Ink production in Russia in the XVI-XVIIs according to written sources

Scientific article

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2024-4-984-1002

For citation

Lyakhovitsky, Evgeny A., Polyakov, Ivan A. (2024). Ink production in Russia in the XVI-XVIIs according to written sources, Herald of an Archivist, no. 4, pp. 984-1002, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2024-4-984-1002

Lyakhovitsky, Evgeny A., Polyakov, Ivan A., Russian National Library, St. Petersburg, Russia

Ink production in Russia in the XVI-XVIIs according to written sources

Abstract

The article is devoted to the question of how ink production was organized in Russia in the XVI-XVII cc. This question is of significant importance for historical and technological studies of ink. According to the written sources, which contain information about the payment of the scribe's labor, first of all, in the monastery expense books, we can conclude that the cost of ink is not mentioned among the consumables, the cost of which should be compensated to the scribe. This allows us to assume that the scribe's independent production of ink was implied. Most of the ink recipes of the Old Russian tradition, the earliest records of which date back to the end of the 15th century, correspond to this state of affairs. Recipes not infrequently contain recommendations for adjusting the properties of the resulting product, but the dosage of ingredients is absent or almost absent. Nevertheless, there are a small number of recipes in which the dosages are precise and detailed. In one of these, the number of ingredients clearly indicates a large volume of output product in excess of individual needs. Another distinctive feature of this recipe is the rapidity of the process - only three days. This recipe corresponds to the practice of relatively mass production of ink, also known from written sources. The practice of producing ink for one's own needs is reflected in the expense books of such monasteries as Joseph-Volokolamsky and Kirillo-Belozersky, as well as the orders of the Privy Affairs and the Gathering of Soldiers. According to the materials of the expenditure books of large orders, such as Razryadny, Pomestny, the activities of specialized craftsmen - inklingsmiths, whose activities unfolded no later than the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. The information presented in the sources demonstrates rather large volumes of supplies made by the ink makers, which required maintaining stocks of ingredients and constant implementation of the production process. The expenditure books of the orders demonstrate purchases from one inker regularly over a long period of time. The emergence of inklings should obviously be attributed to the large consumers concentrated in Moscow - the Prikazes. Nevertheless, already in the middle of the XVII century sources recorded the presence of an inkwell in Veliky Novgorod. The question of the spread of this craft in Russia in the 17th century requires a separate study. The situation in which individual scribe and relatively mass handicraft production coexisted raises questions about the extent to which the formulations within these two practices coincided, and the extent to which their products were widespread in book writing and office work.

Keywords

Book culture, Old Russian ink, paleography, inkwells, history of technology, book writing, medieval recipes, historical sources.

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About authors

Lyakhovitsky Evgeny A., PhD historical sciences, Russian National Library, Federal Center for Conservation of Library Collections, Head, St. Petersburg, Russia, +7-911-925-26-67, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Polyakov Ivan A., Ph.D historical sciences, Russian National Library, Manuscripts Department, Archaeographer, St. Petersburg, Russia, +7-911-038-12-29, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

The research was financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 22-18-00615 “Technological Shifts in the Material Culture of Ancient Russia, a Comprehensive Study of Books and Documents of the XI-XVII Centuries”), https://rscf.ru/project/22-18-00615/

The article was received in the editorial office on 26.03.2024, recommended for publication on 20.09.2024.