Russian Old Believer Manuscript containing two texts: Istoriia o otsekh i stradal'tsekh, and: Slovo vospominatel'noe o sviatykh chudotvortsekh v Rossii vozsiiavshikh de [Denisov, Semen, 1682-1740, and Andrei, 1674-1730] - 1870

Russia, 1870. Folio (35 × 22 cm). Late nineteenth-century quarter calf; gilt-tooled leather spine label; edges green; 233 leaves. Two decorative headpieces and a few decorative initials. Paper with stamp of the "Troitskaia Fabrika Govarda, no. 6" to upper left corners, indicating that the paper was made around 1850 (Klepikov 1959, no. 36). Private exlibris and shelf mark of P. F. Simson to front pastedown and his (?) hand-written notation to front free end paper. Boards rubbed and scuffed; some wear to upper spine extremity; hinges somewhat tender, but binding intact and text very good. Nineteenth-century manuscript of numerous Russian Old Believer narratives, compiled by the brothers Andrei (1674-1730) and Semen Denisov (1682-1740), two major early leaders of the schism from the official Russian Orthodox faith. Andrei served as leader of the Vyg Old Believer community in the Russian northwest. Together, the brothers authored approximately two-hundred historical and liturgical texts. The longer of the texts included here relates the martyrdom of Russian Old Believers held at the Solovetsk monastery. The work could not be published in the Russian Empire, where Old Believer liturgical texts and secondary materials were only permitted after the partial abolition of censorship in 1905. This mid-nineteenth century manuscript copy comes from the library of Pavel Fedorovich Simson (1845- ca. 1920), a historian, pedagogue, and collector from near Moscow, who was active in Tver' and Kaluga. His primary interests were medieval Rus and Russian religious manuscripts. Simson also founded the Rzhev archaeological museum. in 1902 he published a descriptive catalog of his collection of manuscripts; the present manuscript is no. 75 (Opisanie rukopisei, prinadlezhashchikh P. F. Simsonu, p. 135). It is stated to have been bought in Kaluga. Evidently the collection was later dispersed; books with this provenance are occasionally seen in the trade and at auction.