Ivan Fyodorov (printer)
Eastern Slavonic printer and inventor of a multibarreled mortar.
Ivan Fyodorov (c. 1510 or c. 1525 – December 16, 1583) was a printer and cannon maker, considered one of the fathers of Eastern Slavonic printing. He invented a multibarreled mortar and was forced from Moscow due to his use of new printing techniques, later finding refuge in Poland–Lithuania where he helped produce the Ostrog Bible.
Quick Facts
- Born
- c. 1510–1525
- Birthplace
- Grand Duchy of Moscow
- Died
- 16 December 1583
- Place of death
- Lviv, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Occupation
- Inventor, craftsman
- Known for
- first Russian printer
Facts from the source article.
Name
In his first book, Apostolos (1564), he called himself Ivan Fedorov, meaning 'Ivan, son of Fedor.' In the Ostrog Bible (1581) he used both Church Slavonic and Greek forms: 'Ivan, son of Feodor, a printer from Moscow.' While living in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, he adopted the Ruthenian patronymic 'Fedorowicz' and added a nickname indicating his origin. In Latin documents he signed as Johannes Theodori Moscus or Ioannes Fedorowicz Moschus. Dialectal sound changes sometimes altered the first letter, yielding forms like Chwedorowicz or Chodorowicz. In later Slavonic books he signed as Ioann Fe(o)dorovich with the nickname 'a Muscovite printer' or simply 'a Muscovite.'
Biography
Neither his place nor date of birth is known; he was likely born c. 1510 or c. 1525, probably in Moscow, as he called himself a Muscovite even after moving to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1935 historian Vladislav Kreskent'evich Lukomsky proposed that Fyodorov's printer's mark was the coat of arms of the Rahoza family, suggesting a connection by descent or adoption, but this theory has not been accepted by subsequent researchers except Nemirovsky (2002), who allowed only the possibility of adoption. Fyodorov graduated from the University of Kraków in 1532 with a bachelor's degree. In 1564–65 he became a deacon at the church of Saint Nicolas in the Moscow Kremlin. With Pyotr Timofeev from Mstislavl, he established the Moscow Print Yard and published liturgical works using moveable type, which provoked persecution from scribes; after their workshop was burned down, they fled to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Hetman Hrehory Chodkiewicz received them at his estate in Zabłudów, where they published the Didactic Gospel (1569) and the Psalter (1570). Fyodorov moved to Lviv in 1572 and printed at the Saint Onuphrius Monastery, publishing a second edition of the Apostolos and an Alphabet book in 1574.
Publications
Fyodorov's first publication was the Apostolos (Apostle), printed in Moscow from 17 April 1563 to 3 March 1564, with 6 unnumbered and 262 numbered leaves, in two colours, in an edition of about 1,000 copies; at least 47 copies survive. He then produced two editions of the Book of Hours in Moscow in 1565, each with 173 or 172 unnumbered leaves, printed in two colours, with at least 7 copies extant. In Zabłudów he printed the Didactic Gospel (1568–1569), with 8 unnumbered and 399 numbered leaves, in two colours, of which at least 31 copies survive, and the Psalms with Book of Hours (1569–1570), a rare edition with only three incomplete copies known, being the first Cyrillic book with ruled tables. In Lviv he published a second Apostolos (1573–1574), with 15 unnumbered and 264 numbered leaves, in two colours, in an edition of 1,000–1,200 copies, with at least 70 copies extant. In Ostrog he issued a Greek-Russian Church-Slavonic Reader (1578) with 8 unnumbered leaves, printed in one colour with parallel Greek and Slavonic text for the first time, and a Primer (1578) with 48 unnumbered leaves, printed in one colour, of which two incomplete copies exist.
More in Russian Inventors
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced