four years later - in Portugal. For two decades a wide print market has been formed, and at the same time there is competition among publishers.

The most illustrious printing house of that time belonged to Alda Manutius - the famous humanist from Venice. Under his brand were published works of such great authors as Aristotle, Herodotus, Plato, Plutarch, Demosthenes and Thucydides.

As the printing process improved, the cost of books declined. This was also promoted by the mass distribution of paper.

First textbook

David the Invincible - mathematician of the VI century - for the first time compiled a textbook in which arithmetic rules and formulas were written down. At present the unique book is in Matenadaran (the repository of ancient manuscripts in Yerevan).

The appearance of birchbark letters

The first book in Russia was a bonded birch-bark sheet. This is how in the XI-XV centuries our ancestors exchanged information in writing. Archaeologists for the first time were lucky enough to see birch bark letters in 1951 in Novgorod. A.V. Artsikholovsky led that famous archeological expedition.

The letters were scratched on the bark, using a sharp metal or bone stick (a writer). Most of the found birch bark letters are private letters. In these messages people touch economic and everyday issues, give instructions, describe conflicts. Some of them contain comic texts, peasant protests against feudal dominance, lists of duties, news from the sphere of politics, wills.

From 1951 to 1981, about six hundred letters were found (most in Novgorod, several copies in Vitebsk, Smolensk, Staraya Russa and Pskov).

Works of modern masters

The Novosibirsk Institute of History holds a manuscript entitled "Poetry". It was transferred by archaeologist Natalia Zolnikova. The basis of the manuscript was the silky birch bark of a very fine dressing. However, this is not an ancient artifact, but modern work. The book was created by residents of one Old Believers settlement, located in the Lower Yenisei. It turns out that today birch bark is also used as paper.

Manuscript in Russia

The first Russian book, published from the pen of the ancient Slavs, was called "Kiev Glagolitic Leaflets." It is alleged that it was created about a thousand years ago. The oldest found Russian manuscript book - "Ostromir Gospel" - dates from the middle of the eleventh century.

The appearance of printing workshops

The first printed books in Russia began to appear after 1522. It was in this year that the printing house located in Vilnius began functioning. The initiator of her discovery was Francis Skaryna, the legendary Belarusian enlightener. Before that, he already had experience in book printing: on August 6, 1517, he published the Psalms. This happened in Prague, where at that time lived a great figure.

The first Russian printed book

The first dated edition, which saw the light in Russia, is called "The Apostle". This is a church book that was released in the capital in 1564. Its creator - Ivan Fedorov. In addition, in the process involved Peter Mstislavets (at that time he was a disciple of Fedorov). It is these people who have forever gone down in history as the creators of the first Russian printed book. The unique edition consisted of 268 sheets measuring 21x14 cm. The circulation at that time was impressive - just under two thousand copies. At present 61 books have been found.

The first reading book - what was it like?

The first Russian printed book, thanks to which our ancestors mastered the letter, was also issued by master Ivan Fedorov. It happened more than four hundred years ago. It contained basic grammatical rules, as well as instructive aphorisms, wise sayings and instructions.

The appearance of the primer

Books, from which it was possible to draw knowledge, were the most revered in Russia. Among them, of course, were also the letters. They were the editors of the Moscow Printing Yard. The first children's book was published in 1634. Its name is "The primer of the Slavonian language, the beginning of the teachings of the child, although you must learn to read the scriptures." The author of the work is Vasily Bursov-Protopopov.

The creation of the first Russian illustrated alphabet was conducted by Karion Istomin - a monk, an enlightener and a poet. He worked on the glory: each letter was accompanied by a drawing of an object beginning with this letter. The book allowed to study the Polish, Latin and Greek alphabet, and in it there were practically no texts on religious topics. The novelty was the fact that the book was intended for children of both sexes ("adolescents" and "adolescents").

The appearance of ex-libris

The first Russian printed book with a special sign, indicating that it belongs to a certain library, was published in the eighteenth century. At that time, Peter the Great's associates could boast of large book collections, including J. Bruce and D. Golitsyn. All printed copies of their collections were decorated with miniatures in stamp and in font.

Mini Options

The name of the first printed book measuring 6.5 by 7.5 centimeters is "The art of being amusing in conversations." A unique specimen was published in 1788. In 1885, the fables of the author Krylov were printed on the pages of a book the size of a standard postage stamp. For the set was chosen a small font called diamond. And do you know what was the name of the first printed book of a miniature size published in the times of the Soviet Union? This was the Constitution of the RSFSR. It was published in 1921 in Kineshma. The size of the book is three and a half by five centimeters.

At present, there are more than one hundred miniature editions. The largest collection - the works of Pushkin - it has fifty books. The real record holder is a volume of poems by the poet with a volume of 0.064 cu. Mm. Its creator is the national masteress M. Maslyuk from Zhmerinka (Vinnytsia region, Ukraine).

Giant specimens

The largest ancient book is a manuscript in Armenian called "Sermons of the Mush Monastery". It was created over two years - from 1200 to 1202. The weight of the book is twenty-seven and a half kilograms. The size is also impressive - 55.5 by 70.5 cm. A unique specimen consists of six hundred two sheets, each of which has one pelmet of a monthly calf. In 1204 the manuscript was abducted by the Seljuks. More than four thousand drachmas were collected for the residents of many Armenian villages (note: one drachma is equivalent to 4.65 grams of silver). More than seven centuries the manuscript was in the monastery of the city of Mousha, in Western Armenia. In 1915, she moved to the Matenadaran depository in Yerevan. It happened because of the Turkish pogroms, because of which the unique result of manual labor could simply be destroyed.

The Stone Bible

A book in an unusual performance can be seen during a visit to the State Museum of Art, located in Georgia. Once upon a time, the master had carved twenty stories from the New and Old Testaments on slabs of stone. This is the only copy. The artifact was found in the Abkhazian high mountain village of Tsebelda.

Current state of affairs

In the nineties of the twentieth century, dynamic transformations were observed in the book business. This was due to social, political and economic changes taking place in the Russian Federation. So, the publishing industry turned out to be one of the first industries that began the transition to market relations. The book was regarded as an object of entrepreneurial activity. That is why the policy of state protectionism in the sphere of culture and book business as its immediate component was so important.

In the 1990s, the publication and distribution of books was a super-profitable business. The explanation was simple: the country experienced an acute shortage of goods of this kind. However, this did not last long. After about five years the market was full. Buyers began to choose books with great care. As competition intensified, characteristics such as product quality and the reputation of manufacturers and distributors began to play an increasing role. This period is characterized by an increase in the proportion of translated publications. So, in 1993, books by foreign authors accounted for almost fifty percent of all publishers' products.

Changing persistence of reader interests. If in the Soviet period the works of one author enjoyed popularity long enough, at present the list of bestsellers changes at breakneck speed. This was facilitated by the diversity of opinions, interests and preferences of citizens that flourished in a lush color.