Illuminated Manuscript as an Album of Images: Synodicon-miscellanea of the 17th Century from the A.A. Titov Collection

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Category: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature: Issue 25
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Abstract:

Prefaces to the Synodicon are a common type of literary collection of moralizing content in seventeenth-century Russia. Scholars have identified their typology and established the range of sources from which the literary fragments they contain were borrowed. Considerably less studied are the numerous illuminated copies, the product of the collaborative work of scribes and artists. However, a tendency toward a gradual reduction in their texts and an increase in the number of miniatures has long been noted in scholarly literature (E.V. Petukhov, D.A. Rovinsky). At the end of the 17th century, unique manuscripts appeared that reproduced the format of the albums-publications (“ouvrage”) common in Europe. Their edifying function increasingly shifted from the literary to the visual realm. This article examines a Synodicon- miscellanea from the A.A. Titov collection, rare even for its time. It is less a book for reading than an album of images, intended for careful viewing. The study concludes that, despite the collective nature of the work on this manuscript, it resulted in a kind of author’s collection, the compilers of which were well acquainted with the handwritten and printed books of their time, the fine arts, and at the same time took into account the spiritual and aesthetic interests of the future reader.
Keywords: Russian literary miscellanea of the 17th century, illuminated manuscript, books of European printing, Synodicon, image, album
Author: Lyudmila B. Sukina
Information about the author:

Lyudmila B. Sukina, DSc in History, Head of the Department of training highly qualified personnel, Program Systems Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petra Pervogo St., 4A, 152021 Pereslavl-Zalessky, Veskovo, Russia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7692-2085

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For citation:

Sukina, L.B. “Illuminated Manuscript as an Album of Images: Synodicon-miscellanea of the 17th Century from the A.A. Titov Collection.”  Germenevtika  drevnerusskoi  literatury  [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 25. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova, sci. ed. M.V. Kaplun. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2026, pp. 667–682. https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-667-682 (In Russian)
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/ESREFW
UDC: 821.161.1.0+75.056
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-667-682

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