Leonty Magnitsky's "Arithmetic", 1703

"Arithmetic, That Is, the Science of Numbers" by Leonty Magnitsky is the first printed course of mathematics in the Church Slavonic book language. It was published in Moscow in 1703 and circulated among the students of the School of Mathematics and Navigation, where Magnitsky had taught since its founding in 1701.

Magnitsky (1669–1739), a native of Ostashkov, was appointed a teacher at the Navigation School by order of Peter I and headed it from 1732. His work is a true educational encyclopaedia: the first book covers arithmetic, progressions and logarithms, the second algebra, geometry and matters "pertaining to navigation". The first print run was 2400 copies. Mikhail Lomonosov called the "Arithmetic", together with Meletius Smotrytsky's "Grammar", the "gates of his learning".

The text is printed in black and red. The frontispiece shows a double-headed eagle with a sword and an orb, with the figures of Pythagoras and Archimedes below it. The title page states that the book was issued by command of Tsar Peter Alexeyevich "for the instruction of wisdom-loving Russian youths". The binding is of leather-covered pasteboard, with clasps.