Maria Savelieva
Moscow Center of Museum Development, Russia
This work is intended to help to get a better insight into content of the famous Russian ABC-book by comparing it with its predecessors from Western Europe: decorated alphabets of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance which contain either figural (i.e. composed of figures) or historiated letters. Some of these alphabets (as, for example, the alphabet of Mary of Burgundy) included texts for each letter, helping, without doubt, to have a more clear understanding of the content and the purpose of the work. Others (as is the case of the alphabet from Giovannino dei Grassi’s sketchbook or engraved letters of Master E. S.) could dispense with any words.
Karion Istomin’s ABC-book is unique because it included not only figural letters and rhymed poetic texts, but also multiple depictions of objects having the same first letter in their name and examples of various forms of writing this letter plus its phonetic analogues in other languages. While the object commentary serves a rather denominative purpose, the imagery of the figural initials suggests that the figures in the initials were not simply born of formal fantasies. Many of them were introduced with an edifying purpose that can be confirmed while comparing Istomin’s work with relevant Western artifacts or reading his verses that accompany each letter. Even though his style is extremely florid, the Christian basis of his pedagogical principles is shown very clearly. On the other hand, the ecclesiastical component (e.g. quotes from the Bible or liturgical texts) is almost nonexistent in the book whereas moralizing in the Christian sentiment and instruction in propriety prevail. The secular component is, however, proliferating, and it is represented on the pages of this ABC-book in very diverse and fascinating ways. In other words, this primer provides both instruction and edification while doing it in a playful manner.
Thus this artifact has a transitory nature since it appeared of the threshold of Modern Age when Russia in the 17th century was resolving challenges of a general cultural nature, partly analogous with those during the European Renaissance. This makes its comparison with Western illuminated alphabets of the 15th–16th centuries both justified and useful. The uniqueness of this artifact is enhanced due to the strong personalities of its creators, Karion Istomin and Leonti Bunin, as well as its special status, being a masterpiece created for Tsarevich Alexei.