An enthusiastic bibliophile and collector, Joannes Gennadius had a special interest in the history of printing and a passion for Hellenism. This exhibition traces the various stages of the genesis and evolution of Greek printing from the 15th to the 20th century, through his collection of rare books and scrapbooks that contain specimens of typographic characters, ex-libris, printers’ marks, and bookbindings.
Read More...Venetian book cover of the late 15th century showing the influence of oriental ornamentation. Brown calf, the angle pieces and the central ovals sunken and decorated with a floral design in relief in a gold and red ground; on the recto the Lion of St. Mark, above an unidentified coat of arms. A rare example of such early work.
Joannes Gennadius, Scrapbook Φ 83, Bibliology. Printers' marks of the house founded by the Italian humanist and publisher of Greek classics Aldus Manutius (Aldo Manutius or Aldo Manuzio).
The beginning of printing in Europe in the mid-15th century was a real revolution that resulted in the publication of thousands of books and allowed a wider audience to gain direct access to knowledge. Among the 40,000 incunabula editions that were released in Western Europe in the 15th century, only 70 are Greek. They were mostly printed by Western typographers in Italy. The majority of Greek incunabula served the educational programs of schools and academic centers within the broad humanistic intellectual movement. So, the first Greek printed incunabula are grammar books such as Manuel Chrysoloras’s Erotemata and the Epitome of the Eight Parts of Speech of Constantine Lascaris. The only exceptions were three editions of the Psalter and a Book of Hours. The first Greek printing press was founded in Venice by two Cretans Laonikos the Cretan (sometimes also called Nikolaos Kabbadatos) and Alexander, son of the Protopapas of Candia. Zacharias Calliergis and Nikolaos Vlastos, also from Crete, established another short-lived printing shop in Venice (1499-1500) that was supported by Anna Notaras.Read More...
Ἐτυμολογικὸν μέγα κατὰ ἀλφάβητον. Βενετία: Ζαχαρίας Καλλιέργης, 8 Ιουλίου 1499.
The work, edited by Markos Mousouros (1470-1517), was printed at the Greek publishing house of Nikolaos Vlastos and Zacharias Calliergis in Venice. Vlastos and Anna Notara sponsored the edition while Calliergis designed the typographic characters.
Ἐπιτομὴ τῶν ὀκτὼ τοῦ λόγου μερῶν καὶ ἄλλων τινὼν ἀναγκαίων συντεθεῖσα παρὰ Κωνσταντίνου Λασκάρεως τοῦ Βυζαντίου. Μιλάνο: Dionysius Paravisinus, 30 Ιαν. 1476.
The first entirely Greek book for which we have a date was the grammar written by Constantine Lascaris (1434-1501?), a Greek scholar, who was a professor, scribe, manuscript collector and author. The book was printed by the Italian Dionigi Paravicino with Greek typographic characters created by the Cretan scholar and scribe Dimitrios Damilas or Mediolaneus [from Mediolanum or Milano] known also as Kres [the Cretan] who also edited the publication and wrote the preface.
Ἡ τοὺ Ὁμήρου ποίησις ἅπασα ἐντυπωθεῖσα ἐν Φλωρεντίᾳ, ἀναλώμασι μὲν Βερνάρδου καὶ Νηρίου Ταναΐδος Νεριλίου Φλωρεντίνοιν, πόνῳ δὲ καὶ δεξιότητι Δημητρίου Μεδιολανέως, Κρητὸς ἔτει 1488 μηνὸς Δεκεμβρίου ἑνάτῃ. Φλωρεντία: Δημήτρης Δαμιλάς και Bartolommeo di Libri, 1488-1489.
The first edition (editio princeps) of Homer's works was printed in Florence in 1488 by the leading Greek scholar Dimitrios Chalkokondylis (1423-1511) and the printer Bartolommeo di Libri, sponsored by the Nerli brothers. The typographic characters were made of the matrices brought by Dimitrios Damilas from Milan to Florence. Joannes Gennadius managed to obtain the copy, which once belonged to Lord Pembroke, in 1914 at a very high price.
From 1515 Zacharias Calliergis continued his editorial activity in Rome, where he founded the first Greek printing press and issued the first annotated edition of the Odes of Pindar. His main editorial production in the following years were Latin texts for local consumption, but Calliergis also issued two Greek books. The important Greek scholar Janus Lascaris had joined the circle of humanist Pope Leo X, who was persuaded in 1513 to set up a Greek College in Rome for Greek students who wanted to pursue higher education. Lascaris founded the printing house of the Greek College, where he published Greek books to enhance the curriculum. Apart from the publication of classical texts intended for Western readers and scholars, a significant typographical activity intended to meet the needs of a Greek audience. This is evident from the printing of liturgical books, translations of classical texts in demotic Greek and Greek vernacular texts that were often either translations of or based on Western models. Venice became the center of Greek publishing until the 19th century. Renowned Greek printing houses in Venice are associated with Andreas Cunadis, Damiano di Santa Maria and the Italian brothers Sabbio (from the beginning of the 16th century) and the merchant from Ioannina Nikolaos Glykys (from the 17th century).
Read More...Ομήρου Ἰλιάς, μεταβληθεῖσα πάλαι εἰς κοινήν γλῶσσαν, νῦν δέ διορθωθεῖσα... παρά Νικολάου τοῦ Λουκάνου. Venetia: Stefano Da Sabio, 1526.
Abbreviated paraphrase of the Iliad by Nikolaos Loukanes, a 16th century Greek scholar. Ornamented with 138 woodcuts, it is considered the oldest surviving text in the modern Greek language. It was printed in Venice in 1526 by the humanist printer and publisher Stefano da Sabbio.
Ειρμολόγιον. Ενετίησιν: τυπ. Κουνάδου, 1584.
Liturgical book that includes the "canons" of the week according to the “oktoechos.” Title page with printing mark of Andreas Cunadis: «το παρών βιβλίον ετυπώθη ενετίησιν εκ των τύπων του Κουνάδου.»
Greek printing presses were established in various parts of the Ottoman Empire. A special printing activity developed in the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The towns of Iasi and Bucharest became centers of publication of religious books against Catholicism and Protestantism after Venice forbade the publication of books of this kind within its borders. The Greek book had the potential to stir religious controversy and religious propaganda especially during the 17th century. During the 18th and 19th centuries Greek printing houses were established in Smyrna, in Moschopolis, on Mount Athos, in Kydonies, and Chios.Read More...
Προσκυνητάριον τῶν ἱερῶν τόπων ὅπου εὑρίσκονται εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν Ἱερουσαλὴμ Ἐκδοθὲν παρὰ Ἀρσενίου ἱερομονάχου καὶ ἱεροκήρυκος Καλλούδη τοῦ Κρητός. Ἐνετίησι: τυπ. Γλυκύς, Νικόλαος (ὁ ἐξ Ἰωαννίνων), 1679.
Often printed by the Glykys printing house, the “Proskynetaria” were illustrated guides of Christian monuments mainly of Palestine. They combined oral and historical information. The scholar Arsenios Kalloudes was born in Crete and lived in Padua, Corfu, and Venice.
Σύμβολον τοῦ Μεγάλου Ἀθανασίου μετᾶ τὴς ἀποσημειώσεως Λέοντος τοῦ Ἀλλατίου. Romae: typis S. Congr. de propaganda fide, 1659.
Leo Allacio, (1586/7-1669) was born on the island of Chios but spent most of his life in Rome as a devoted Catholic. He even signed in Latin or Italian, as seen in most of the surviving texts. In 1661 he became librarian at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. From 1628 onwards, the Committee for the Promotion of the Faith (Congregatio de propaganda fide) began publishing texts that promoted the unification of the Churches. As a learned and skilled philologist, Allacio, was one of the Greeks whom the Vatican commissioned to write and edit theological works.
From the middle of the 18th century, during the period of the Modern Greek Enlightenment, numerous philosophical and scientific works were translated into Greek in an effort to cultivate a national consciousness and improve the educational level of the Greeks – two essential pre-conditions for the creation of a free nation. An important means for the intellectual success of the Greek Enlightenment was the printing activity of the Greek diaspora in areas where there was economic growth, especially in Vienna, where Greek printing houses were active from the mid-18th century until the late 19th century.
Read MoreἘπιτομὴ ἀστρονομίας, συγγραφεῖσα ὑπὸ Ἱερωνύμου Λαλάνδ, μεταφρασθεῖσα εἰς τὴν καθωμιλημένην ἑλληνικὴν διάλεκτον παρὰ Δ.Δ. τοῦ Φιλιππίδου τοῦ ἀπὸ Μηλιῶν τοῦ Πηλίου ὅρους. Νῦν πρῶτον τύποις ἐκδοθεῖσα, ἐπιστασίᾳ, συνδρομῇ καὶ διορθώσει τοῦ ἀρχιμ. Ἀνθίμου Γαζῆ, χάριν τῶν φιλομούσων τοῦ ελληνικοῦ γένους. Ἐν Βιέννῃ τῆς Ἀουστρίας: τυπ. Βεντότης, Γεώργιος, 1803.
An important educational textbook of astronomy for the Greek student audience of 18th century, translated by D. Philippides of the School of Milies on Mt. Pelion. The author, Jérôme de Lalande, was the director of the Paris Observatory.
Πῖναξ χωρογραφικὸς τῆς μεγάλης ἀρχισατραπίας Ἰκονίου μετὰ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὴν ἑπτὰ στρατηγικῶν λεγομένων τουρκιστὶ σαντζάκια, νῦν πρῶτον ἰδιοχειρὶ σχεδιασθεὶς καὶ ἰδίᾳ δαπάνῃ τύποις ἐκδοθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ πρότερον ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῆ ἐπαρχίᾳ ἀρχιερατεύσαντος μητροπολίτου Ἀδριανουπόλεως κυρίου Κυρίλλου, ἐπιστασίᾳ Ἀνθίμου Γαζὴ. Ἐν Βιέννῃ: Νέϊκλιστ, 1812.
A rare work of Kyrillos edited in Vienna in 1812 by Anthimos Gazis, a priest of the Greek parish of Vienna and a pioneer of the Greek Enlightenment. Kyrillos (1769-1821) was born in Adrianople (Edirne). In 1803 he was elected Metropolitan of Ikonion (Konya), where he developed an important activity for the foundation of Greek schools. In 1810 he was transferred to the Diocese of Adrianople, and in 1813, after the resignation of Patriarch Jeremiah IV, he was elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople under the name of Kyrillos VI.
On mainland Greece, the printing needs of the Revolutionary Administration (printing of revolutionary proclamations, newspapers as well as the Provisionary Regime of Greece) were served by presses imported from Trieste, Livorno and Paris, which were moved where it was necessary. In 1823 Colonel Leicester Stanhope, representative of the Philhellenic London Committee, came to Missolonghi with the order to meet Lord Byron and to bring along four presses, two printing presses and two lithographic presses, to be used wherever there were needed. In one of Stanhope’s presses in Missolonghi, Demetrius Menestheneus printed in 1825 the Hymn to Liberty of Dionysios Solomos. Meyer and Menestheneus continued their activity until their death at the exodus of Missolonghi in 1826. One of the two lithographic presses of Stanhope ended up in Nafplio; together with the press of Mavrokordatos it became the core of the Printing House of the Administration. The second of Stanhope's printing presses was transferred to Athens; on this printing press was printed the Ephemeris of Athens since 1824 and the first Athenian book, the Lyrics and Bacchics of Athanasios Christopoulos in 1825. The printing press was destroyed during the conquest of Athens by the Turks in 1827.
Read More...Ὕμνος εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ἔγραψε Διονύσιος Σολωμός, Ζακύνθιος, τὸν Μάϊον μῆνα 1823 = Inno alla Liberta, Dionisio Solomos scrisse il mese di Maggio 1823. Volgarizzato in prosa italiana da G. Grassetti. Ἐν Μεσολογγίῳ: τυπ. Μεσθενεύς, Δημήτριος, 1825.
The 3rd edition of the Hymn to Liberty was composed by the poet in 1823 in Zakynthos. This edition, from which the verses against England and Austria have been removed, contains the Italian translation by G. Grassetti.
Προσωρινὸν πολίτευμα τῆς Ἑλλάδος. Ἔκδοσις πρώτη. Ἐν Κορίνθῳ, Α΄Ἀνεξαρτησιας ᾳωκβ’ [1822].
The first edition of the first constitution of the free state of Greece. It was preceded by the Ionian Constitutions (1800, 1803 & 1817) and the local constitutions of the Peloponnese, Eastern and Western Central Greece (1821). Influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, the Provisional Government provided the protection of individual rights, established the representative system, and required the separation of powers.
Decrees, proclamations, announcements, draft laws, but mainly school textbooks and books printed for the needs of education during the tenure of Kapodistrias and the reign of Otto, were the first products of the National, and later, Royal Printing House. At the same time, private printing houses were established in various parts of Greece with important publishing centers in Athens, Nafplio, Aegina, Syros and Hydra.
Read More...Ἐξέτασις τῶν μαθητῶν περὶ ναυτιλίας ἐρανισθεῖσα καὶ συντεθεῖσα, κατ' ἐρωταπόκρισιν, παρὰ Νικολάου Βρυώνη Κεφαλλῆνος. Νῦν πρῶτον τύποις ἐκδοθεῖσα. Ἐν Σύρᾳ: τυπ. Γραβινός, Ν. – Συμεὼν Πελοποννήσιος, Γαρουφαλής, Ἰω. Σάμιος, 1831.
The first two books printed in Ermoupolis in 1828 did not mention the name of the printing house. The publisher N. Varotsis printed his first book in 1829. In 1830 Manuel Garoufalis founded in Ermoupolis a printing house with Nikolaos Gravinos and Symeon Peloponnese.
Friedrich Johann Bertuch (1748-1822), Εἰκονολογία παιδική: περιέχουσα ἕνα τερπνὸν ἄθροισμα τετραπόδων, φυτῶν, ἀνθέων, καρπῶν, ὀρυκτῶν, ἐνδυμάτων καὶ ἄλλων διδακτικῶν ἀντικειμένων, συλλεχθέντων ἐκ τῆς Φυσικῆς ἱστορίας, τῶν τεχνῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπιστημῶν, καὶ ἀντισχεδιασθέντων ἀπὸ τὰ κάλλιστα πρωτότυπα, εἰς τὰ ὁποῖα προσετέθησαν καὶ περιγραφαὶ συνοπτικαί, διδακτικαὶ καὶ ἀνάλογοι μὲ τὴν κατάληψιν τῶν παιδίων ἥτις συνετέθη γερμανιστὶ ὑπὸ Φραγκίσκου [sic] Ἰωάννου Βερτούχ. Μεθερμηνεύθη δὲ καὶ ἐξεδόθη εἰς τὴν κοινὴν ἑλληνικὴν διάλεκτον ὑπὸ υῶν αὐταδέλφων Μανουὴλ καὶ Κυριακοῦ Καπετανάκη. Ἐν Βιέννῃ: τυπ. Γρούνδ, Λεοπόλδος, 1810.
Greek translation of the German encyclopedia for children Bilderbuch fur Kinder by Friedrich Johann Bertuch. The encyclopedia contains illustrations painted by hand. It was translated by two merchants, the brothers Kyriakos and Manuel Kapetanakis, who were active in Vienna in the early 19th century.
The first work of Modern Greek literature that was printed in Venice was Apokopos in 1509, while the masterpieces of the Cretan Renaissance appeared in print much later: George Hortatzi’s Erophile was printed in 1637 by the Giuliani publishing house, while Antonio Vortoli published the Erotokritos of Vincenzo Cornaro in 1713. In the 19th century, after the establishment of the Greek state, the works of Greek writers (Andreas Kalvos, Aristotelis Valaoritis, Dimitrios Vikelas, Georgios Vizyenos, Alexandros Papadiamantes and others) were published either by the National Printing House, or by private publishing houses such as Koromilas or Hestia. Throughout the 19th century, masterpieces of European literature were translated and published in Greece, while at the end of the same century, Greek and European scholars published works of Byzantine folk literature.
Read More...Βασιλεύς, ὁ Ῥωδολίνος τραγῳδία συνθεμένη παρὰ Ἰωάννου Ἀνδρέα τοῦ Τρωΐλου. Ἐνετίησιν: Ἰουλιανός, Ἀντώνιος Ἰωάννης, 1647.
The tragedy King Rodolinos of the poet Ioannis Andreas Troilos from Rethymno was printed in Venice in 1647 by the publishing company of Giovanni Antonio and Andrea Giuliani. The Giuliani printed several Greek books in the 17th century and used well-known Greek scholars as editors of their publications. The Gennadius Library possesses the only known copy.
Ποίημα ἐρωτικὸν λεγόμενον Ἐρωτόκριτος, συνθεμένον ἀπὸ τὸν ποτὲ εὐγενέστατον Βιτζέντζον τὸν Κορνάρον, ἀπὸ τὴν χὠραν τῆς Σιτίας τοῦ νησιοῦ τῆς Κρήτης, τῶρα τὴν πρώτην φορὰν μὲ πολὺν κόπον καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν τυπωμένον καὶ ἀφιερωμένον εἰς τὸν ἐκλαμπρότατον καὶ λογιώτατον ἀφέντην Γεώργιον τὸν Τζανδήρην. Εἰς τὴν Βενετίαν: τυπ. Βόρτολις, Αντώνιος, 1713.
Extremely rare copy of the first edition (editio princeps) of the Cretan poem Erotokritos by Vincenzo Cornaro (1553-1613). This popular work circulated in manuscript form in the 17th century. It was first printed in Venice by Antonio Vortoli in 1713. After several reprints of the original edition, the first modern edition was published in 1915 by Stefanos Xanthoudidis. Joannes Gennadius mentions in an autograph note that the copy in his collection was the only one known.
Τὰ λυρικὰ καὶ βακχικά, τοῦ Ἀθανασίου Χριστοπούλου. 6η ἔκδ.. - Ἀθῆναι: τυπ. τῶν Ἀθηνῶν, 1825.
Athanasios Christopoulos (1772-1847) was a judge, playwright, scholar, poet, and a member of the revolutionary Philike Hetaireia. Christopoulos became known mainly for his poetic work and for the use of the “demotic.” The Lyrika, which was first printed in Vienna in 1811, was very popular and enjoyed numerous editions. It was printed in Athens (in 1825) at one of the presses brought by Stanhope and is considered the first book ever printed in Athens. The Ephemeris ton Athenon (Athens Newspaper) was also printed at the same press since 1824.