The Psaltyr is the first Belarussian book, one of the most ancient and popular books of the Old Testament. This book contains spiritual songs – psalms.
According to the ancient traditions, one of the main authors of the psalms is the tsar and David the prophet. The psalm is a highly-artistic poetic work and a type of spiritual poetry.
The Psaltyr is an important element of the device service since the Old Testament times and at present. This book is considered to be a widely used book which is published often. The Psaltyr was used to teach children and the youth the reading and writing along with ABC book. It is important to note that a wide popularity and high demand of the book became the reason that Francysk Skaryna had invented it as his first publication.
The release date of the book is August 6th (according to the old style), 1517 which is mentioned on the edition in the afterword section. The book has small dimensions, which is one-fourth of the page. The book has engravings, headpieces and initials.
The National library of Belarus has 10 Old Testament books printed by Francysk Skaryna in total. For the Psaltyr, there are two counted samples in the world: they are kept in the Russian national library (Saint Petersburg) and in State-owned historical museum (Moscow).
To the 500th-years Anniversary of the Belarusian book printing, the National library of Belarus has prepared the International scientific and publishing project “The Book Heritage of Francysk Skaryna” based on facsimile republishing of all the books of the Belarussian first book printer.
By the Bibliography research department.
