Printed in the Mamonich House

The printing center “The Mamonich House” was founded in 1574 by merchants Kuzma and Luka Mamonich together with Piotr Mstislavets. The Mamonich brothers were engaged in book publishing during almost half a century. Trice they gained royal privileges and became the first Belarusian printers to start publish codes of law and legal editions. Also they first started using italic type. The publishers took into account the needs and cultural traditions of different strata of society. Their printing house issued theological and liturgical books, textbooks for secular schools, reading-books and publicistic works which made the whole epoch.

Among the best and most brilliant editions issued in the printing house there are the altar Gospel (1575) with marvelous engravings of the four Evangelists and the Psalter (1576) edited by Piotr Mstislavets.

In 1576 their publishing activities were suspended to be resumed only in 1582 – 1583.

At the end of the 16th century the printing house issued Pslaters with accesses (1591–1592 and 1594–1595) illuminated with the images of fabulous winged beings, and also the Apostle (1595), the Gospel without signatures (1600) and the Gospel with signatures (1600) which reproduce to a great extent the splendid design of books edited by Piotr Mstislavets in 1575.

At the beginning of the 17th century the printing house devolved on the son of Kuzma Mamonich, Levon. Editions of this period are represented by Triod postnaya (1609) and Triod Cvetnaya (1609), and also the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1588 translated into the Polish language (1619) and books of the Tribunal (1616 and 1623).

The exhibition presents the fullest collection of early printed books published by the Mamonich House in Vilno in the late 16th – early 17th centuries which are currently kept in the biggest libraries of the country. Books printed in Cyrillic font and Roman type (in Polish) from the collections of the National Library of Belarus and the Y.Kolas Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus show a high level of printing art, artistry and ornamentality of the Mamonichs’ editions.