Autographs of the Stolniks Melnitskii in the Ancient Storage of the Pushkin House

Abstract

The article presents autographs of Nazarii Petrovich, Iakov Nazar’evich and Ivan Nazar’evich Melnitskii kept in the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academmy of Science, in the Ancient Storage (Drevlekhranilishche) named after V. I. Malyshev: their letters to their close relative Gavrila Alexandrovich Melnitskii and the Latin-Russian dictionary, the Latin part of which was written by Iakov Nazar’evich Melnitskii. The letters of Iakov and Ivan Melnitskii relate to the different circumstances of the Crimean campaigns of the late 17th century, in the first of which Nazarii Petrovich Melnitski was involved (he was responsible for escorting to Azov suppliers of provisions caught in embezzlement), while his sons Nikita and Semen participated in the second (Nikita served under the command of Patrick Gordon). A letter from Nazarii Melnitski tells about the circumstances of his dispatch to serve in the conquered Tavan’ and Kazykermen’. Letters date back to 1695, 1696, and 1698/99. They were sent from Moscow, presumably, to the estate of G. A. Melnitskii. The Latin-Russian dictionary, in the creation of which Iakov Nazar’evich Melnitskii played the main role, is not only of lexicographic interest. On the one hand, it allows us to evaluate the education of the Petrine generation of service people; on the other hand, — to make some observations regarding the organization of scribal work in creating such books. Iakov Melnitskii not only wrote the Latin part of the dictionary, but also organized people who filled out its Russian part, and paid for their work. Despite the fact that the Russian part of the dictionary was not completed, the book was bound. Iakov Melnitskii gave it a complete look, writing the chapters and placingthe output note on the binding sheets. The article suggests a paleographic analysis of the manuscripts under consideration and demonstrates both the general features characteristic of the manuscript culture of the beginning of the Petrine era and the individual features of each
scribe. The article is supplemented by the publication of samples of the handwriting of stolniks Melnitskii and the texts of three their letters.

Keywords:

Melnitskii, stolnik, clerk, Crimean campaigns, letter, Latin-Russian dictionary, manuscript culture, handwriting