Piotr Mstsislavets
(16th century)

He came from a petty bourgeois family, and is a native of the town of Mstsislaul. It so happened that almost all his life he had to be "second." Piotr Timafeyevich Mstsislavets found himself in Moscow, when preparation to establish a printing-house was underway there, and skilled workers capable of making books by "artistic stamping" were looked for everywhere. So, he starting helping to Ivan Fiodorov and was practically dealing with first printing activities. Talented work of Piotr Mstsislavets, his fonts and ornaments were noted and appreciated by the tsar himself. The books by I. Fiodorov and P. Mstsislavets commended the activities of the tsar, but as time was passing by, when Ivan the Terrible adopted a course of cruelty and harassment of every kind of dissidence, Fiodorov and Mstsislavets left Moscow and headed for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was a kind of a protest. In Vilnya, our compatriot fitted out a printing-house at the house of Mamonich, the merchants. From that time, I. Fiodorov and P. Mstsislavets were following their own roads. Working separately, the printers demonstrated, however, that they were worthy of each other as skilful workmen. In 1575, Piotr Mstsislavets published a Gospel - the first book where his name was mentioned first. He was committed to enlightening the Belarusian people with the help of the Word.