Book Printing Techniques and Artistic Form at the Moscow Print Yard between the 16th and 17th Centuries

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the book printing techniques in the Moscow Print Yard and their influence on the external features of the book and its artistic form. The research is based on engraving and book studies methods which have not been employed previously. It is established that the basis of the technological processes at the Moscow Print Yard depended on and was determined by the use of tin to make movable types. The physical features of tin made it impossible to produce a large number of copies which conditioned a specific organisation of book production, the use of a large number of mills, the use of an “exemplary set”, etc. The article describes the book printing techniques used at the Moscow Print Yard which has not been done before. The techniques were based on the manufacture of cast tin forms with decorative and illustrative elements made in the technique of wood engraving. This technique resembles and is the predecessor of the stereotype. The first illustration made in this technique was printed in the Apostle in 1684. The article describes the features of the manufacture and use of woodcuts in Moscow books. Additionally, the author describes the repair process of woodcuts at the Moscow Print Yard. For the first time, the technological cycles of printing at the Moscow Print Yard are described in terms of the use of materials and their printing capabilities and as a single process of creating a book. It is shown that the appearance and the artistic form of the Moscow book were largely dependent on the technology and the materials used. The technique of the book determined the possibilities of using artistic means in creating the artistic image of the book. At the same time, the technique of the Moscow book made it possible to preserve a printed book in the traditional aesthetics of book culture based on the aesthetics of a manuscript.