The “Journey” of Vasily Poznyakov as part of the Old Believer collection from Tomsk State University Research Library

The article considers the issue of late copies of ancient Russian “journeys” on the example of the work of Vasily Poznyakov. This text was “in the shadow” of a similar work by Trifon Korobeinikov for a long time. It is currently being actively studied, but late copies and manuscripts from regional repositories have not yet been fully introduced into scientific circulation. The article considers a copy of the text of Poznyakov's “Journey”, which is a part of the Old Believer collection of the late 18th century, stored in Tomsk State University Research Library (B-777). The collection contains scribe’s notes that allow one to establish the approximate time and place of its creation. The text from B-777 was checked against the published texts of Poznyakov's “Journey”, as well as selectively with the text of “Journey” by Trifon Korobeinikov. The similarity of the text B-777 with Poznyakov's “Journey” as part of the copy now stored in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents (Archive Copy) has been established. The similarity lies in the presence of the end of the text, which is absent in other copies, as well as in the some spellings of some names. There are also differences, the main of which is the date at the end of the tsar's letter. It allows setting the estimate date of the protograph. The comparison of names indicates that fragments of the text written before 1581 were preserved in B-777. Suggestions are made about the protograph of B-777. It is concluded that there is a group of copies associated with the Archive Copy: this is the Archive Copy itself, the protograph of B-777, and B-777. In general, the text of B-777 is closely related to the Archive Copy, although it has some peculiarities: the availability of the date of a possible protograph, the editing of some names, and individual special readings. Thus, the text of Poznyakov's “Journey” continued to be copied even in the 18th century among Siberian Old Believers. Further research is needed to clarify the relationship between these copies, but the example above shows again the importance of studying copies from regional repositories. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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