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

А. И. Макаров

Submitted by Гость (not verified) on Sat, 02/28/2026 - 17:08

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.

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