First Printing (Editio Princeps)

A first printing (Latin editio princeps) is the first printed edition of a certain work and, in a broader sense, the oldest printed book of a certain people, language, or printing house. First printings have exceptional historical-cultural and bibliographic value. The beginning of Cyrillic printing was laid by Schweipolt Fiol, who in 1491 in Kraków printed the first Cyrillic books (the 'Oktoikh,' the 'Chasoslovets'). The first printer in Ukraine was Ivan Fedorovych (Fedorov), who in 1574 in Lviv published the 'Apostol' — the first precisely dated printed book on Ukrainian lands — as well as the first East Slavic printed 'Primer.' The most outstanding monument of Ukrainian printing of the 16th century is the Ostroh Bible of 1581, the first complete printed edition of the Bible in Church Slavonic, carried out through the efforts of Prince Kostiantyn of Ostroh. First printings and the early printed book are studied by bibliology and paleotypy; these monuments are the ornament of national book collections.