Moscow Print Yard under Patriarch Nikon: Specific Features of the Repertoire and Artistic Design of Publications

Abstract

This article studies the activities of the Moscow Print Yard during the period under Patriarch Nikon between 1652 and 1658. The period was not only characterised by a serious economic activity intended to organise work at the Print Yard but also a number of considerable changes in the repertoire of publications of the printing house and book design. All these actions took place under the direct supervision of Patriarch Nikon and his participation. This article makes an attempt to trace the overall activity of the Print Yard in two directions: studying the structure of the repertoire of print products and book design and changes in the external form of Moscow editions. The article examines a new type of editions which appeared under Patriarch Nikon — loose-leaf editions, clarifying the reasons and motives for their appearance, which are not due to their economic benefit but their efficiency and circulation, and the opportunity to standardise church administrative issues through them. Additionally, the author considers issues connected with iconographic “preparation” related to changes in the images of the animal symbols of the Evangelists in the frontispiece engravings of the Gospel. Also, the article clarifies the reasons that prompted Patriarch Nikon to make these corrections, which are based on a general approach to correcting church rites and books. In correcting the order of animal symbols, Patriarch Nikon relied on the ancient Russian manuscript tradition (pre-15th century) and Greek samples associated primarily with the images on the Antimins. The article pays special attention to the publication of Antimins as a new type of Moscow edition considering the question of its samples. Finally, the author examines the features of engraved illustrations in Nikon’s editions and their design demonstrating the significance of Nikon’s reforms for the development of the artistic form and art of the Moscow book.