Early printed books of the library of the Church of Praise of the Mother of God in Orel-Gorodok (village of Orlinskoe) in the XVIII-XX centuries

Abstract

This article is dedicated to parish libraries of the XVIII-XIX centuries. The author examines the library acquisition and functionality throughout the centuries. The subject of this research is the library of the Church of Praise of the Mother of God in Orel-Gorodok (in the XIX century – the village of Orlinskoe, currently the town of Orel, Perm Krai). Located in the administrative center of the vast Stroganov’s estates, in the XVII – early XVIII centuries the church was under the patronage of the prominent family, which is reflected in numerous book contributions. Later on, the clergy of parish and parishioners took charge of the church. Among them are the clergy dynasties of Gorbunov, Korovin, Smyshlyaev, etc., as well as peasants. The library collection was constantly changing; 12 out of 62 books were removed from during the XVII – XVIII centuries. By the end of the XIX century (based on handwriting of the note), the collection of the church library contained no fewer than 33 books: No. 33 is the highest number identified on the books that previously belonged to this church. It is worth noting that 33 (53%) were attributed to liturgical publications, 25 (40%) –  educational books, 3 (5%) – Holy Scripture, and 1 (2%) – legislative normative texts. Despite the fact that the oldest books were removed from the church library, the early printed books were preserved in its collection up to the end of the XX century.