London. 1821.
"A most valuable and judiciously compiled Catalogue."—Dibdin. "This Library contains the best and most useful edition of every Greek and Roman classic author, with the best translations in English and in some other modern languages."—Horne. First published in 1809.
[Harrisse (Henry).] Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima A Description of Works relating to America published between the Years 1492 and 1551 Imp. 8vo, pp. (8), liv, 519.
New-York Geo. P. Philes, MDCCCLXVI
Four hundred copies printed in imperial 8vo, one hundred and nine in 4to, ten of which are on Holland paper. It was undertaken at the suggestion of Mr. S. L. M. Barlow, of New York, and contains the titles of over three hundred books. As a specimen of American typography, it has probably never been surpassed. In regard to its merits it has received at the hands of some members of the Geographical Society of Paris very high praise, of which an English version (in part) will be found in Stevens' Bibliotheca Historica, followed by some rather severe criticism on the work by Mr. Stevens, who, writing in the third person, quotes largely from an article in the Athenæum of the 6th of October, 1866, of which Mr. Stevens is the author. The writer of this notice does not presume to enter into a controversy with, or a criticism upon, the works of either of these bibliographers, but he cannot help regretting that a work so elaborate, learned, and useful to the American bibliographer, as this Bibliotheca Americana is, should have been the vehicle of any exhibition of personal pique. We have been assured on very good authority that the blunder of "Ander Schiffahrt's" was really due to the proof-reader, and that the Index, in which Schiffahrt (Ander) is made to appear once more in propria persona, was not the work of Mr. Harrisse at all. Let it suffice for us to remark that for the student of the earliest of books relating to America, this book is indispensably necessary. We may add that Mr. Harrisse has, in some instances, quoted works from White Kennett's Bibliothecæ Americanæ Primordia, and made the remark that he has found nothing in the works so quoted relating to America. This has arisen from the fact that he has misapprehended the nature of that work, which purposely introduces many books which had no relation to America. The following is a continuation:
[Harrisse.] Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima A Description of Works relating to America published between the Years 1492 and 1551 Additions Imp. 8vo, pp. (iv), 40, 199, (1).
Paris Librairie Tross M.DCCC.LXXII
Two hundred copies printed in 8vo, and fifty copies in 4to. In the matter of printing and paper this volume exceeds in beauty that of its predecessor. Its contents cover the same ground; some titles contained in the former work are further elaborated, and many are entirely new. It will, perhaps, not be saying too much that many of them are only remotely related to America, but the author's careful researches and elaborate dissertations have combined to render the volume a very desirable addition to an American bibliographical collection.
[Harrisse.] A Brief Disquisition Concerning the Early History of Printing in America. Imp. 8vo.
New York: Privately Printed. 1866.