Ivan Fyodorov (printer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ivan Fyodorov
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The first monument to Fyodorov was unveiled in front of the Moscow Print Yard in 1909
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| Born | c. 1510–1525 |
| Died | 16 December 1583 |
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| Known for | first Russian printer |
Ivan Fyodorov or Ivan Fеdorov (Russian: Ива́н Фёдоров; Ukrainian: Іван Федоров; born c. 1510 or c. 1525 – died December 16, 1583) sometimes transliterated as Fiodorov, was one of the fathers of Eastern Slavonic printing (along with Schweipolt Fiol and Francysk Skaryna), he was the first known Russian printer in Moscow and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, he was also a skilled cannon maker and the inventor of a multibarreled mortar.
Name
In those times Russians still did not have hereditary surnames, but used patronymics or nicknames, which were also not stable. In his first book "Apostolos" (printed in Moscow in 1564) he called himself in typical Russian style Ivan Fedorov that is "Ivan, son of Fedor". In his other famous book "Ostrog Bible" (1581) he called himself in both Church Slavonic and Greek as "Ivan, son of Feodor (Феодоров сын, Θεοδώρου υἱός), a printer from Moscow". In the Greek version there was "from Great Russia" instead of "from Moscow". But when he was living for a long time in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, he adopted a local Ruthenian style patronymic in Polish spelling "Fedorowicz" and also added a nickname indicating his origin. In his Latin documents he signed Johannes Theodori Moscus (that is "a Muscovite"), or Ioannes Fedorowicz Moschus, typographus Græcus et Sclavonicus. As a result of the dialectical replacement of consonant /f/ with /x~xw/ in early East Slavic the first letter F was sometimes changed, so the patronymic became Chwedorowicz or Chodorowicz. In his later Slavonic books (printed in PLC) he signed "Ioann (Ivan) Fe(o)dorovich" (with some orthographic differences), and added a nickname "a Muscovite printer" or just simply "a Muscovite".
Biography
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Neither his place nor his date of birth are known. It is assumed that he was born c. 1510 or c. 1525, most likely in Moscow during the Grand Duchy period - he called himself a Muscovite even after his move to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and in his afterword to the Lviv edition of Apostle he named Moscow "our home, our fatherland and our kin". In 1935 a Russian historian of heraldry, Vladislav Kreskent'evich Lukomsky, advanced the hypothesis that his printer's mark was the coat of arms of Rahoza, a Belarusian szlachta family, and that Fyodorov had a connection with that family either by descent or by adoption. No subsequent researchers have accepted that theory other than Nemirovsky (2002), who agreed only with the possibility of adoption but not with the theory of Fyodorov's descent from the szlachta.
Fyodorov graduated from the University of Kraków in 1532 with a bachelor's degree.
In 1564–5 Fedorov accepted an appointment as a deacon in the church of Saint Nicolas (Gostunsky) in the Moscow Kremlin. Together with Pyotr Timofeev from Mstislavl (i.e. Mstislavets), he established the Moscow Print Yard and published a number of liturgical works in Church Slavonic using moveable type. This technical innovation created competition for the Muscovite scribes, who began to persecute Fyodorov and Mstislavets, finally forcing them to flee to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after their printing workshop had been burned down (an alleged arson, as related by Giles Fletcher in 1591).
The printers were received by the Great Lithuanian Hetman Hrehory Chodkiewicz at his estate in Zabłudów (northern Podlaskie), where they published Yevangeliye uchitel’noye (Didactic Gospel, 1569) (see Zabłudów Gospel) and Psaltir’ (Psalter, 1570).
Fyodorov moved to Lviv in 1572 and resumed his work as a printer the following year at the Saint Onuphrius Monastery. (Fyodorov's tombstone in Lviv is inscribed with the phrase "renewed neglected printing".) In 1574 Fyodorov, with the help of his son and Hryn Ivanovych of Zabłudów published the second edition of the Apostolos (Apostle, previously published by him in Moscow), with an autobiographical epilogue, and an Azbuka (Alphabet book).
In 1575 Fyodorov, now in the service of Prince Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, was placed in charge of the Derman Monastery near Dubno; in 1577–9 he established the Ostrog Press, where, in 1581, he published the Ostrog Bible — the first full version of the Bible in Church Slavonic printed in moveable type — as well as a number of other books. Fyodorov returned to Lviv after a quarrel with Prince Konstantyn Ostrogski, but his attempt to reopen his printing shop was unsuccessful. His printing facilities became the property of the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood (later the Stauropegion Institute). The brotherhood used Fyodorov's original designs until the early 19th century.
In 1583 he visited Vienna and Kraków, where he showed the Emperor his latest inventions. He then returned to Lviv, where he died on December 16, 1583; he was buried there on the grounds of the Saint Onuphrius Monastery.
See also
- Moscow Print Yard
