A New Copy of the 1522 Psalter by Francysk Skaryna

Published: Slavistica Vilnensis ISSN 2351-6895 eISSN 2424-6115
2025, vol. 70(2), pp. 154–160 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15388/SlavViln.2025.70(2).11

In November 2025, while examining the CERL database (the Consortium of European Research Libraries), the author of the present report discovered a record indicating that the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek (Weimar, Germany) preserves, under the shelfmark CL I: 243 (b), the following edition: Poc̆inaet’sja Psalŭtyŕ ili Pesni stgo proroka boz̆ija Davyda Care Erusalimŭska. [Dokonana est psaltyŕ sie … poveleniem … Franciska Skoriny iz Poloćka] (fig. 1).

At the end of the record the notes “Rarissimum” and “Pražskaja psaltyrŕ” are given.

At first glance, it seemed reasonable to assume that this record referred to a new, previously unknown copy of the Psalter printed in Prague in 1517 by Francysk Skaryna – an extremely rare edition known today from only two copies, preserved in the National Library of Russia and in the State Historical Museum (Moscow). The title of the book given in the catalogue record of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Poc̆inaet’sja Psalŭtyŕ ili Pesni stgo proroka boz̆ija Davyda Care Erusalimŭska. [Dokonana est psaltyŕ sie … poveleniem … Franciska Skoriny iz Poloćka], however, does not correspond to the incipit of the Psalter printed by Skaryna in 1517.

Again, The Psalter of 1517 was printed in quarto format, while the Psalter as indicated in the catalogue record of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, was issued in octavo.

Assuming that the record might refer instead to another edition – namely the Psalter of 1522 (the so-called Small Travel Book) – the author of this report travelled to Weimar and confirmed the correctness of this hypothesis. The error in the catalogue record of the Weimar Library, [Prag: Skorina], [1517], apparently arose because an old pencil note appears on the inner side of the front cover: “Psalmi [kirshenslav.] [Prag 1517]: Francisk Skorina.” The use of the name “Georgij” in the catalogue record (see fig. 1) was evidently caused by the library staff’s unfamiliarity with research in the field of Skaryna studies.

The discovery and introduction into scholarly circulation of the Weimar copy of Francysk Skaryna’s Psalter of 1522 (fig. 2) is of particular significance, given that in Western Europe only four comparable copies are currently known, preserved in Cambridge and London (United Kingdom), Copenhagen (Denmark), and Ljubljana (Slovenia).

As in the known copies, the Weimar Psalter is printed in octavo (8°) and has the following measurements: binding size 165 × 108 mm; leaf size 160 × 100 mm; type area 103 × 65 mm (this differs slightly from the height given in the general description of the Psalter of 1522 by E. Nemirovsky[1], where 102 × 65 mm is indicated, which is apparently due to the approximate nature of the measurements); type area with running head 110 × 65 mm. Signatures are absent; foliation appears at the top right. This copy contains no marginalia. There are no missing or erroneously numbered leaves. The total extent amounts to 140 leaves.

The copy is in generally good condition. It should be noted, however, that after the fire in the Library in 2004 the volume was affected by water damage; traces of water are particularly visible in the final gathering. A restoration was carried out in 2009.

Library stamp of the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, 18 October 2013.

It is difficult to establish the collation formula, since after restoration the gatherings were firmly sewn and some leaves were reinforced with pasted repairs (leaves 135r–135v and 136r–136v, which are of slightly smaller size) (fig. 3).

The first gathering clearly consists of eight leaves [1]⁸, while the last contains four leaves. The formula proposed by E. Nemirovsky, [1]⁸ – [17]⁸, [18]⁴, could correspond to this copy; however, several gatherings quite clearly contain six leaves: 42r–47v and 58r–63v.

The leather binding, blind-stamped and gilt, underwent substantial restoration in 2009. The title “PSALTERZ” is stamped in capital letters on the upper cover. According to the Library’s specialists, the binding may be dated approximately to the sixteenth century. The spine had been severely damaged and was replaced during restoration with a modern leather insert. The clasps are missing, possibly cut off during the restoration.

The front cover is decorated with a frame of vegetal ornament, within which appears a gilt (partially damaged) image of David with a gusli/psaltery receiving a blessing (fig. 4).

The back cover of the binding is decorated with vegetal ornament and a heraldic device (fig. 5).

On the inner side of the upper cover, in the upper right corner, the words “Psalter Slavon” are written in pencil; on the left, in the same hand, the word “Polotzk” has been crossed out. In the centre there is an earlier inscription in ink, which may tentatively be read as: “Sum M. Davidis Caspari Sluiÿs (possibly Slueiÿs) M DC LXXVIII Mense Febr.” At the bottom there is another pencil note, in the same hand as the upper inscription:

Psalmi [kirshenslav.]
Prag 1517]: Francisk
Skorina

On the inner side of the back cover, in the lower right corner, there is the inscription Cl. I, 243b – the library’s shelfmark.

The copy was most likely acquired by the Library before 1817. The earliest record appears in the Catalogus realis (Johann Christian Bartholomäi [Abt. 2], Bibliotheca Theologica, [Weimar], [ca. 1754]). This entry is written in the same hand as the word “Polotzk” on the inner side of the upper cover.

The composition of the Psalter is identical to that described by E. Nemirovsky. It opens with a title page printed in red type within a characteristic Renaissance ornamental frame measuring 90 × 65 mm, at the lower sides of which appear, on the left, a solar-lunar emblem, and on the right, a triangle with a cross (the Golgotha cross), with the text:

“Pocinaeťsja psa / lъtyr’ ili pe / sni svetogo proroka bo / žija davŷda carja / erusalimŭska / o xrište” (fig. 6).

The Psalter contains 75 headpieces and 164 initials, which occur in three different sizes. It concludes with a colophon identical to that of the Copenhagen copy, on fol. 140r (fig. 7).

The discovery of a fifth copy of Francysk Skaryna’s Psalter (1522) in Western Europe, in the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar, represents an event that should attract the attention of Skaryna scholars and historians of the book. The study of the provenance of this copy, as part of the book heritage of Francysk Skaryna in the lands of Thuringia, still lies ahead. Questions remain concerning how the volume entered the Library’s holdings.

The author maintains close contact with the Library’s administration, which is conducting further research in order to determine the original location of the copy – currently preserved in the Department of Special Collections, in the Bible collection (group Cl I) – as well as to establish whether other Skaryna editions are present in the Library, and to clarify the circumstances of the restoration and of the ownership inscription, discovered by the author of this report and tentatively dated to 1678.

Taking this opportunity, the author would like to express her sincere gratitude to the Library staff members Annett Carius and Rita Backhaus, and especially to Katja Lorenz, Head of the Department of Special Collections, for their consistently warm and highly professional support and for their invaluable assistance.

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[1] Nemirovskij E. L. Francisk Skorina : zhizn’ i deiatel’nost’ belorusskogo prosvetitelia. Minsk, Mastatzkaia litaratura, 1990, p. 441, 444.