[125] I note (p. 155) a reference to an article on universal bibliographies in the Journal de Verdun, February, 1749, p. 89. I have not verified the reference.
[126] For identification and description of these bibliographies see Theodore Besterman, The Beginnings of Systematic Bibliography (2d ed.; [Oxford] and London, [1936]) and Petzholdt.
[127] He probably consulted the many treatises on what was then called historia litteraria, but these were historical accounts of the development of the various disciplines rather than bibliographies. Two brief guides to these great specialized bibliographies are well hidden. They are Benjamin Hederich, Notitia auctorum antiqua & media, oder Leben, Schrifften, Editiones und Censuren der Biblischen und entweder noch gantz oder auch nur in considerablen Fragmentis vorhandenen fürnehmsten Griechischen und Lateinischen Kirchen-Scholastischen- und Profan-Scribenten (Wittenberg, 1714), "Einleitung," pp. 2-144 and G. C. Hamberger, Zuverlässige Nachrichten von den vornehmsten Schriftstellern vom Anfange der Welt bis 1500 (4 v.; Lemgo, 1756-1764), I, 1-54, "Erste vorläufige Abhandlung. Von der Kentnis der Schriftsteller." These very interesting and instructive compilations are selective guides to the best bibliographies and are intended to aid students. They are limited almost exclusively to bibliographies of classical Greek and Latin literature, church history, and the related disciplines. Since the books in which they appear deal only with authors and subjects belonging to the period before 1500 and the bibliographies are similarly limited in scope, the usefulness of the bibliographies is obviously confined to giving information about the best current reference works in a few fields. No doubt the abundant bibliographical information in such a work as Heinrich Zedler, Grosses vollständiges Universal Lexikon aller Wissenschaften und Künste (68 v.; Halle, 1732-1754) was sufficient for most scholarly needs.
[128] See Bibliotheca selectissima (Amsterdam, 1743), I, 340, No. 2985. There is a copy of this catalogue in the Newberry Library.
[129] For a discussion of these difficulties see H. B. Van Hoesen's review of the Bibliographic Index in the Library Quarterly, X (1940), 272-274.
[130] See a review by A. S., Heidelbergische Jahrbücher der Literatur, 1812, pp. 644-656. The reviewer points out inaccuracies of various kinds, complains bitterly about the inconveniences of the alphabetical arrangement, and cites many lacking titles.
[131] Pp. 232-236.
[132] Pp. 249-252.
[133] Pp. 275-286.
[134] Pp. 470-472.