Civil font - a font that began to be used in Russia in books of civil printing as a result of the reform carried out in 1708-1710 by Peter I.

Its goal was to give the Russian book, previously typed in semi-ustav (one of the varieties of writing in Slavic manuscripts), a look characteristic of the European book of that time.

At the beginning of 1701, Peter I reorganized the Monastyrsky order, the head of which he appointed one of the most educated boyars of that time, Musin-Pushkin. He was entrusted with managing all publishing affairs, printing houses, in particular, and the Printing House. Under his leadership, Russian books were also printed in Amsterdam. The Church Slavonic semi-ustav became archaic for new editions of secular and scientific content, and Peter I faced an exceptionally important problem - the creation of a new civil printed type.

As the researchers point out, the analysis of the writing of the late 17th - early 18th centuries gives grounds to assert that the fundamental basis of the Russian civil script was, to a certain extent, the Moscow civil letter of the early 18th century, revised on the basis of the Latin antiqua.

Features of the antiqua font - the construction of letters on the basis of a circle and a square, a smooth contrast between the main and connecting strokes, the nature of serifs, all this is also reflected in the Russian civil font.

In January 1707, Peter I drew sketches with his own hand, according to which the draftsman and draftsman Kulenbach, who served at the army headquarters to draw maps and dispositions (in those years, Russia was at war with Sweden), made drawings of thirty-two lowercase letters of the new alphabet, as well as four capital letters "A", "D", "E" and "T".

In June 1707, Peter I received samples of medium-sized font from Amsterdam, and in September, prints of a trial set in large and small fonts. Then a printing press and other printing equipment were purchased in Holland, master printers were invited to work in Russia and train Russian specialists.

The 300th anniversary of the civil type in Russia was widely celebrated in 2008.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Introduction of civil type

In 1708, a civil type was introduced for printing secular literature, which finally separated the secular and church books and contributed to an increase in the number of civilian publications. For 27 years, from 1698 to 1725, about 900 books were published, not counting numerous engraving sheets. The typeface was created according to the sketches of Peter the Great and cast in Amsterdam. In the same place, in 1708, the first books were printed using the new font.

The font is based on the Moscow semi-ustav, cursive. I.F. took part in its creation. Kopievsky (Ilya Fedorovich Kopievich) and M. Efremov. In 1710, on a sample sent by them, Peter wrote: "These letters should be used for printing artistic and manufactory books, and those that are underlined should not be used in the above books."

The Cyrillic alphabet with its complex graphics was replaced by a new alphabet containing rounded letters with a clear pattern. The composition of the alphabet was changed, spelling was simplified, eight letters were removed, and numbers were introduced instead of alphabetic numbers.

Peter 1 as an organizer of book publishing

The development of the book business took place under the supervision and with the direct participation of Peter I. Cabinet lists have been preserved in which Peter I noted the passage of Russian books in foreign printing houses, his numerous letters to publishers, editors, translators, many texts he edited, corrections in proofs, samples translations.

The gigantic volume of the king's editorial work is evidenced by the fact that almost all books printed in civil type were reviewed by the emperor, and many he edited. Moreover, cases of reusable and cardinal processing of texts are not uncommon.

Even while on campaigns, Peter demanded that they send him prints and samples of new publications, edited them, giving detailed instructions and instructions to translators and printers. He took with him on campaigns and a printing press, specially made for this purpose in 1711.

The first book typed in the Amsterdam type was Geometry of Slovene Land Surveying, translated from German by J. V. Bruce in 1708. The "Geometry" was based on the Austrian edition of "Techniques of a compass and ruler", revised by Peter. The manuscript he sent to Bruce is riddled with corrections, notes, insertions, and additions "in many places." Peter gave the book a new title. All corrections and revisions had a clearly expressed practical, engineering meaning. The basis of the work was 104 construction tasks. In this edition, the king put into practice his demand for translations. He considered it necessary to convey not the literal accuracy of the original text, but "having understood the text, ... write in your own language as clearly as possible ... and not in high Slovenian words, but in simple Russian."

In the second edition, published under the title "Methods of a compass and ruler", practical, engineering problems are revealed even more clearly. The third part of it also contained texts by Russian authors, and the chapter on building a sundial was written by Peter I.

The level of preparation of publications in the 18th century shows the development of editorial principles in book publishing. New elements appear in the editions, the content is secular in nature, the design speaks of attention to this side of the book.

The first Russian printed technical book was published in 1708. This is "The Book of Ways to Create Free Flowing of Rivers," or, as Peter called it, "The Book of Slugs." It is dedicated to hydraulic engineering and was intended as a practical guide for Russian hydraulic engineers. The book was translated from French by B. Volkov and basically reflected the Dutch experience.

Its text was repeatedly translated as the rules were translated by Peter, and the chapter "The method of how to retrieve ships sunk or sunk in the sea to the bottom, and how to save goods" was completely revised.

Peter also edited other technical books, for example, the fortification work "The Victorious Fortress" (1708) and the translation of "Military Architecture". From the translation, the king demanded simplicity of presentation, accuracy and practical meaning.

One of the first books being prepared for publication in St. Petersburg was "The Book of Mars, or Military Affairs ...". 11 of its copies are known, differing from each other in content, since all of them are proofreading copies containing various documents. Part of the editing in them was made by Peter's hand or according to his instructions.

Work on the edition, - changing and supplementing the text and illustrations - went on for several years. Changes were made following the events. Therefore, proofreading prints are different in content. The main concern of Peter was the completeness and accuracy of the presentation. The notes made by his hand indicate the need to use additional sources for the plans, to clarify relations, etc. Peter names specific documents containing the necessary information. The headings for the engravings and the inscriptions for the images of fireworks are inscribed in his hand.

These materials reveal such aspects of the editorial preparation of the publication as the organization of the material in the book, the principles of the work of the editor of those years on the language and style, show how the literary editing of the texts was carried out.

The "Military Charter" and "Marine Charter", containing the richest and most extensive material on technology, fortification, shipbuilding, their operation, artillery, and the creation of port facilities, were completely written by the tsar and released under his supervision.

In 1722, under the editorship of Peter, the "Regulations on the management of the admiralty and the shipyard" was published, containing a set of technical rules for shipbuilding. For the first time in Russian, it provided information on the technology of processing metals and wood, the production of fibrous substances, glass business, as well as the norms and conditions of work in various industries.

Typical for the group of publications under consideration of the Petrine era was the book "A New Manner for Fortifying Cities ...", the editor of which was the Tsar himself, and the translator from French - Ivan Nikitich Zotov. While working on this absolutely technical book, Peter proved himself to be a master of scientific and political editing.

Since, as already mentioned, translations prevailed in the period under review in the Array of publications, Peter paid constant attention to translation activities. He himself selected books for translation, looked through them while preparing for publication, and refined the text.

Peter taught when translating to be critical of the original, to exclude insignificant and irrelevant places, to supplement the content with examples from domestic practice. From translations of educational and technical literature, Peter demanded brevity, clarity, practical orientation, completeness and accuracy.

On December 15, 1702, Peter signed a decree on the release of the first Russian printed newspaper, Vedomosti.

Thus, thanks to the publishing, translation and editing activities of Peter, many principles and methods of editorial preparation of book publications were formulated and put into practice, which were subsequently developed and preserved to this day.

First of all, they relate to publications of works of scientific and educational literature. In particular, a certain form of presentation of the material, requirements for individual elements of the apparatus of these publications, methods of presentation, and structure of the work were developed.

The Russian Tsar Peter I, as you know, was a great lover of the epistolary genre and modernization. Therefore, he, like no one else, was aware of the need for the reformation of the Russian alphabet. The alphabet reforms were carried out by Peter I in 1708 and 1710. He replaced the previously existing Church Slavonic alphabet with a civil alphabet through reforms.

The tsar freed the alphabet from the letter "psi", streamlined the double and triple designation of sounds. He removed the letter "omega", as one of the two letters denoting the sound [o]. Similarly, the Russian language parted with the letter "earth". Before that, it was the second letter for the sound [z]. For the sound “and”, three letters were used when writing, including “Izhitsa”, which was removed from the alphabet in 1708, and returned to it again in 1710 at the insistence of the church.

The tsar-reformer not only cleared the alphabet of the “interference”, but also added the “missing” to it. The letters "e" and "I" enriched the alphabet precisely because Peter legalized them. The different spelling of lowercase and uppercase letters was also introduced by Peter. Arabic numerals have firmly come into use, titles and stresses in every word have ceased to be obligatory.

The font legalized by Peter was called civil. They published secular literature. The famous first Vedomosti was printed in civil type. Three different font sizes were produced in Amsterdam: the originals were 32 lowercase and 4 uppercase.

Thanks to all these innovations, the literary Russian language has undergone serious Europeanization. And the Church Slavonic alphabet "remained" only in church books. According to Mikhail Lomonosov, by the will of Peter the Great, following the boyars and boyars, "they threw off their wide fur coats and dressed up in summer clothes."

On January 29 (February 8), 1710, Peter the Great's reform of the Cyrillic alphabet was completed in Russia - Peter I approved a new civil alphabet and civil font. The Russian Orthodox Church continued to use the Church Slavonic alphabet.

The implementation of the reform was connected with the needs of the state, which needed a large number of educated domestic specialists and timely communication of official information to the population. The achievement of these goals was hampered by the weak development of book printing, which was mainly oriented towards the dissemination of spiritual literature and did not take into account changes in the language. By the end of the XVII century. the alphabet, which came to Russia along with Christian writing, retained its archaic features, despite the fact that some letters in secular texts were not used or were used incorrectly. In addition, the form of letters, which was established within the framework of written culture, was inconvenient for typing printed texts due to the presence of superscripts. Therefore, during the reform, both the composition of the alphabet and the shape of the letters changed.

The search for a new model of the alphabet and font was carried out with the most active participation of the king. In January 1707, according to sketches, presumably made personally by Peter I, fortification engineer Kulenbach made drawings of thirty-three lowercase and four uppercase letters (A, D, E, T) of the Russian alphabet, which were sent to Amsterdam for the manufacture of letters. At the same time, according to the sovereign decree, type-casting work was carried out at the Moscow Printing Yard, where Russian masters Grigory Alexandrov and Vasily Petrov, under the guidance of the type-writer Mikhail Efremov, made their own version of the font, however, the quality of the letters did not satisfy the tsar, and the type of Dutch masters was adopted for printing books. The first book, typed in a new civil type, - "Geometry of Slavonic Land Surveying" - was published in March 1708.

Later, based on the results of typesetting tests, the king decided to change the form of some letters and return some of the rejected letters of the traditional alphabet (it is believed that at the insistence of the clergy). On January 18, 1710, Peter I made the last correction, crossing out the first versions of the signs of the new font and the old signs of the printed half-charter. On the back of the cover of the alphabet, the tsar wrote: “These letters should be printed in historical and manufactory books, and which are underlined, those in the above books should not be used.” The decree on the introduction of the new alphabet was dated January 29 (February 9), 1710. Shortly after the publication of the Decree, a list of books published in the new alphabet and put on sale appeared in the Vedomosti of the Moscow State.

As a result of Peter's reform, the number of letters in the Russian alphabet was reduced to 38, their outline was simplified and rounded. Forces (a complex system of diacritical stress marks) and titla, a superscript sign that allowed letters to be skipped in a word, were abolished. The use of capital letters and punctuation marks was also streamlined, instead of alphabetic numerals, Arabic numerals began to be used.

The composition of the Russian alphabet and its graphics continued to change later in the direction of simplification. The modern Russian alphabet came into use on December 23, 1917 (January 5, 1918) on the basis of the decree of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR "On the introduction of a new spelling".

Lit .: Brandt R. F. Petrine reform of the alphabet // Bicentenary of the civil type. 1708-1908: Reports made on March 8, 1908 at the general meeting of the Russian Bibliographic Society at the Imperial Moscow University and a review of the exhibition arranged at the same time. M., 1910; Grigorovich N. I. Civil alphabet with moralizing. Ruled by the hand of Peter the Great. St. Petersburg, 1877; Grigoryeva T. M., Osipov B. I. Russian writing from the old alphabet to the new alphabet // Russian language at school. M., 2002. No. 2; Grigorieva T. M. "Simi letters to write ..." // New university life. Nov 13, 2008 (No. 25); The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://gazeta.sfu-kras.ru/node/1218; Bicentenary of the Russian civil alphabet 1708-1908 M., 1908; Efimov V. Dramatic history of the Cyrillic alphabet. Great Peter's fracture[Electronic resource]// Archives of the GPR forum. 1996-2016. URL: http://speakrus.ru/articles/peter/peter1a.htm;Katsprzhak E. I. The history of writing and books. M., 1955; Reforms of the alphabet and spelling // Russian Humanitarian Encyclopedic Dictionary. T. 3. M., 2002; Shitsgal A. G. Graphic basis of the Russian civil font. M.; L., 1947; Shitsgal A. G. Russian civil font. 1708-1958. M., 1959; Shnitser Ya. B. Russian writing // Shnitser Ya. B. Illustrated general history of writings. SPb., 1903.

On January 29 (February 8), 1710, Peter the Great's reform of the Cyrillic alphabet was completed in Russia - Peter I approved a new civil alphabet and civil font. The Russian Orthodox Church continued to use the Church Slavonic alphabet.

The implementation of the reform was connected with the needs of the state, which needed a large number of educated domestic specialists and timely communication of official information to the population. The achievement of these goals was hampered by the weak development of book printing, which was mainly focused on the dissemination of spiritual literature and did not take into account changes in the language. By the end of the XVII century. the alphabet, which came to Russia along with Christian writing, retained its archaic features, despite the fact that some letters in secular texts were not used or were used incorrectly. In addition, the form of letters, which was established within the framework of written culture, was inconvenient for typing printed texts due to the presence of superscripts. Therefore, during the reform, both the composition of the alphabet and the shape of the letters changed.

The search for a new model of the alphabet and font was carried out with the most active participation of the king. In January 1707, according to sketches, presumably made personally by Peter I, fortification engineer Kulenbach made drawings of thirty-three lowercase and four uppercase letters (A, D, E, T) of the Russian alphabet, which were sent to Amsterdam for the manufacture of letters. At the same time, according to the sovereign decree, type-casting work was carried out at the Moscow Printing House, where Russian masters Grigory Alexandrov and Vasily Petrov, under the guidance of the type-writer Mikhail Efremov, made their own version of the font, but the quality of the letters did not satisfy the tsar, and the Dutch masters font was adopted for printing books. The first book, typed in a new civil type, - "Geometry of Slavonic Land Surveying" - was published in March 1708.

Later, based on the results of typesetting tests, the king decided to change the form of some letters and return some of the rejected letters of the traditional alphabet (it is believed that at the insistence of the clergy). On January 18, 1710, Peter I made the last correction, crossing out the first versions of the signs of the new font and the old signs of the printed half-charter. On the back of the cover of the alphabet, the tsar wrote: “These letters should be printed in historical and manufactory books, and which are underlined, those in the above books should not be used.” The decree on the introduction of the new alphabet was dated January 29 (February 9), 1710. Shortly after the publication of the Decree, a list of books published in the new alphabet and put on sale appeared in the Vedomosti of the Moscow State.

As a result of Peter's reform, the number of letters in the Russian alphabet was reduced to 38, their outline was simplified and rounded. Forces (a complex system of diacritical stress marks) and titles were abolished - a superscript sign that allowed letters to be skipped in a word. The use of capital letters and punctuation marks was also streamlined, and Arabic numerals began to be used instead of alphabetic numbers.

The composition of the Russian alphabet and its graphics continued to change later in the direction of simplification. The modern Russian alphabet came into use on December 23, 1917 (January 5, 1918) on the basis of the decree of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR "On the introduction of a new spelling."