Of all the older general bibliographies, however, there are few that can compare with old David Clement's 'Bibliothèque Curieuse Historique et Critique, ou Catalogue Raisonné de Livres Dificiles à Trouver.' Not, I hasten to add, for its accuracy or even the amount of information it contains. But there is a charm about these nine old quarto volumes with their handsome type and title-pages in red and black that appeals irresistibly to the collector. He was a true bibliophile, this worthy Lutheran pastor, and his gradations of rarity are delightfully expressive and concise. 'Rare,' 'très-rare,' 'fort-rare,' he describes his treasures, and occasionally 'peu-commun'; but he does not hesitate to condemn as 'rare et mauvaise' an edition that disturbs his bibliographical soul. Alas! his work was only carried as far as the letter H (Hesiod).
Early-Printed Books.
For early-printed books the collector will require Ludwig Hain's 'Repertorium Bibliographicum . . . usque ad annum 1500,' which was published at Stuttgart in four octavo volumes, 1826-38, and is still the standard work upon this subject. For those who collect fifteenth-century books this work is essential, for all catalogues and descriptions of books of that period refer to it. Generally the mere number of the work in Hain's monumental list is referred to, such as 'H 3234,' which means that the volume offered for sale is as described by Hain, number 3234 in the 'Repertorium.' In 1891 Dr. Konrad Burger added an Index of Printers to this great work, while between 1898 and 1902 Dr. W. Copinger published a supplement, adding some 7,000 new entries to Hain's 16,299. Dr. Burger added a further supplement in 1908, and between 1905 and 1910 Dr. Dietrich Reichling published appendices, additions and emendations to all of these, adding an index thereto in 1911. For early German books, Panzer's 'Annalen der altern Deutschen Litteratur' to 1526, which appeared at Nürnberg in two volumes between 1788 and 1805, has not yet been entirely superseded; though considerable additions have been made by Mozler, Weller, and Petzholdt.
Mr. C. E. Sayle's 'List of Early English Printed Books in the University Library at Cambridge, 1475 to 1640,' in four octavo volumes, was published by that university between 1900 and 1907; while for books printed at Oxford from the establishment of the first press there in 1478 to 1640, you must consult Mr. Falconer Madan's 'The Early Oxford Press,' published in 1895.
Blades' 'Life and Typography of William Caxton' I have already mentioned; and although many of us may never behold a Caxton save through a sheet of glass, yet every book-collector should be acquainted with the work of this great father of the English press. Blades' work first appeared in two quarto volumes, published respectively in 1861 and 1863, and is much to be preferred to 'The Biography and Typography of William Caxton' which is practically a reprint in a cheaper form issued in one octavo volume in 1877. A second edition of this last appeared in 1882. In the Preface to the 1877 reprint, Blades states that 'only one additional fact of any importance has been added, viz. that Caxton was married . . .' and that 'the bibliography has been curtailed.'
Proctor's 'Index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum from the Invention of Printing to the Year MD.,' begun in 1898, was cut short by his untimely death. The Museum authorities have now in course of publication an important work entitled 'A Catalogue of Books printed in the Fifteenth Century now in the British Museum,' which is being compiled by Mr. A. W. Pollard and his assistants; it will be completed in six folio (really atlas quarto) volumes. Of these the first part, dealing with block-books and the productions of German presses, appeared in 1908; Part ii., also German-printed books, in 1912; Part iii., Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary, in 1913: while Part iv., the productions of Italy, appeared in 1916. Parts v. and vi. will contain the works of England, France, and other countries, Part vi. also containing a general index to the entire work. The Introduction to Part i. gives a valuable résumé of the study of scientific bibliography from Panzer in 1793. Mr. Gordon Duff's great work on the English incunabula, 'Fifteenth Century Books,' was issued by the Bibliographical Society in 1917. It contains fifty-three facsimiles, and records the existence of 439 books or fragments issued in English, or by the printers in this country, before the end of the year 1500.
In France much valuable work has been done on the early presses of that country. M. Anatole Claudin has put forth some extremely useful books on the early printers of Poitiers, Limoges, Rheims, and of many other towns; whilst for the Exposition Universelle of 1900 he prepared a monumental work upon the early printers of Paris. This sumptuous book, entitled 'Histoire de l'Imprimerie en France au XVe et au XVIe Siècle,' was printed in two large quarto (atlas quarto) volumes, copiously adorned with illuminated and other illustrations. The chapter on Antoine Verard is delightful.
There is a large number of books, too, on the incunabula of various European towns and districts, such as Augsburg, Bavaria, Belgium, Bohemia, Ferrara, Mainz, Lyons, Mantua, Nürnberg, Rome, Rouen, Toulouse, to mention only a few. For the incunabula printed with Greek characters Legrand's 'Bibliographie hellénique,' which appeared in two octavo volumes in 1885, is useful.
For a description of the early 'block-books,' the prototype of printing, the collector must have recourse to Sotheby's beautiful work entitled 'Principia Typographica,' published in three large quarto volumes in 1858. It contains no less than a hundred and twenty full-page facsimiles, some in colour, of block-books, early types, paper-marks, etc., and is one of the most important works on the history of printing that has ever been produced.[55] He will do well also to acquire Bigmore and Wyman's 'Bibliography of Printing,' a valuable work which appeared in three quarto volumes, 1880-86; and there is an immense amount of information concerning individual printers and stationers with their productions in 'The Library' (in progress), the three large volumes of 'Bibliographica' published in twelve parts between 1895 and 1897, and the transactions of the Bibliographical Society.
Engravings.