Unknown Sheet Edition of the Printing House of the Lviv Brotherhood

Abstract

The paper is devoted to an unknown one sheet edition of the Lviv Confraternity (1616). The edition was found in the handwritten Psalter of 17th century which is kept in the Manuscript Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences Library (St. Petersburg) in the collection of Current Receipts. The edition is a wall plate with images of three saints Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian. The edition was used in the manuscript of commented Psalms for illustrations. Only one edition of 1616 of the Lviv Confraternity’s printing-house is mentioned in the catalogs of old-printed books. It is a book of Pamvo Berynd «On the Christmas of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ» («Na rozhdestvo Gospoda Boga i Spasa nashego Iisusa Christa...»). Besides this edition it is known that the imprints of evangelists were printed in the house of Lviv Brotherhood in 1616. These engravings were also used as illustrations in the 17th century handwritten Gospels. The manuscript of Psalms with comments, in which new edition was found, was written in the 1610th. The handwriting of the manuscript, its' glosses, ornamentation and binding indicates that the book was written in Res Publica (Rech Pospolita). In 1670th it was in Moscow and in 1692 it was donated to the Antonievo-Siіsky Monastery by Paisii Siisky, the treasurer of the Moscow patriarch Adrian. Two miniatures depicting Maximus the Greek (with a halo) and King David with the Ark of the Covenant and a scroll are placed in the manuscript besides the engravings.

Keywords

• engraving, a wall printed plate, lviv stauropegion confraternity printinghouse, psalms with comments.