The first edition of the Bible in Slavonic, Hedeon Balaban's copy

[Ostrog Bible]. Biblia sirech knigy vetkhago i novago zaveta po iazyku [...].

First edition of the first Bible printed in Cyrillic type, a complete copy with stunning provenance.

Printed by Ivan Fedorow, "founder of book printing and book publishing in Russia and Ukraine" (), who left Lemberg and entered the service of the Prince of Ostrog. Konstantyn Ostrozhky was the most powerful magnate in Volhynia, one of the most influential figures in the Lithuanian-Ruthenian state and even a candidate for the Muscovite throne after the death of Tsar Fedor Ivanovich, the last member of the Riurykide dynasty, in 1598. The Ostrog Bible was prepared under the auspices of Konstantyn, who obtained from Moscow a copy of the manuscript Bible of Gennadius. He also collected Greek and Slavonic manuscripts, and with the help of "competent assistants [...] he tested the Slavonic text by the Greek and sometimes by the Latin, and substituted modern expressions for those which were obsolete or unintelligible, and corrected errors" (Darlow/Moule). This landmark of Russian printing served as a model for further Russian publications of the Bible and was of enormous significance for Orthodox education, which had to resist strong Catholic pressure in Ukraine and Belarus. The publication of this work "did in fact lay new intellectual foundations fur cultural awakening and for growth in scholastic endeavors where communities in Russia were desirous of education" (William K. Medlin, Cultural Crisis in Orthodox Rus' in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries as a Problem in Education and Social Change. In: History of Education Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 1 (Spring 1969), p. 37). "The importance of the first printed Cyrillic Bible can hardly be overestimated. Prince Ostrogski sent copies to Pope Gregory XIII and Tsar Ivan the Terrible" (Wikipedia).

Our copy was owned by Hedeon Balaban (1569-1607), Bishop of Lviv (Lemberg) and one of the central figures in the history of the Russian orthodox church, bearing a ms. entry, dated December 17, 1586. Only ten years later, Bishop Balaban was to deny the supremacy of the Pope and join Prince Konstantyn Ostrozhky at the 1596 Council of Berestia in opposing the union with the Catholic church. He was excommunicated by Metropolite Mychajlo Rahoza in the very same year, but he held fast to this decision until his death. Balaban became the Exarch of the Patriarch of Alexandria, in which position he remained until his death. In 1671 the book came into the possession of the monk Samuel of Lviv. In 1714 the book turned up in the South of Ukraine, and then in Maramures (Romania), whence we acquired it.

According to our knowledge, this is the only complete copy to appear in trade (or at auction) during the past decades. The last copy sold ("Valuable Russian Books and Manuscripts", Christies, 30 Nov. 2006, lot 3, GBP 22,800) lacked one page, and several leaves with missing text were supplied in manuscript, as was the case with all copies we managed to trace (including several in institutional libraries).

Richly gilt binding with traces of restoration to corners and spine ends; a few leaves professionally remargined without touching text or loss to letters. Overall an extraordinarily good copy in its first binding with important provenance; one of the best-preserved copies in comparison with the numerous ones in institutional possession, and certainly the finest available from private hands for a very long time.