Chernihiv Press

Chernihiv Press. Founded ca 1675 by Lazar Baranovych in Novhorod-Siverskyi and moved to Chernihiv in 1679. At the beginning of the 18th century it was the third-largest printing house, in terms of size and production, in Ukraine, after the Kyivan Cave Monastery Press and the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood Press, and had its own paper factory. The press printed liturgical books, the polemical works of Ioanikii Galiatovsky, the poems of Ihnatii Maksymovych, the historical and theological works of Dymytrii Tuptalo, translations of works in Latin, etc. Among the famous engravers who worked at the Chernihiv Press were Leontii Tarasevych, Ivan Shchyrsky, Ivan Strelbytsky, and Nykodym Zubrytsky. In spite of prohibitions and threats from the Holy Synod, which demanded that all books be ‘in agreement with Muscovite books,’ the Chernihiv Press maintained its independence until 1724 and printed books on various topics in Ukrainian, Polish, Latin, and Church Slavonic. The press began to decline in 1724 and was closed down in 1820.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]