The Vuković printing house ( sr, Вуковићева штампарија) was 16th century printing house established in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

by Božidar Vuković. In the first period, when printing was organized by Božidar Vuković, the editors and printers were

Hieromonk Pahomije Hieromonk Pahomije ( sr-cyr, Пахомије; 1496–1544) was a Serbian Orthodox hieromonk and one of the first printers of books in the Serbian language. He learned his printing skills from Hieromonk Makarije at the Crnojević printing house in ...

(1519–21) and

Hierodeacon Mojsije A hierodeacon (Greek: Ἱεροδιάκονος, ''Ierodiákonos''; Slavonic: ''Ierodiakón''), sometimes translated "deacon-monk", in Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a monk who has been ordained a deacon (or deacon who has been tonsured monk). T ...

(1536–40). In 1560 Božidar's son

Vićenco Vuković Vićentije "Vićenco" Vuković ( sr-Cyrl, Вићентије Вуковић, la, Vincenzo della Vecchia; 1560–71) was a printer and editor of books in Serbian language, Serbian in the Republic of Venice, and son of the predecessor, Božidar Vu ...

inherited the printing house and for a year only reprinted his father's books. In 1561 he started printing his own publications. Initially they were edited and printed by Stefan Marinović and later by

Jakov of Kamena Reka 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 ...

. The books printed in Vuković printing house were ''

srbulje A srbulјa ( sr-cyrl, србуља), srbulje in plural, is a liturgical book written or printed in the Serbian recension of Old Serbian (Serbo-Balkanic), which was the written language of Serbs from the 12th century to the 1830s. The term was use ...

'', liturgical books in Serbo-Slavonic, the Serbian

written language A written language is the representation of a spoken or gestural language by means of a writing system. Written language is an invention in that it must be taught to children, who will pick up spoken language or sign language by exposure even i ...

between the 12th century and the 1830s. Vuković printing house printed the largest number of srbulje and was the first printing house that printed srbulje on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of ...

. The books printed in Vuković printing house were distributed by

Ragusan Ragusan may refer to: * citizen of the Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate ...

traders over the territory of Balkans under the Ottoman control, i.e.

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Nicopolis Nicopolis ( grc-gre, Νικόπολις, Nikópolis, City of Victory) or Actia Nicopolis was the capital city of the Roman province of Epirus Vetus. It was located in the western part of the modern state of Greece. The city was founded in 29 ...

Vidin Vidin ( bg, Видин, ; Old Romanian: Diiu) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as o ...

etc. Mileševa was center for their distribution. They were richly decorated, very popular and had significant influence on printers of books on

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Moldova, Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communi ...

History

In period 1519—1560 this printing house was owned by Božidar Vuković who engaged printers and organized printing in it. After his death in 1560 it was inherited by Božidar's son Vićenco who continued to organize printing of the books in it.

Under Božidar Vuković

During Božidar's life this printing house was operational in two periods, in 1519/1520—1521 and in 1536—1540 and printed some of the first

(Cyrillic books on Serboslavonic language, Serbian recension of

Church Slavonic 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 ...

). In the first period 1519/1520—1521 three books were printed (Psalter, Liturgijar and Molitvenik or Zbornik). The editing and printing was done by

. In second period 1536—1540 two books were printed (2nd edition of Molitvenik or Zbornik and praznični Minej or Sabornik). The most luxurious and lengthiest edition was ''Praznični Minej''. In this second period the printing was done by

. The books printed in Vuković printing house under Božidar Vuković had rich decorations made by woodcut. Mileševa (a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population in ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

located near

Prijepolje Prijepolje ( sr-cyr, Пријепоље, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2011 census, the town has 13,330 inhabitants, while the municipality has 37,059 inhabitants. Etymology One possibl ...

, in southwest

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

) was center for distribution of books printed in Vuković printing house.

Under Vićenco Vuković

In 1560 Bozidar's son

inherited the printing house. His father's books were so popular that until 1561 Vićenco had only published reprints of his fathers books, such as ''Oktoih Petoglasnik'', and successfully sold them. In 1561 Vićenco engaged Stefan Marinović to operate the printing press and first book he printed was Posni Triod. In 1566

printed

the Book of hours ''The Book of Hours'' (german: Das Stunden-Buch) is a collection of poetry by the Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). The collection was written between 1899 and 1903 in three parts, and first published in Leipzi ...

(Часослов) of 710 pages. Printing activities of Vićenco Vuković announced beginning of the decline of publishing and printing of Serbian books in Venetian Republic, although it had been risen on very high level by Božidar Vuković.

Legacy

Books printed in this printing house significantly influenced, directly or indirectly, to Russian, Greek and particularly Romanian language printed books because some of Božidars woodcuts were copied by printers who printed books on these languages.

Notes

), Serbian printing house in Venice ( sr, Српска штампарија у Венецији) and Božidar and Vićenzo Vuković's printing house in Venice

References

Sources

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