Our Notes & References

Very rare first separate edition of the Gospels printed during Catherine II’s reign (and mentioning her name), when she had just become Russian Empress. We could trace no other copy oustide Russia, whether in public institutions like at auction in recent decades; the only other copies we could find in Russia are at Russian State Library and the National Library of the Republic of Karelia – no copy at auction there either.

Complete with its full-page copper engravings by two important masters, and kept in a lovely velvet binding with fine silver ornaments.

These large-format luxury Holy Gospels, intended for use on the altar, were printed by order of Tsarina Catherine II at the Moscow Synodal Printing House, “the main centre for the production of Cyrillic printed books” at that time (Vasileva, our translation here and below). Each of the four Gospels begins with large historiated headpieces (depicting the Annunciation, Nativity, Baptism, and Resurrection), intricate initials, and full-page engravings of the Evangelists, which are placed in intricate rocaille frames; all other pages are framed within linear borders. An unusual addition appears on leaf 394: a small woodcut crucifixion in the margin.

The remarkable full-page representations of the Evangelists are signed by the engraver Vasilei Ikonnikov and the artist Semen Vtorov, two masters who “defined the style of illustrations of Cyrillic liturgical books in the second half of the century [… and] prepared a whole plethora of illustrators” (Vasilieva). They received professional academic training before joining the Moscow Synodal Printing House’s Drawing Chamber, which had opened in 1756. Initially apprenticed, they advanced to positions as engravers and tutors. Ikonnikov, still an apprentice in 1762, had studied at the Slavic-Greco-Latin Academy and also trained in the engraving chamber of the Academy of Sciences.

Naming the new Empress, this is the first separate edition of Gospels printed during Catherine’s rule, which had just begun that year 1762. A complete edition of the Old and New Testament had appeared just a couple of months earlier, in September 1762; and the first edition of our Gospels, published in 1757, didn’t mention Catherine as she hadn’t ascended to the throne yet. (This 1757 edition is also very rare, with only two known copies located: also in the Russian State Lib., and Kolomenskoe Museum Estate.) Our 1762 edition was followed by several more editions, republished with minimal changes over the next years and decades, including a slightly more common edition in July 1763 (the Fekula copy now in the NYPL for example).

The present, rather fresh example is kept in a pleasant red velvet binding with nicely preserved metal repoussé silver mountings on both sides. On the recto, four shaped corner pieces depict the Evangelists—John, Matthew, Luke, and Mark (positioned clockwise from the top left)—surrounding a central roundel with Christ enthroned. On the verso, a finely chased and engraved cross occupies the centre, with four floral cornerpieces. Each Evangelist is set within an elaborate interior, rendered in varied textures, alongside their symbolic beasts, including the especially curious anthropomorphic ox of St Luke and the very bestial lion of St Mark, complemented by baroque ornaments along the borders.

Bibliography

Vasileva L. N. Knizhnaia graviura v izdaniiakh kirillicheskoi pechati Moskovskoi sinodalnoi tipografii XVIII-XIX vekov, Rossiikskaia Akademiia Khudozhestv, 2004; Kharebova L. S. Knigi kirillicheskoi pechati v khranilishchakh Respubliki Kareliia (1569-1830 gg.): katalog, Petrozavodsk, 2013, p. 175-176, # 154; Zernova, Kameneva 620; Guseva, II, 282.