The 450th anniversary of the beginning of book printing in Russia to be celebrated at the Presidential Library

March 25, 2014 in the Presidential Library will be held a video lecture dedicated to the 450th anniversary of the beginning of book printing in Russia.

It is known that the first printed books appeared in Russia in the 50s of the XVI century, however, information about the time and place of their creation has not preserved. The book by Leonid Denisov "First printers Johannes Gutenberg and Ivan Fedorov", available at the website of the Presidential Library, says: "In half of the XVI century, the book printing appeared in Moscow. Whence it arose in Moscow - the question is still controversial due to the fragmentary nature of the surviving us news of the beginning of book printing in Moscow". At the upcoming video lecture on "Handwritten and printed book in Russia in the XVI-XVII centuries" will be widely covered by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Faculty of History of the Saint-Petersburg State University Alexei Smirnov.

An important stage of book printing in Russia is associated with the name of Ivan the Terrible, who in 1563 commanded to arrange the first printing press in Moscow. After just a year at the Moscow printing house was published the first dated printed book - "The Apostle". The appearance of the publication is referred to in the work of Anthony Petrushevich "Ivan Fedorov Russian first printerr": " March 1, 1564 was finished the printing of the first book - Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul 's messages. The spelling in the first printed book of church is very bad, but the appearance is satisfactory for that time". It was made almost a year by talented master-first printer Ivan Feodorov and his associate Peter Mstislavets. They made "The Apostle" as true masterpiece of Russian first printed book. About collections of early printed books of their library at video lecture will be told by senior researcher of the RSL Elena Emelyanova and Head of the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts of Library of Science of the SPSU Alexei Saveliev.

At the website of the Presidential Library anyone can learn about another work about the beginning of book printing in Russia - "Ivan Fedorov, first printer" by A. Orlov. The author praised the appearance of the first printed books: "Thanks to the book printing, due to its extremely wide distribution all the good that has been created by the human mind, - all is enshrined in the printed signs and spreads better than with any other art, is distributed in many thousands of copies and would live for centuries, if not to say - always".

Listeners of public lectures will be students of Saint-Petersburg, in the mode of video conferencing they will be joined by representatives of libraries and visitors of Moscow, Kirov, Arkhangelsk, Tyumen, students of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University, the North-Caucasian Federal University, the Russian State Social University, the Perm State humanitarian Pedagogical University, as well as visitors of the Omsk regional center access to information resources of the Presidential Library.

Speeches of scientists will begin at 10.00 Moscow time and will be live broadcasted at the website of the Presidential Library.

Anyone will be able to ask questions to lecturers online by sending an email to: cep@prlib.ru

Accreditation for media representatives until March 24, 12.00

Press-service of the Presidential Library: Alla Ratnikova, tel. (812) 305-16-21, ext. 167, mob. +7 (953) 370-38-10, ratnikova@prlib.ru.

The letter must specify the full name, passport details (including when and by whom issued, date and place of birth, place of registration), for the media - a list of the equipment to be used.

Entrance to the Presidential Library is available only upon showing the passport!