Manuscript and early printed books
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The oldest monument of the collection is the manuscript Greek Gospel of the XIII century. The latest exemplars are printed books of the early XX century. There are only about 60 manuscript books in the collection. All of them are unique. A lot of manuscripts, also vellums, are adorned with miniatures, colourful figured initials and ornamental miniatures. Such perfect examples of Russian manuscript books as Aprakos Gospel with miniatures from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (first quarter of the XV century), the Godunov’s Psalterium with miniatures (the late XVI century), “The book about the election and setting for reigning of Tsar Michael Fyodorovich”, “The Primer book” by Karion Istomin (the second part of the XVII century) and some other manuscripts.
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The main part of the collection are early printed books in the Cyrillic script. The oldest printed book in the Kremlin’s collection is the Psalterium edited by printer Makary in 1494 in Montenegro. The majority of books in the collection are those printed at the Moscow printing court. It also includes editions of printing-houses of other towns - Kiev, Lvov, Vilno. The books are illustrated with gravures, and generously adorned with an engraved ornament. In some cases the ornament is bedizened freehand with paints and gold. Because of the repertoire of the printing-houses, the majority of editions are church books, e.g. Gospels, Lectionaries, Psalteriums, Missals, Hour-Books and so on and so fourth.
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There is a small group of secular books in the collection, e.g. “The essay on rhetoric” (a manuscript of the XVII century), a text-book on the soldiery (translation of the work by Johann Jakob von Wallhausen) and the first Russian printed secular book - “The Grammar” by Melety Smotritsky (1648) and some others. The books have artistic binding made of wood or cardboard faced by cloth or leather (often with gold or silver embossing). For the Good books casing cover is typical. Precious covers of Gospels were made by Russian jewelers, including masters of Moscow Kremlin workshops, in different epochs. They are of particular artistic value. The major part of items come from cathedrals and monasteries of the Moscow Kremlin. However, the collections have not survived like separate ones.
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