An Overview of Books that Circulated in the Samara Volga Region in the 17th Century

During the study of the role of the Cyrillic book in the spread of Christian culture in the Middle Volga region after its annexation to the Russian state in the middle of the 16^th century, book copies significant for the history of the city of Samara and surrounding settlements were identified, created or located in this region during the 17^th century. These are the oldest books related to Samara land.  Overwhelmingly, they relate to liturgical literature. Some of them have been the subject of consideration in our individual articles. This article provides a generalized overview of them. The sources of information about the book resources of interest and the methodology of their search are described. The relation of books to the territory and epoch under consideration is marked by marginal book entries and accompanying texts, their contents also provide valuable information about various persons, including residents of Samara, settlements, churches and monasteries. The article attempts to estimate the number of books in circulation in the Samara region by the end of the 17^th century. It has been found that today there is information about 10 % of the copies of this number, 6 volumes have survived to our time and are in various book depositories of the Russian Federation, having the status of book monuments. More than the half of the identified books are created in the first half of the 17^th century, before the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon; this this phenomenon is explained by the need for Old Believers to preserve ”pre- Canonical” books. The sample itself, obtained as a result of the study, is representative in certain aspects: it can be used to assess the book repertoire of the region, the ratio of handwritten and printed books.

1. (1900) 7198–1690. Extract from the Kazan scribal and boundary books of Stolnik Yakov Levashev, given to the Zvenigorod Savva Storozhevsky Monastery for the possession of the patrimony of the Nadeinskoye Usolye. Materialy po istorii Simbirskogo kraya XVII-go i XVIII-go vv., by A. N. Zertsalov. Simbirsk, pp. 44–54. (In Russ.)].

2. Kochetkov VD (comp.) (2023) Voivodes, clerks of cities, abatis borders and palace estates of the Russian state, 1693–1703: ref. book. Cheboksary: Novoe Vremya. (In Russ.)].

3. Volodikhin DM (1993) Bookishness and enlightenment in the Moscow state of the 17th century. Moscow: Izd-vo Mosk. gor. ob”ed. arkhivov. (In Russ.)].

4. Vostokov AKh (1842) Description of the Russian and Slavonic manuscripts of the Rumyantsev Museum. Saint Petersburg: Tip. Imperat. akad. nauk. (In Russ.)].

5. (1875– 1885) The Life of Saint Niphon: from the manuscript belonging to Prince P. P. Vyazemsky No. LXXI: copied with lithogr. ink onto transparent paper by F. Eliseev. In 3 iss. Saint Petersburg: Khromo-litogr. M. M. Osipova. (In Russ.)].

6. Ioann Damaskin (1887) The Life and vital way of our Venerable Fathers Barlaam the Hermit and Joasaph Tsarevich of India. Saint Petersburg. (In Russ.)].

7. Kvlividze NV and Turilov AA (2003) Barlaam and Joasaph: iconography. Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya. Moscow, vol. 6, pp. 624– 625. (In Russ.)].

8. Belogor’ev AM [et al.] (comps) (2004) Cyrillic editions of the Rostov-Y aroslavl region in 1493–1652: catalog. Yaroslavl, Rostov. (In Russ.)].

9. Krasikov AN (2007) Libraries of parish churches of Totemsky district in the first third of the 17th century. Ryabininskie chteniya – 2007: materialy V Nauch. konf. po izucheniyu nar. kul’tury Rus. Severa (Petrozavodsk, 17–21 sent. 2007 g.). Petrozavodsk, pp. 424–426. (In Russ.)].

10. Krest’yaninova EI and Nikitina GA (2009) Citizens of Rostov: the history of Rostov merchants of the 17th – early 20th centuries. Rostov Veliky. (In Russ.)].

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14. M. Yu. K. (2022) Syzran Ascension Monastery. Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya. Moscow, vol. 67, pp. 237–238. (In Russ.)].

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16. Makarov AI (2012) On the history and topography of the first Samara temples (a comprehensive study of the Samara manuscript of 1628–1629 as a thematic continuation of the project to study materials on the establishment of the founding date of the city of Samara). Srednee Povolzh’e v kontekste srednevekovoi rossiiskoi istorii: na perekrestke kul’tur (konets XIII–XIV vv.): materialy nauch.-prakt. konf. Samara, pp. 98–106. (In Russ.)].

17. Makarov AI (2025) “How God is willing to build a city on Somara...”. About the discovery of the oldest documents (1586–1643) on the history of Samara. Samarskii arkhivist: nauch. al’m. 1: 53–62. (In Russ.)].

18. Makarov AI (2021) The book contribution of 1625 to the Samara Transfiguration Monastery as a historical source. Drevnyaya Rus’. Voprosy medievistiki 2: 91–103. (In Russ.)].

19. Makarov AI (2023) On new sources of Samara’s first literary work. Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo tsentra RAN. Istoricheskie nauki 5 (4): 5–15. (In Russ.)].

20. Makarov AI (2023) Book collection inventories of the church parish of the village of Usolye on Volga as a historical and book source of the 17th century. Bibliosfera 2: 52–63. (In Russ.)]. https://doi.org/10.20913/1815-3186-2023-2-52-63

21. Makarov AI (2012) Representatives of the Saltykov boyar family and the Samara copy of “The story of Barlaam and Joasaph” (1628–1629). Drevnyaya Rus’. Voprosy medievistiki 4: 47–63. (In Russ.)].

22. (Aug. 19, 1600 [13.07.7107 – 19.08.7108]) General Menaion. Moscow: Pech. Andronik Timofeev Nevezha. (In Russ.)].

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24. Nevostruev KI (1867) Historical description of the former male Saviour-Transfiguration and female St. Saviour monasteries in the city of Samara. Moscow: Sinod. tip. (In Russ.)].

25. Nevostruev KI [1849] Information about the construction of the city of Syzran. [S. l.]. Reprinted from: Zhurnal Ministerstva vnutrennikh del, 1849, pt. 28, bk. 12. (In Russ.)].

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29. (1852) Voivode Vasily Serbin’s reply on the acceptance of the city of Insara. Vremennik Imperatorskogo Moskovskogo obshchestva istorii i drevnostei Rossiiskikh. Moscow, bk. 14, pp. 9–14 (6th row). (In Russ.)].

30. Makarov AI (publ., translit., trans., comment.) (2016) The first literary work of Samara. Moscow. (In Russ.)].

31. Pozdeeva IV, Kashkarova ID and Lerenman MM (1980) Catalogue of Cyrillic printed books of 15th–17th centuries in the scientific library of Moscow University. Moscow: Izd-vo MGU. (In Russ.)].

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34. Solov’ev A (1909, cov. 1910) Abolished monasteries and hermitages of the Simbirsk diocese. Simbirsk: Tipo-litogr. A. T. Tokareva. (In Russ.)].

35. (1958) Tuchkov’s edition of the Life of Mikhail Klopsky. Povesti o zhitii Mikhaila Klopskogo, prep. by L. A. Dmitriev. Moscow, Leningrad, pp. 141–167. (In Russ.)].

36. Ustinova IA (2016) Markell. Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya. Moscow, vol. 43, pp. 730–732. (In Russ.)].

37. Cherkasova MS (2019) Book collections of parish churches of Muscovite Rus’ (according to scribal and census documentation of the 16th–17th centuries). Yazyk, kniga i traditsionnaya kul’tura pozdnego russkogo Srednevekov’ya v nauke, muzeinoi i bibliotechnoi rabote: tr. III Mezhdunar. nauch. konf. Moscow, pp. 247–262. (In Russ.)].

38. Yakhontov AK (1901–1902) The city of Syzran and its sights: (hist.-church-archaeol. description). Simbirsk: Tipo-litogr. A. T. Tokareva. (In Russ.)].