Russia (bbabo.net), - A 450-year-old early printed book in ancient Greek was found in the archives of the Tauric Chersonesus museum library. It was published in 1568 in Venice and brought to the Crimea in the 17th century. This is probably the only copy in the world.
The book is a church menaia - a collection of liturgical texts in three parts for the summer months of June, July and August. It was printed in the printing house of the Venetian publisher of Greek origin Hippolytus Valeris. Its typographic marks with the year of printing helped to identify the folio.
Information about the book is contained in the reference book "Greek Bibliography" by the 19th-century French Byzantinist Emile Legrand. He reports that the only copy of the Venetian Menaion for June, July, August is in the monastery on Mount Athos. The first part of the collection, the Menaion for June, is also kept in the seminary on the island of Halki and in the monastery on the island of Lesvos.
- Our copy may be the only one in the world, if it turns out that this is the same book that is described in Legrand's catalog, - said Natalia Rubanenko, head of the scientific library of Tauric Chersonesos. - She could get here from Athos. As you can see, the book has been heavily used. It has a lot of wax streaks, there are traces of fire damage, as well as restoration attempts.
How the book got to Chersonese is unknown. But some of its history has already been established. According to the owner's note, handwritten in Greek, in 1672 the tome belonged to a certain priest Gabriel, who brought it from Asia Minor through Athos to Kafa (Feodosia). Another entry left by the metropolitan refers to 1779. It has not yet been completely deciphered, but it is known that the book was delivered from Kafa to some other place.
The first inventory record of Tauric Chersonese about this book was made in 1950. No other information has been preserved, since the archives of the museum were moved twice, many documents were lost during the Great Patriotic War. However, the museum suggests that the book could have ended up in Chersonese in the 1920s, along with other valuable exhibits from the Livadia Palace.
- At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century there was a fashion for collecting old books, - says Inga Shvedova, head of the department of scientific restoration of Chersonese. - There is an assumption that she was in one of the palaces of the Crimea and could belong to the royal family. Such a rare copy, most likely, was with noble owners. In the 1920s, furniture, utensils, and books were distributed among the Crimean museums, and Chersonese also received such items.
The fate of the book is of great interest to researchers. According to Shvedova, microscopic drops of wax are visible on almost every page, which means that the menaion was actively used in church services, candles were burning nearby, and the wax could fly apart due to a breath of wind or a draft.
Marina Kurysheva, a senior researcher at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, performed an examination of the book and proved its authenticity. She came to the conclusion that this rare edition ended up in the Crimea as a result of natural cultural ties, since the Greek diaspora of the peninsula needed liturgical books. This is evidenced by notes in Greek.
In previous centuries, the book was tried to be restored. Presumably, in the 18th century, a binding made of leather-covered wood appeared. In one place, the torn corner of the page is sewn on with threads. In another, instead of the lost printed fragment, a sheet of handwritten text is enclosed. The previous owners also tried to glue the sheets that fell out of the binding.
Printed in black and red ink. After 4.5 centuries, the colors retain their brightness. However, inside the pages there is a process of destruction - the book must be urgently saved. Inga Shvedova defined her condition as acutely emergency.
“Any opening of the book, turning the pages leads to the fact that tiny fragments of paper crumble,” she says. - The binding is all dotted with tunnels that have been gnawed by bugs. On the letters under the microscope, a white coating is visible - this is the result of the action of fungi, microorganisms. Without restoration, the pages will crumble.
The book has been restored. It will be transferred to the All-Russian Artistic Research and Restoration Center named after Academician I.E. Grabar for two years. After restoration, it will be registered in the register of book monuments of the Russian Federation.
- After the restoration, we will hold an exhibition, tell its story, - says Natalia Rubanenko. - Then we will digitize and conserve, put away for long-term storage. In electronic form, researchers and everyone will be able to work with it.
By the way
bbabo.Net