Taras Shevchenko, born in Moryntsi, Kyiv Governorate, in what is now Ukraine,[2] was nicknamed The Kobzar (also the name of a Ukrainian social role) after the publishing of this collection.

From that time on this title has been applied to Shevchenko's poetry in general and acquired a symbolic meaning of the Ukrainian national and literary revival.

Of these, the first 100 copies had 115 pages of text, but most of them, after the intervention of the censor, were removed and destroyed before the sale, and about ten, which Taras Shevchenko gave to friends — remained.

[9] Of all the lifetime editions of the works, the first "Kobzar" had the most attractive appearance: high-quality paper, convenient format, clear font.

After the arrest of Taras Shevchenko in 1847, the Kobzar was banned in the Russian Empire and confiscated from libraries and bookstores, as well as from individual citizens, which made this publication rare during the poet's lifetime.

A copy of the Kobzar, transcribed and painted by Taras Shevchenko's friends, which they presented to him instead of the one taken away by the guards after his return from exile, has been preserved.

"Kobzar" was published in 1860 at the expense of Platon Symyrenko, with whom Taras Shevchenko met during his last trip to Ukraine in 1859 in Mliiv.

Platon Simirenko - a well-known sugar producer and philanthropist in Ukraine - allocated 1,100 rubles for the publication of "Kobzar".

[10] In January–December 1861, an unordered selection of 69 poems by Taras Shevchenko was published in the magazine Osnova (Books I-XII) edited by Vasyl Bilozersky.

The process, which lasted ten years, ended in favor of D. Kozhanchikov (see: Bezyazychny V. Taras Shevchenko and bookseller Ivan Lysenkov... // Book trade.

[5] More extensive (containing many previously unpublished works of the poet) was the Prague edition of "Kobzar" in 1876, commissioned by the Kyiv "Community" Alexander Rusov.