The printer Barbu Bucuresteanul

the printer barbu bucuresteanul   An iconic figure of 18th-century Romania

In the 18th Century, when the Romanian Principalities, Wallachia and Moldavia, were under Ottoman control and were ruled by the so-called Phanariotes, Greek noblemen coming from Phanarion quarter in Constantinople, Bucharest saw a spectacular development. The small merchant town gradually developed into a crafts centre, an education centre and the home of an ethnically and culturally diverse society. Many of the old crafts gained fresh impetus at this time, but new ones also appeared, and among them was book printing. The number of printers increased, and the growing production of printing presses was primarily supported by the Church. The documents of the time suggest that bishops and archbishops would regularly hire printing press operators, a valued and refined profession in the 18th Century. The names of some of these craftsmen has been preserved, and what we know about their lives today also helps us understand better the life of the Bucharest people during that period. Some of the best know such printers were Stoica Iacovici and his sons, as well as Barbu Bucuresteanul, all of them living in the same period but very different in terms of character and destiny. Historian Daniela Lupu, of the Bucharest City Museum, told us more:


 "Whereas Stoica was an extrovert, an enthusiastic and exuberant nature, always in search of profits and the head of a large family (he had 3 sons and an unknown number of daughters), Barbu Bucuresteanul was an introvert, a loner, without much wealth. He had to leave Bucharest, where he had probably been born, and look for work in Moldavia, because in mid-18th century, Stoica Iacovici's family were controlling most of the printing market in Bucharest. Stoica was working together with his relatives, he had a large team and he had significant influence on the ruler of Wallachia and on the metropolitan bishop, so they were getting most of the jobs."


In order to escape the quasi-monopoly of the Stoica Iacovici family, Barbu Bucuresteanul had to work outside Bucharest. Daniela Lupu:


"After completing his apprenticeship in one of Bucharest's printing workshops, we suspect that Barbu went looking for work in Moldavia, at the Radauti Archbishopric. In 1744, he started as a master printer of the Radauti Bishopric Printing Press. He returned to Bucharest in 1747, and was hired by the printing company run by Wallachia's Metropolitan Bishopric. He headed the workshop and trained apprentices until around 1758, when he died, apparently of plague. During his 12-year career, Barbu printed 8 church service books as well as prayer books. One of these was a pocket book intended for the daily prayers of believers, in their private homes, rather than for use in church."


In 1747, Barbu Bucuresteanul returned to his native town and continued to publish religious works both in Romanian with Cyrillic script and in Old Church Slavonic. It wasn't unusual for a craftsman to travel in search for work, Daniela Lupu says:


"It's clear that just as in the early days of printing, printers had a nomadic life, being always on the road looking for orders and new markets, that is if they didn't happen to find a patron in the guise of some church dignitary. Even Barbu became in the end the printer of the Metropolitan Church, having demonstrated his skill. After a lot of travelling he ended up settling in the city of his birth."


In 1747, the first book printed by Barbu Bucuresteanul was published by the Metropolitan Church of Hungaro-Wallachia in Bucharest. This was a book of small format called "The Prayers of Every Day of the Week". Barbu's name does not appear on the title page, but he does sign the preface. This tells us that he was also responsible for publishing the book. He didn't work alone, but as part of a team that involved other printers, such as Grigore Stan from Brasov. Daniela Lupu tells us more:


"One interesting thing is that Barbu and Grigore sign an employment contract, to use the modern term, with the metropolitan Neophytos the Cretan from Bucharest. Unfortunately, not many such contracts have been preserved to this day, although there must have been many of them. So this document is extremely valuable, for we can learn details such as how much the printers earned, and what were their obligations and rights. The contract is not very detailed, but it is very important in the context of the 18th century because only two contracts of this kind have been preserved. We find from the contract that printers were employed for one job only. It also stipulated that they would receive food every day, that also included bread, wine, salt, as well as soap, candles to use when working at night, and firewood."


In the absence of clear information and documents, it is assumed that Barbu Bucuresteanul stayed and worked in Bucharest until the end of his life, which is believed to have occurred in 1758. It is possible that he may have been one of the victims of the plague epidemic that ravaged these parts between 1756 and 1759. 



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Publicat: 2018-11-24 11:59:00
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