50 litas coin issued to mark the 450th Anniversary of the first Lithuanian book.
Martynas Mažvydas (1510 near Žemaičių Naumiestis (now in Šilutė district municipality) - May 21, 1563 in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) was the author and the editor of the first printed book in the Lithuanian language.
In the year 1547 Mažvydas compiled and published the first printed Lithuanian book - the Catechism (The Simple Words of Catechism), that was the beginning of literature and printing in Lithuanian. The book was printed in Königsberg.
The book consists of the dedication in Latin To the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, two prefaces: one in Latin (in prose), and one in Lithuanian (in verse), a primer, the catechism, and the book of songs. The rhymed preface in Lithuanian, The Appeal of The Small Book Itself Unto Lithuanians and Samogitians, is the first authentic verse in Lithuanian. An acrostic, the initial letters of its lines from 3 to 19 downwards, form the name of the author, Martinus Masvidius, thus confirming his authorship.
The prefaces state the aims of the author, namely, to educate people and spread culture, to fight the remains of heathen beliefs, and to consolidate the Protestant religion. The style of the preface is distinctly rhetorical; it is the most prominent example of syntactical-intonational prosody in Lithuanian literature.
Approximately 200 copies were printed; only two have survived. One is held at the Vilnius University Library in Lithuania, and another at Torun University Library in Poland