The “Little Traveller’s Book”, circa 1522

The “Little Traveller’s Book” marks the beginning of printing in Lithuania. This is a truly special publication.  Featuring specific traits of both the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the “Little Traveller’s Book” connects the age of printing that began in Vilnius in 1522 with the origins of the Lithuania’s printed word in Czechia (1517–1520). 
The composite “Traveller’s Book” consists of Psalms, the Book of Hours (Часослов), eight pairs of akathists (liturgical hymns chanted and listened to while standing) and canons, Hexaemeron (Шестоднев), the Canon of Repentance (Канон покаяльный), the Daily Cycle of Services (Последование церковного собрания), and  Computus Paschalis. Two of the akathists are written by Skaryna himself: the initial letters of the hymns that constitute them form acrostics of his name. 
The year of the “Traveller’s Book’s” publication can be determined by the Computus, which lists all the Easter dates for 1523–1543 (which means that the book had to be published before 1523, so about 1522). The place of publication – the most glorious city of Vilnius (у великославном мѣсте Виленском) – is indicated at the end of the Horologion.
Some specialists view 22 parts of this book as separate publications. It is now suggested that the parts of the book might have been printed in more than one place and at more than one time. The acclaimed Baltist Ilya Lemeshkin believes that some of the quires of this book (the akathists and canons, which are closer to the 1517–1520 publishing stage by their artistic and print quality) could be published earlier, in Prague. In the publisher’s concluding address (Писаныи речи в сеи книжице), the entirety of all the components of the publication is called the “Little Traveller’s Book”. This indicates that Skaryna viewed the sum of all the parts as one publication.

This 1519 woodcut features Woldrzich Welenski’s workshop.