Helle Maaslieb

Project Manager in the Archival Library of the Estonian Literary Museum

Helle Maaslieb studied library collection and Estonian literature and language, and now she works at the Archive Library of the Estonian Literary Museum located in Tartu. The Archive Library collects, preserves, and makes all Estonian-language publications available to researchers (regardless of their place of publication). This year, when the 500th anniversary of the Estonian book is celebrated, the library is closely associated with this event.

Landmarks of Estonian book history – foreign and own

In 2025, it will be 500 years since the publication of the first Estonian-language book and its ban in 1525. The history of Estonian books began with the destruction of the book. In 1958, evidence of an Estonian-language print published in 1525 was found. The unexpected discovery, which extended the history of the Estonian-language book by ten years, was revealed in a comprehensive study of the history of the Lübeck Reformation by church historian Wilhelm Jannasch, published in Germany. Three major Estonian Book Years have been celebrated nationwide in the past. The first took place in 1935, the 400th anniversary of the publication of the “Wanradt and Koell Catechism”, which was considered the first Estonian-language book at the time. As part of the celebration of the Book Year, an interactive web platform “Loo lugu!” was also created, completed with the support of the Ministry of Education and Research, which offers the opportunity to discover the 500-year story of Estonian books – the most important works, authors, events and stories. And also add your own stories related to books and literature. The page summarizes the history of Estonian book culture and the written word from its beginnings to the present day. In my presentation, I will briefly introduce the main moments of Estonian book history and hope that it will create a comparative context in Baltic book history.

Date and time: 2025-12-02, 11:25-11:45 (20 min)

Hall: GAMMA