Early-printed books from the stock of the National Library of Belarus are on display at the exhibition “Spiridon Sobol, the Belarusian Printer”, which runs in the State Museum of the History of Belarusian Literature.
The exhibition “Spiridon Sobol, the Belarusian Printer”, devoted to the outstanding Belarusian enlightener, has officially opened at the State Museum of the History of Belarusian Literature, on April 10th. The project was prepared by the National Library of Belarus, the Y. Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus and the Museum of the History of Mogilev.
The inaugural addresses were delivered by the head of research and exposition department of the State Museum of the History of Belarusian Literature, Olga Guleva, the deputy director for research work and publishing of the National Library of Belarus, Alexander Susha, the director of the Y. Kupala Institute of Literature at the Centre for Research of the Belarusian Culture, Language and Literature, Ivan Sverchenko, the director of the Museum of the History of Mogilev, Alexey Batsyukov, the research worker at the Y. Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Polina Skurko and others.
Alexander Susha said that a talented educator and book printer, Spiridon Sobol, had left us a rich heritage. His publications, which during the publisher’s life dispersed throughout Eastern Europe, are today stored in libraries around the world. Everywhere they are highly valued and are considered as a significant achievement in the history of the East European book. The printing and artistic level of Spiridon Sobol’s publications was high, and some of his solutions looked innovative. The Mogilev typography, directly related to his work, influenced the book-printing tradition on the Ukrainian and Russian soil.
Visitors to the exhibition have the opportunity to get acquainted with the publications of the 17th – early 18th centuries from Spiridon Sobol’s printing-house in Kiev, the Mogilev Fraternal Monastery, Spiridon Sobol’s Epiphany printing-house in Kutseina etc. The National Library presents six early-printed books at the exposition.
