Unknown Versions of Typographical Design of Elizabethan Bibles Published in Moscow in 1757—1762

The article analyzes previously unknown examples of the design of the Elizabethan Bible with additional engravings. We are talking about three monuments discovered by the author of this article in the collections of the Library of the Moscow Theological Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Central Andrei Rublev Museum of Old Russian Culture and Art.

The Elizabethan Bible (after the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna) is commonly referred to as the Bible, which was edited in preparation for a new edition and first published in St. Petersburg in 1751. The book was intended to be illustrated. The Synodal illustration design of the edition included 49 engravings on the Old Testament subjects (according to the number of the books of the Old Testament) was realized by the masters of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, I.A. Sokolov and G.A. Kachalov based on the drawings by I.E. Grimmel in 1751—1753. The decorated copper boards became exemplary, and as they became worn, they were copied again by the masters of the Moscow Synodal Printing House, where 15 illustrated reprints with complete sets of engravings were published between 1756 and 1817. All cases of typographical design of the Bible editions are described in the reference works, and some scholarly publications of individual proprietary copies are undertaken. These are convolutions of printed text, illustrations made according to the Synodal design, and also individually published additional engravings of Western European origin. It is shown that the folios of the identified specimens correspond to the bibliographic descriptions of their corresponding editions in the reference works, with additional illustrations pasted into the folds. Copper engravings of the four Evangelists and King David may have been imprinted in copies directly at the Moscow Synodal Printing House, using prints made between 1745—1757 by the engravers A.F. Zubov and V.A. Ikonnikov.

1. Guseva A.A. Svod russkikh knig kirillovskoi pechati XVIII veka tipografii Moskvy i Sankt-Peterburga i universal’naya metodika ikh identifikatsii [The Code of the Russian Books of Cyrillic Print of the 18th Century of Printing Houses of Moscow and St. Petersburg and the Universal Technique of Their Identification]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 2010, 1251 p.

2. Vorobyova E.V, Khromov O.P. Rare Copies of the Elizabethan Bible (in the Collection of the State Public Historical Library of Russia, Bibliotekovedenie [Russian Journal of Library Science], 2002, no. 4, pp. 58—63 (in Russ.).

3. Rodosskii A.S. Opisanie staropechatnykh i tserkovnoslavyanskikh knig, khranyashchikhsya v biblioteke S.-Peterburgskoi dukhovnoi akademii. Vyp. 2: XVIII—XIX stol. [Description of Old Printed and Church Slavic Books Stored in the Library of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Issue 2: 18—19th Centuries]. St. Petersburg, Tip. A. Katanskogo i K° Publ., 1894, 506 p.

4. Sidorov A.A. Istoriya oformleniya russkoi knigi [History of the Russian Book Design]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gizlegprom Publ., 1946, 384 p.

5. Gorfunkel A.Kh. Illustrated Copy of the Elizabethan Bible in the Boston Public Library, Kniga. Issledovaniya i materialy [The Book. Researches and Materials], 1996, no. 72, pp. 207—211.

6. Borovikova E.N., Khromov O.R. Research and Restoration of the Elizabethan Bible with Western European Engravings from the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra, Troitse-Sergieva Lavra v istorii, kul’ture i dukhovnoi zhizni Rossii: materialy III mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii: tezisy dokladov 25—27 sentyabrya 2002 g. [The Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra in the History, Culture and Spiritual Life of Russia. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference: abstracts, September 25—27, 2002]. Sergiev Posad, 2002, pp. 70—71 (in Russ.).

7. Kireeva G. V. Engravings in the Moscow Publication of the Bible of 1757 (in the Fund of the National Library of Belarus), Chrzescijanskie dziedzictwo duchowe narodow slowianskich. Literatura. Język. Kultura. Historia. Seria V: Mistycyzm i monastycyzm w literaturze, kulturze i języku Słowian, Bialystok: Uniwersytet w Bialymstoku Publ., 2021, pp. 393—405 (in Russ.).

8. Belobrova O.A. The Weigel Bible in Russia, Nemtsy v Rossii: Problemy kul’turnogo vzaimodeistviya [Germans in Russia: Problems of Cultural Interaction]. St. Petersburg, Dmitry Bulanin Publ., 1998, pp. 219—224.

9. Vasilyeva L.N. Materials for the Dictionary of Artists Designed the Church Cyrillic Books of the 18th — Early 20th Century for the Moscow Synodal Printing House, Kniga v prostranstve kul’tury: sbornik statei: ezhegodnik: prilozhenie k zhurnalu “Bibliotekovedenie” [Book in the Space of Culture: collection of articles: an annual supplement to the journal “Library and Information Science”], Rossiiskaya Gosudarstvennaya Biblioteka Publ., 2005, no. 1 (1), pp. 87—103 (in Russ.).

10. Kulimeneva I.E. Series of Old Testament Illustrations for the Elizabethan Bible. The History of Creation and Engraved Prototypes, Bibleiskie i liturgicheskie temy i obrazy v iskusstve Vostoka i Zapada: dialog kul’tur, traditsiya i sovremennost’: sb. nauch. tr. po materialam Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii 18—19 noyabrya 2015 g. [Biblical and Liturgical Themes and Images in the Art of East and West: Dialogue of Cultures, Tradition and Modernity. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, November 18—19, 2015]. Moscow, Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Gumanitarnyi Universitet (RGGU) Publ., 2017, pp. 167—175 (in Russ.).

11. Stetskevich E.S. Risoval’naya palata Peterburgskoi akademii nauk (1724—1766) [Drawing Chamber of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1724—1766)]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2011, 232 p.

12. Alekseeva M.A. (ed.) Aleksei Fedorovich Zubov. 1682—1751: katalog vystavki [Alexey Fyodorovich Zubov. 1682—1751: exhibition catalogue]. Leningrad, Iskusstvo, Leningradskoe Otdelenie Publ., 1988, 49 p.

13. Borisova T.S., Zyuzeva S.G. (eds.) Rukopisnye i pechatnye Evangeliya XIII — nachala XX veka v sobranii Muzeev Moskovskogo Kremlya: katalog v 3 t. [Manuscript and Printed Gospels of the 13rd — Early 20th Century in the Collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums: catalogue in 3 volumes]. Moscow, Moskovskii Kreml’ Publ., 2019, vol. 2, 419 p.

14. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv (RGIA) [The Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA)], coll. 796, aids. 4, fol. 38 “Z”.

15. Rovinskii D.A. Podrobnyi slovar’ russkikh gravirovannykh portretov: v 4 t. [Detailed Dictionary of Russian Engraved Portraits: in 4 volumes]. St. Petersburg, 1887, vol. 2, D—O, 737—1420 col.