Il foglio volante, in Russia, tra manoscritto e stampa

The flying paper in Russia, between the manuscript and the print version.
It is well known that in the Russian culture of the seventh century there was a vast production of images on paper drawn from wood blocks (xylography) and copper plates. It is in part thanks to the work of great masters employed at the Oružejnaja palata in the Kremlin in Moscow and also of printers and less able typographers that we owe such a widespread diffusion of these ‘flying papers’, from which they drew a good income. The production of these ‘little squares’ in print form characterises the period which runs from the second half of the seventh century right through to the 1920s, and witnesses an evolution in the techniques employed, including lithography and chromolithography. For the Old believers, instead, the ‘flying paper’ remained at length in manuscript form, until 1905, when it became a printed page, thanks to the decree by Nicola II which established freedom of belief with respect to the pre-Nikonian church. This duchovnyj list (spiritual paper) has an educational purpose, an edifying element and is an instrument for prayer. The themes and subjects represented are many and very varied including both sacred and secular ones. Down through the centuries the ‘flying paper’ of the Old believers remained true to the style typical of the miniature; while it also acquired and elaborated upon examples from the West, it did so without betraying the setting and ornamental decoration typical of the designed paper itself (risovannyj). It is after 1905, due to printing techniques, that we witness the production of texts which contain much richer messages, are richer in ornamental decoration, and remain faithful to the educational purpose while being reproducible with ease.