Presidential adviser Yelena Yampolskaya proposes abandoning the "Azbuka" and calling it the "Bukvar"
Well then, I propose that we return to the ancient Primer of Karion Istomin, hieromonk of the Chudov Monastery in Moscow, writer and court poet, who produced the first illustrated Russian alphabet book.
From 1679 Karion Istomin headed the Moscow Printing House. To his pen belongs the illustrated Primer, which became the best teaching manual of its day. The manuscript of the Primer was written in 1691, and in 1692 Karion presented a copy of it to Tsarina Natalia Kirillovna and another to Tsarina Praskovya Fyodorovna.
In 1694 the Primer was published at the Printing House, with engravings by Leonty Bunin, in an edition of 106 copies. In 1695 the Great Primer was written for Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and published in 1696 in an edition of 20 copies. The book contains 43 sheets engraved on copper and bound together, each of which shows an initial letter, beside it objects beginning with that letter, edifying verses and explanations.
