helpForNav
Language: spacer Register spacer Login spacer
HOME LIBRARIESTreasures - National Library of Estonia



ESTONIA
RETURN TO "LIBRARIES"
This page is maintained by Mr. Toomas Schvak
Bookbinding by Eduard Taska
Taska, Eduard , Leather bookbinding (content: Bible, Tallinn 1940)
The Bible (Tartu;Tallinn, 1940) in a luxurious leather binding to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first Bible in Estonian. Brown vegetable-tanned leather binding with the motives of the national ornament. The decoration has been pressed into the cover by the cliché. The gilt cover title. The bookbinding has been made in the studio of the most famous Estonian leather artist Eduard Taska (1890-1942) by his design. E. Taska is the founder of the contemporary Estonian leather art. He won the Grand Prix for his bookbindings in the world exhibition in Paris in 1937.
Top of the page
Leyen Spiegel
Stahl, Heinrich , Book of sermons by Heinrich Stahl
The book of sermons by Heinrich Stahl is one of the oldest fully survived books in the Estonian language and the oldest book in Estonian in the National Library of Estonia. The author of the book Heinrich Stahl (a.1600-1657), a German clergyman born in Tallinn, has played an important part in founding the Estonian written language, he has written the first Estonian grammar book. The book with the German title "Leyen Spiegel" and the German parallel text was addressed to the local German pastors in the first place. The book was printed in Tallinn by H.Westphal in 1641 and 1649 in two parts. At the beginning of the 18th century the present copy of the National Library of Estonia has belonged to the churchwarden's assistant, a peasant from the seaside village of North-Estonia, Taberla Jost. The title page of the first part reproduced here is decorated with the wood cut border and a vignette.
Top of the page
The Bible in Estonian
Unknown, The Bible in Estonian
The first edition of the Bible in Estonian was printed in Tallinn in 1739 by J.J. Köhler. The main translator of the Bible was Anton Thor Helle (1683-1748), a clergyman and writer, the developer of the Estonian written language. The translation of the Bible into the North-Estonian language strengthened its position to become the common written language in Estonia. The baroque title page is in red-and-black and the engraved frontispiece with the scenes from the Bible has been printed in St.Petersburg, Russia, engraved by the Russian artist of the Italian origin Philipp Mattarnovy after the drawing of C.H. Strenge.
Top of the page
Bookbinding by Peeter Kippik
Kippik, Peeter , Leather bookbinding (content: Ado Reinvald, Poems, 1904)
Luxurious bookbinding in the Art Nouveau style made for the collection of poems (Tartu; 1904) of the Estonian poet Ado Reinvald. The author of the the dark-green morocco binding is an Estonian bookbinding master Peeter Kippik (1880-1925) who worked in Tartu and later owned a bindery in St. Petersburg, Russia. The decoration is in the technique of intarsia and old tooling. The edges are gilt, ornamented and coloured with the enamel, the doublure and the fly leaf are made of moiré silk. The two bookbindings by Peeter Kippik held in the National Library of Estonia are the only known works by this master in Estonia.
Top of the page
New Testament in Estonian
Unknown, The New Testament in the North-Estonian language
The first edition of the New Testament in the North-Estonian language from 1715. Before that the New Testament had been published in the South-Estonian language in 1686. The main translators of the New Testament were the pastors Johann Hornung (1660-1715) and Adrian Virginius (1663-1706). The book was printed in Tallinn by the printing office of J.C. Brendeken. Only 400 copies were printed and so it has become very rare. The preface in German gives a historical survey of the earlier prints in Estonian. The title page shows a woodcut of the panorama of Tallinn, most probably the work of a local master.
Top of the page
Exhibition Space
The European Library Exhibition

Discover the exhibitions held in the great national libraries of Europe through a single access point. Still on display: Napoleonic wars, unique buildings and magnificent treasures.

NLE - Exhibitions

NLIB - Exhibitions

The NLIB currently features the following exhibitions and web-exhibitions.