Jakov of Kamena Reka
( mk, Јаков од Камена Река, sr, Јаков из Камене реке; 1564–72) or Jakov Krajkov (Јаков Крајков, bg, Яков Крайков) was a
Venetian printer. The information about his life is scarce. It is known he was from a former village called Kamena Reka (literally, 'Stone River'),
according to him near the town of ''Kolasia,'' in
Osogovo
Osogovo ( Bulgarian/Macedonian: ), or Osogovska Planina or Osogovski Planini (Осоговска Планина or Осоговски Планини), is a mountain range and ski resort between the south-western part of Bulgaria (Kyustendil Provi ...
,
Macedonia. It is assumed that the village could be
Makedonska Kamenica in present-day
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...
, or
Kamenichka Skakavitsa, in present-day
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
, both placed in an area in Osogovo called ''Kamenitsa'', near the town of
Kyustendil
Kyustendil ( bg, Кюстендил ) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see.
The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, ...
, then called ''Kolasia''.
Also, in some works his birthplace is connected with Kamena Reka, near
Kolasin in
Herzegovina in today
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
.
Nevertheless, that view is criticized as 19th century
Šafárik's misinterpretation of the medieval name of Kyustendil (''Kolasia'')
with that of the town of Kolasin. His family members had a long tradition of being
Christian priests.
In his youth Kraikov was a copyist of Church Slavonic books in the
Osogovo Monastery
Osogovo Monastery ( mk, Осоговски Манастир) is a Macedonian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox monastery located near Kriva Palanka, North Macedonia, from the Bulgarian border on Osogovo, Osogovo Mountain. Osogovo Monastery is ...
"St. Joakim Osogovski". Then he went to
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...
, where in a local Church school, Kraikov deepened his literary knowledge. However some researchers maintain that Jakov of Sofia and Jakov of Kamena Reka are different historical persons.
Afterwards, he set off through Kyustendil and Skopje to Venice. It is assumed that Kraikov worked on his way in
Gračanica monastery Gračanica () may refer to:
Places
Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a town and municipality in Tuzla
*Gračanica (Bugojno), a village in Central Bosnia
* Gračanica, Gacko, a village in Republika Srpska
* Gračanica, P ...
where a printing press was opened. He was among the first printers of Cyrillic books. Kraikov reached Venice around 1564 or 1565 where he worked in the
Vuković printing house, established by
Božidar Vuković and inherited by his son
Vićenco Vuković. In 1566 (in period of only three and a half months) he printed the
Book of hours (Casoslov) of 710 pages on the printing press of Vićenco Vuković.
It was printed in
Serbian recension of the
Church Slavonic language
Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzeg ...
. To print this book Jakov used old, already worn out,
sorts. He had at disposal Vuković's
matrix
Matrix most commonly refers to:
* ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise
** ''The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film
** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchis ...
and was prepared to cast new letters but he obviously failed to do it.
This book is described in some sources as the first Bulgarian/Macedonian printed book.
[Съюз на българските журналисти, Ще припомним първия ни печатар Яков Крайков, 03.04.2014, Елица Иванова, Кюстендил]
Симпозиум и изложба за първия български печатар и граматик ще припомнят делото му. Център за славяно-византийски проучвания към СУ "Свети Климент Охридски".
/ref>
In 1570 Jakov worked in the printing press of Jerolim Zagurović
Jerolim Zagurović (( sr, Јеролим Загуровић), it, Girolamo Zagurovich) ( 1550—1580) was a Serbian-Venetian printer of Serbian Cyrillic books (''srbulje''). Zagurović and Vićenco Vuković were the last printers of srbulje books ...
where he printed a Prayer book. In 1571 Jakov again worked in Vuković printing house, where Stefan Marinović also worked before him. In 1597 this printing house was taken over by Italian printers (Bartolomeo Ginammi, Marco Ginammi, Giovanni Antonio Rampazetto, Francesco Rampazetto, Georgio Rampazetto, Camillo Zanetti) and its printing press was operational for additional 70 years.
See also
* Božidar Vuković
References
Further reading
* Evgenij L'vovic Nemirovskij: Die venezianische Druckerei des Jakov aus Kamena Reka – Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, 1996, 71
* Марияна Цибранска-Костова
Сборникът „Различни потреби“ на Яков Крайков между Венеция и Балканите през XVI век
2013, Издателство „Валентин Траянов“ .
{{Authority control
16th-century births
16th-century deaths
16th-century printers
16th-century Serbian people
16th-century Bulgarian people
Bulgarian publishers (people)
Bulgarian printers
Republic of Venice printers
Serbian printers
Venetian Slavs
Bulgarian engravers
People from Makedonska Kamenica Municipality
Serbian engravers
16th-century Eastern Orthodox Christians
16th-century businesspeople from the Ottoman Empire