Old Believers manuscript in Church Slavonic, [Russia, early nineteenth century], contemporary calf

Old Believers manuscript miscellany in Church Slavonic

[A compilation of the teachings of the saints of the Orthodox Church]; Semeon Denisov, История о отцaх и страдальцaх соловецких [The history of the fathers and martyrs of Solovetsky]. [Northern Russia, probably early nineteenth century]

8vo (173 x 105mm.), 2 parts, 134 and 102 ff. (second section with initial and final blank leaves), manuscript on paper in red and black ink, in various hands, a few decorative headpieces, start of second text with red incipit, second text with quire signatures, watermark similar to Uchastkina 163 (dated to 1815), contemporary calf binding over wooden boards, single clasp, occasional light staining, binding slightly worn, lacking strap

A typical Old Believer manuscript miscellany or sbornik containing an account of the saints of the Orthodox Church (including John Chrysostom, Maximus, Cyril the Philosopher, Clement of Rome and the Desert Fathers), and Semeon Denisov's history of the Solovetsky Martyrs, which was written in the early eighteenth century. Denisov (1682-1740/41) was the abbot of the remote monastery at Vyg and, along with his brother Andrei, created a culture and community for the Old Believers, firmly based on the examples of the early Christian martyrs.