This selection represents just a few of the Slavic books and manuscripts that can be found in the Rare Book Room of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.
Title: Pomianyk of Horodyshche.
Date: 1484-1737.
Call Number: PG 34 R845 Item 1-3 in 1 Box
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This is one of the first known literary documents produced by Ukrainian monasteries. It is one of the oldest dated Cyrillic manuscripts in North America, containing a register of deceased to be remembered at a requiem service. The manuscript was discovered in 1902 in an old wooden church, believed to be the remnant of a once famous monastery in the village of Horodyshche in Volhynia, Western Ukraine. It was found by Oleksander Kolessa, a distinguished Slavic scholar and one of the founders of the Ukrainian Free Academy in Prague.
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With a grant from the Ukrainian Studies Fund, Dr. Rudnyckyj purchased the manuscript from the Kolessa family in 1951. The Pomianyk has been a subject of published studies that are available in the Slavic Collection.
Title: Psalterium Winnipegense Cyrillicum.
Date: 1735-1745.
Call Number: RBR PG 34 R845 Item 1-3 in 1 Box
- Consists of Books of Psalms from the Old Testament used in all Divine Services. The manuscript most likely originated from the Pskov region in Russia. It contains 114 psalms, of which the first 17 are missing. The Psalterium Winnipegense Cyrillicum was purchased in 1964 by Dr. Rudnyckyj through a rare book dealer in Montreal.
Title: Evaggelia : chrez vsiu svatuiu velikuiu strastnuiu sedmitsu na Liturhiakh, strastekh Krystovykh, i na chasiakh tserkikh : Chtomae.
Date: 1771
Call Number: RBR BS 2554 C45 1771
- Printed in 1771 in the Pochaiv Monastery in Volyn (Ukraine). The text is in Old Church Slavic and consists of selected readings from the Gospel. Through its history, the Evaggelia passed through the hands of several owners, eventually making its way from Ukraine to Winnipeg. Among the book’s interesting features, which attest to its remarkable history, are a blue and white striped paper cover representing the Royal Movers of Hungary and a stamp depicting a chalice with a cross and feather, which may indicate that one of its owners was a priest or came from a family of priests. In 2000 the Evaggelia was donated to the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections by the Walter Klymkiw family.
Title: Roczne dzieie koscielne od Roku Panskiego 1198 az do lat naszych.
Author: Jan Kwiatkiewicz
Call Number: Please ask staff for assistance.
- Church Chronicle from 1198 to 1698. Published in parts from 1695-1706 in Kalisz.
Title: Annalium Poloniae ab obitu Vladislai IV. Climacter Primus: The Annals of Poland.
Author: Wespasjan Kochowski
Call Number: Please ask staff for assistance
- Authored by Polish poet and historian Wespasjan Kochowski. It was printed in Krakow in 1683. Written in Latin, the work chronicles major events in the history of Poland.
Title: Zielnik. Herbarzem z jekyka lacinskiego zowia – The Polish Herbarium.
Date: 1613
Call Number: Please ask staff for assistance
- Authored by Polish botanist Szymon Syreniusz Syrénski. It was printed in Krakow in 1613; and acquired by the University of Manitoba Libraries in 1950. The Herbarium is composed of 1,538 pages of Polish, Latin and German text and illustrations. It contains an index of illnesses and cures in Polish and three separate indices of plants in Latin, Polish and German.
Title: Entnografichnyi zbirnyk.
Date: 1895-1914.
Call Number: RBR PG 3925 N35
- Published by Naukove Tovarystvo imeny Shevchenka (The Shevchenko Scientific Society) in L’viv under the esteemed Ukrainian historian and political leader, Mykhailo Hrushevs’kyi. This is an excellent resource consisting of 36 volumes that focus on Ukrainian ethnography and folklore.
Title: Slownjk Cesko-nemecky Josefa Jungmanna.
Date: 1835.
Call Number: RBR PG 4645 G5 J8 1835
- The five volume Czech-German dictionary was compiled by Josef Jungmann, a translator and lexicographer. Jungmann played an important role in the revival of the Czech language under the Hapsburg dynasty.
Title: Novi ukrajins’ki pisni pro hromads’ki spravy (1764-1880).
Date: 1881
Call Number: RBR ML 3690 D7
- Written by Mykhailo Drahomaniv, Ukrainian political thinker and essayist. It was published in Geneva in 1881. This is an analytical study of Ukrainian political songs from 1764-1880. Drahomaniv was renowned for creating a reformed Ukrainian alphabet, commonly referred to as the Drahomanivka. One of the features of this alphabet is the letter “j”, which is used through the monograph.
Title: Muzyka Bornianskago.
Date: 18uu
Call Number: Please ask staff for assistance.
- Musical works by the eminent Ukrainian composer Dmytro Bornians’kyi (Bortniansky), 1751-1825. The publication contains 35 concerts of sacred music for piano accompaniment. This particular copy is missing songs 6, 8-10, 22, 28, 31, 32 and 34. Found throughout, is a stamp bearing the Imperial Russian Two-Headed Eagle with the inscription “Pridvornaia Pevchaia Kapella”.= Laureate Singing Capella.
Other Rare Manuscripts:
Lepkyj, Bohdan (1872-1941). Manuscript of Two Voices = Dva holosy. 1911. 2 p.
- Manuscript is signed “Nestor”
Makovey, Osyp (1867-1925). Manuscript of Unhappy Incident = Neshchasna Pryhoda. 1898. 7 p.
- Date and author’s signature on page 7.
Vovchok, Marko (1834-1907). Manuscript of Cossack Blood = Kozats’ka krov. 1857. 10 p.
Spakowski, Fannie. Three poems; two letters from Fannie Spakowski to Dr. A.J. Hunter, dated June 4, 1926 and August 25, 1926.
Fragment of a printed Gospel: The Parable of the Prodigal Son = Pritchi Bludnaho Syna. 1626. 6 p.
Fragment of a handwritten Gospel according to St. Matthew = Ezhe ot Matfeia Sv. Evanheliia. Kniga rodstva Iisusa Khrista. 2 p.
Manuscipt of essay on the partition of Poland in 1772. Written January 12 – May 1, 1845.
