The presentation of the facsimile edition of the first "Primer" was held on August 28, on the eve of the Day of Knowledge and the Day of Belarusian Written Language in the Library.
This international scientific publishing project on re-creation of a facsimile of the first "Primer" completion became the key event in 2018.
The book was published in 1618 in the Church Slavonic language in the Vilnius Orthodox brotherhood of the Holy Spirit printing house in Vievis. There are only two copies of 1618. One of the books was taken by a British collector to London in the early 17th century. Today this book monument is kept in the library of Middle Temple in the United Kingdom, the second book is in the Royal Library of Denmark. There are no one editions left in its motherland: as it happens often with textbooks, they were read to tatters.
The "Primer" is published in Church Slavonic language. The edition is very rare, it is underexplored. Due to the assistance of the British specialists in Belarusian language, professors from the University of London, the National Library had the opportunity in 2015 to meet with a valuable cultural monument and study it in detail.
This facsimile includes a full-color high-quality reproduction of "Primer" of the original size with all defects and notes, translated into modern language and with the results of historical and cultural studies. The Vievis "Primer" is a small, compact and easy to train book. It includes 26 sheets, or 52 pages, each Cyrillic letter is half uncial. The ornament on it reminds Vilna edition by Francysk Skaryna. The study is published in Belarusian, Russian and English languages, so that’s why the global society can get acquainted with the spiritual wealth of Belarus.
Apart from educational tasks the "Primer" was aimed for upbringing, which was based at that time on Christian values. With this purpose the publication includes such important texts for reading like prayers, hymns, creeds, the commandments of God, the list of good qualities of man and his sins.
The first "Primer" is the only monument of educational thought of Belarus, the earliest printed manual for basic literacy. The publication dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the first "Primer" reveals the importance and uniqueness of the monument and is aimed to promote the popularization of the best samples of book culture of the Belarusian people, the preservation of its spiritual heritage.
Roman Motulsky, Director of the Belarusian National Library, adressed to the audience with a welcoming speech. He spoke about the history of ABC-book and expressed his sincere gratitude to the project partners. Also the ceremony was attended by Irina Drigo, the First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus; Valentina Ginchuk, Director of the National Institute of Education of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus; Alies Susha, Deputy Director on scientific work and publishing of the National Library of Belarus. The project partners are the deputy chairman of the Belarusian Bank for Reconstruction and Development "Belinvestbank" Andrey Sakirko and the chief banker of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Alexander Evseychik. They stressed the importance of such programs for the cultural rehabilitation of the book heritage and made sure that the banking institutions would continue to support such efforts in future.
During the event the young talented artists presented their poems, songs, dances and made good mood.
The Primer is a real alphabet of life. With ABC-book begins the path to knowledge. Today, the book with the same name is used for learning in many countries. This ambitious project aims to make the first "Primer" accessible to a broad audience and demonstrate respect for the cultural heritage of our nation.
The facsimile edition will be interesting to scientists, employees of education, culture institutes and all those who value the spiritual and book heritage of Belarus.
The project partners are the Honorable Society Library Middle Temple in London, Embassy of the Republic of Belarus in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus, the International Association of Specialists in Belarusian language, Belarusian State University, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Belarusian Bank of Development and reconstruction "Belinvestbank".
You can see the ceremony on TV and photos below:
