The work and its date
Martynas Mažvydas’s Catechismusa prasty szadei…, published in Königsberg in 1547, is recognised as the first printed book in Lithuanian. Vilnius University Library identifies the work in its collection description, and Kordyzon’s study places it within the city’s vernacular printing.[1][2]
“First printed book in Lithuanian” identifies a publishing event. It does not date the beginning of the spoken language or establish the first use of writing by its speakers.
Instruction, reading and song
The book combines religious teaching with an alphabet or primer and a hymn section containing words and musical notation. Kordyzon relates its structure to earlier Polish-language catechisms while also identifying Latin and German sources behind the contents.[2]
That combination makes the work more than a list of religious questions and answers. Readers studying it can distinguish the catechetical text from the tools for learning to read and sing.
A book within a printing network
The USTC catalogue attributes the printing to Hans Weinreich. Kordyzon’s comparison includes German, Lithuanian, Polish and Prussian catechisms produced in Königsberg, rather than treating the Lithuanian book as an isolated invention.[3][2]
The study examines introductions and other material around the main texts, as well as format and design. It explains how producers presented the books and their intended uses. Those stated aims are evidence about publishing, not a measurement of how many people read a copy or learned to read from it.[2]
The copies and their identifiers
USTC record 250096 lists copies in Vilnius University Library and the university library in Toruń, Poland. The Vilnius shelfmark is LR 5650. The library’s own description reports two known surviving copies and describes its copy as rebound in the nineteenth century.[3][1]
A later binding belongs to the history of that particular copy. It should not be used to reconstruct the book’s original appearance. The edition record and the copy record answer different questions.
Why a catalogue counts leaves
The catalogue describes the edition as forty leaves, with the gathering signatures A-E8; Kordyzon’s comparative table also records forty leaves. A leaf has two sides, each a page.[3][2][4]
This article retains the catalogue’s measurement. It does not assume that a statement of eighty page surfaces is the same thing as a count of printed or numbered pages. The difference matters when comparing short collection descriptions.
To identify this work in another study, retain the author, short title, place, year and edition identifier. For a claim about one surviving copy, add its library and shelfmark.
References
Sources accessed on 5 November 2026. The locators below identify the relevant passages.
Vilnius University Library. The first book in the Lithuanian language: Catechismusa prasty szadei…. Institutional collection interpretation. Accessed 5 November 2026.
Locator: Heading; object description; paragraph beginning “Martynas Mažvydas”; paragraph on the two surviving copies.
Wojciech Kordyzon. 2023. Production of Vernacular Catechisms in Early Modern Königsberg (1545–1575), Its Dynamics and Goals Defined by the Print Agents. Knygotyra, 80, pp. 147-174. DOI: 10.15388/Knygotyra.2023.80.127. Vilnius University Press. Journal research article. Accessed 5 November 2026.
Locator: Pages 149 to 152 (method and limits); page 153, Figure 1, 1547 Lithuanian row; pages 159 and 160 (Mažvydas); pages 171 and 172 (conclusions); page 172, source bibliography item 7.
Universal Short Title Catalogue, University of St Andrews. Catechismusa prasty szadei: makslas skaitima raschta yr giesmes del kriksczianistes bei del berneliu jaunu nauiey sugulditas. USTC 250096; item dated 1547; Vilnius University Library, LR 5650. Institutional bibliographic catalogue record. Accessed 5 November 2026.
Locator: USTC edition 250096: bibliographic details and Known Copies; Vilnius copy LR 5650.
University of Bristol, Print Services. Print glossary. Institutional technical glossary. Accessed 5 November 2026.
Locator: Entries “Leaf” and “Page”.