Start printing in Russia, the date of which has recently become the subject of much debate, is usually associated with the names of Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets that on the orders of Tsar Ivan IV established in the Kremlin first Russian printing house.
By this time in Western Europe, typography has become quite commonplace: after Johannes Gutenberg in the mid XV century invented, as much as possible not to rewrite the book by hand and print them on special machines, printing appeared in many major European cities.Typography for the Europeans was vital: the socio-economic development, coupled with scientific and technological progress would be simply impossible without addressing the need for storage and transmission of information.
printing in Russia had several other prerequisites.It prints were needed primarily to ideologically strengthen the ever-increasing power of the autocrat and the Orthodox Church.This mass production of books of religious orientation was, in the opinion of Ivan the Terrible, is not only to unify all the church books, getting rid of the passing appeared heretical movements, but also to create the necessary ideological basis for positioning Russia as a great power.
Start printing in Russia raises a number of questions.Firstly, the chronicles speak about Ivan Fedorov and the first printing is very unclear and vague.Moreover, in the letters of Ivan the Terrible mentioned in connection with the start of industrial production of books people like Marusha and Nefed'ev Vasiuk Nikiforov, details of which are not present.Basic data directly about Ivan Fedorov and Petr Mstislavets contained in the works of the XVII century already.
Second, if the printing press in Russia is usually associated with the release in Moscow in 1564 of the book "The Apostle," that at the beginning of the XIX century in the field of view of historians got the book, which, as shown further examination, were printed in Moscowprior to that date.Scientists have identified seven such books, three of the Four Gospels, Psalms, and two two Lenten Triodion.
Third, says a lot about that before Fedorov in Moscow and several other cities of Russian masters, especially from the monasteries, which have attempted to create a print shop to print religious books there.At the same time the circulation of its publications in them was big enough, although the quality of work is poor.
According to the official history, the beginning of printing in Russia is connected with the special mission that Ivan the Terrible, together with Metropolitan Macarius gave Ivan Fedorov.To fulfill this mandate began last April 19, 1563, and only after almost a year, March 1, 1564, they published the first "apostle."The quality of this book is in many ways superior to their foreign counterparts, but circulation has been extremely limited.A year later, Fedorov and Mstislavets published in Moscow "Breviary" and then had to go to Rzeczpospolita, which created a new printing press and produced the first printed "ABC."
After Fedorov left Moscow, his work in the Russian capital continued Nikifor Tarasievym and Andronicus, who was released in 1568, "Psalms."Despite happened soon a fire that completely destroyed the printing house, the process of industrial production of the books could not be stopped.Russia is confidently moving along the path of enlightenment.
Start printing in Russia, despite all the evidence to date debate and different interpretations, an important milestone in the history of our country.Create Moscow printing for the industrial production of books emphasized the enormous public interest in literate people and created the preconditions for the further development of the country.
