Section 13. Old Printed Bibles from Belarus

130. The Old Testament books printed by Francysk Skaryna

Prague, 1517-1519. National Library of Belarus, Minsk

Francysk Skaryna is a Belarusian and Eastern European printing pioneer, enlightener and reformer, writer, public activist, translator and publisher of the Bible. His printing activity started in Prague in 1517 when he printed at least 23 Old Testament books. Translations similar to Skaryna’s are not known and obviously, they were done by the Belarusian printer himself. Skaryna’s Prague publications are distinguished by his introductions and afterwords to each of the books, and one general Introduction to the whole Bible.