I never heard of this guy before but he was pretty popular in his day. "Franciszek Skaryna; was a Belarusian humanist, physician, translator and one of the first book printers in Eastern Europe, laying the groundwork for the development of the Belarusian language.
On 6 August 1517, his first edition was released in the Old Belarusian language: “The Psalter”. The Psalter” nearly comprises all, what was in other biblical books of Holy Scripture. Then he released a new book every two months (10 September, 6 October, 5 December, 2 January 1518, 9 January, 19 January). Then, on the 10th of August, he published four books at the same time. The culmination of his life's work was printing a translation of the Bible in twenty-two books under the common name Biblia Ruska during 1517 to 1519. Initially he published “The Little Travel Book”. Then in 1525 “Apostol” was published. Skaryna's Bible breaks the existing rules of that time. It contains text from the publisher, his comments, forewords and afterwords. In addition it contains prints with his image. It is the first such case and the last in the history of the publication of Bibles in Eastern Europe. (wiki)
Several cultural organizations are named after Skaryna, particularly the Frantsishak Skaryna Belarusian Language Society and the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum, London.
- Streets are named after Francysk Skaryna in Minsk, Polatsk, Vitebsk, Nesvizh, Orsha, Slutsk and many other cities of Belarus.
- Gomel State University is named after Francysk Skaryna.
- There are monuments to Francysk Skaryna in Polatsk, Minsk, Lida, Vilnius and Prague.
- There are special awards in Belarus: Skarina Medal (1989) and the Order of Skaryna (1995)
- In 1969 Boris Stepanov filmed a movie “Я, Францыск Скарына ” (I, Francysk Skoryna).
- In 1991 Francysk Skaryna was depicted on the Soviet Union 1 rubble coin.
- As recently as 2005, a protest was staged in his honor when his namesake street was renamed "Independence Ave."
- His works acknowledged by UNESCO
Rygor Ravyaka, Associate Professor at the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radio Electronics, scanned the woodcuts of Skaryna’s Bible and ran them through a special computer program which made it possible to reveal hidden images. Professor believes that Skaryna used the “mirror trick” in order to hide information. If you hold a mirror perpendicularly to the picture, in some places new images are formed out of chaotic lines and dots, with one half of the image visible on paper, and another one in the mirror. For example, Professor Ravyaka discovered a human figure concealed in an ornamental pattern; a miniature with the letter “P” contained a reversed picture of a two-headed eagle, possibly symbolizing the Russian Empire which was then not too successful in its military endeavors; Skaryna included the portrait of Kanstantsin Astrozhsky, his rich patron, into the letter “A”; and in the letter “M” one can discover the image of Medusa, a beast from the ancient Greek mythology, which was defeated by Perseus who avoided Medusa’s deadly stare by looking into his (sic!) mirror-polished shield. link source
In searching for "Snowden's carriage" coming out of Francysk Skaryna's books, I found almost nothing attributed to Skaryna but discovered that he hired out the woodblock carvings to others. This site gives a list of the names of art houses/artists used for the illustrations in his books but it would sure save some time if you could just tell me/us where you discovered this Snowden's carriage was from Skaryna's book.
TIA.Found some of the art work here and here but still no Snowden's carriage or 1500's "steam car".
