Rare
Book Collections - Slavic Studies
This
selection represents just a few of the Slavic books
and manuscripts that can be found in the Rare Book Room
of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special
Collections.
Title:
Pomianyk
of Horodyshche.
Date: 1484-1737.
Call Number: PG 34 R845 Item 1-3 in
1 Box
This
is one of the first known literary documents produced
by Ukrainian monasteries. It is one of the oldest dated
Cyrillic manuscripts in North America, containing a
register of deceased to be remembered at a requiem service.
The manuscript was discovered in 1902 in an old wooden
church, believed to be the remnant of a once famous
monastery in the village of Horodyshche in Volhynia,
Western Ukraine. It was found by Oleksander Kolessa,
a distinguished Slavic scholar and one of the founders
of the Ukrainian Free Academy in Prague.
With a grant from the Ukrainian Studies Fund, Dr. Rudnyckyj
purchased the manuscript. from the Kolessa family in
1951. The Pomianyk has been a subject of published studies
that are available in the Slavic Collection.
Title: Psalterium
Winnipegense Cyrillicum.
Date: 1735-1745.
Call Number: RBR PG 34 R845 Item 1-3
in 1 Box
Consists
of Books of Psalms from the Old Testament used in all
Divine Services. The manuscript most likely originated
from the Pskov region in Russia. It contains 114 psalms,
of which the first 17 are missing. The Psalterium Winnipegense
Cyrillicum was purchased in 1964 by Dr. Rudnyckyj through
a rare book dealer in Montreal.
Title:
Evaggelia : chrez vsiu svatuiu velikuiu strastnuiu
sedmitsu na Liturhiakh, strastekh Krystovykh, i na chasiakh
tserkikh : Chtomae
Date: 1771
Call Number: RBR BS 2554 C45 1771
Printed
in 1771 in the Pochaiv Monastery in Volyn (Ukraine).
The text is in Old Church Slavic and consists of selected
readings from the Gospel. Through its history, the Evaggelia
passed through the hands of several owners, eventually
making its way from Ukraine to Winnipeg. Among the book’s
interesting features, which attest to its remarkable
history, are a blue and white striped paper cover representing
the Royal Movers of Hungary and a stamp depicting a
chalice with a cross and feather, which may indicate
that one of its owners was a priest or came from a family
of priests. In 2000 the Evaggelia was donated to the
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections
by the Walter Klymkiw family.
Title:
Roczne dzieie koscielne od Roku Panskiego 1198 az do
lat naszych.
Author: Jan Kwiatkiewicz
Call Number: Please ask staff for assistance.
Church
Chronicle from 1198 to 1698. Published in parts from1695-1706
in Kalisz.
Title: Annalium Poloniae ab obitu
Vladislai IV. Climacter Primus: The Annals of Poland.
Author: Wespasjan Kochowski
Call Number: Please ask staff for assistance
Authored
by Polish poet and historian Wespasjan Kochowski. It
was printed in Krakow in 1683. Written in Latin, the
work chronicles major events in the history of Poland.
Title: Zielnik. Herbarzem z jekyka
lacinskiego zowia – The Polish Herbarium.
Date: 1613
Call Number: Please ask staff for assistance
Authored
by Polish botanist Szymon Syreniusz Syrénski.
It was printed in Krakow in 1613; and acquired by the
University of Manitoba Libraries in 1950. The Herbarium
is composed of 1,538 pages of Polish, Latin and German
text and illustrations. It contains an index of illnesses
and cures in Polish and three separate indices of plants
in Latin, Polish and German.
Title:
Entnografichnyi zbirnyk.
Date: 1895-1914.
Call Number: RBR PG 3925 N35
Published
by Naukove Tovarystvo imeny Shevchenka (The Shevchenko
Scientific Society) in L’viv under the esteemed
Ukrainian historian and political leader, Mykhailo Hrushevs’kyi.
This is an excellent resource consisting of 36 volumes
that focus on Ukrainian ethnography and folklore.
Title:
Slownjk Cesko-nemecky Josefa Jungmanna.
Date: 1835.
Call Number: RBR PG 4645 G5 J8 1835
The
five volume Czech-German dictionary was compiled by
Josef Jungmann, a translator and lexicographer. Jungmann
played an important role in the revival of the Czech
language under the Hapsburg dynasty.
Title:
Novi ukrajins’ki pisni pro hromads’ki
spravy (1764-1880).
Date: 1881
Call Number: RBR ML 3690 D7
Written
by Mykhailo Drahomaniv, Ukrainian political thinker
and essayist. It was published in Geneva in 1881. This
is an analytical study of Ukrainian political songs
from 1764-1880. Drahomaniv was renowned for creating
a reformed Ukrainian alphabet, commonly referred to
as the Drahomanivka. One of the features of this alphabet
is the letter “j”, which is used through
the monograph.
Other
Rare Manuscripts:
Lepkyj, Bohdan (1872-1941). Manuscript of Two Voices
= Dva holosy. 1911. 2 p.
Manuscript is signed “Nestor”
Makovey,
Osyp (1867-1925). Manuscript of Unhappy Incident
= Neshchasna Pryhoda. 1898. 7 p.
Date and author’s signature on page 7.
Vovchok,
Marko (1834-1907). Manuscript of Cossack Blood =
Kozats’ka krov. 1857. 10 p.
Spakowski,
Fannie. Three poems; two letters from Fannie Spakowski
to Dr. A.J. Hunter, dated June 4, 1926 and August 25,
1926.
Fragment
of a printed Gospel: The Parable of the Prodigal
Son = Pritchi Bludnaho Syna. 1626. 6 p.
Fragment
of a handwritten Gospel according to St. Matthew
= Ezhe ot Matfeia Sv. Evanheliia. Kniga rodstva Iisusa
Khrista. 2 p.
Old Church Slavic.
Manuscipt
of essay on the partition of Poland in 1772. Written
January 12 – May 1, 1845.
713 leaves.
