The Facsimile Edition of the First Lithuanian Book in Print

The first ever Lithuanian printed book „The Simple words of Catechism" by M. Mažvydas is to be released in the form of a facsimile by the printing house „Petro ofsetas". It is expected that the facsimile will be ready by 2017, when the 470 anniversary of the „Catechism" will be celebrated.

So far there were several attempts to produce the facsimiles but their quality was rather poor. The state has to undertake the responsibility to take care and preserve properly the ancient most valuable books. The facsimiles produced have to be as close to the authentic version as possible: the proper facsimile has to take into account such paper characteristics as colour, thickness, density, binding technique of the book, etc.

Ms. N. Klingaitė-Dasevičienė, the head of the Research and Heritage Collections Centre of the Vilnius University Library announced, that „The facsimile of the „Catechism" will be released in 100 copies, 10 of which will be handed over to the Vilnius University. Having in mind that only two original copies of „Catechism" have survived in the world, the decision to print the high quality facsimiles serves as a great emotional factor to Lithuania.