American libraries and especially town libraries seldom have any books
sufficiently rare to deserve great particularity of description. If
for any reason it is thought necessary to give a minute account of a
book or of a collection good models may be found in Trömel’s Biblioth.
amér., Lpz., 1861, 8º, Stevens’s Historical nuggets, Lond., 1862, 2
v. 16º, Weller’s Repertorium bibliographicum, Nördlingen, 1864, 8º,
Harrisse’s Biblioth. Amer. vetustissima, N. Y., 1866, 8º, Tiele’s Mém.
bibliog. sur les journaux des navig. néerlandaises, Amst., 1867, 8º,
and the titles of the rarer books in Sabin’s Dict. of books rel. to
America, N. Y., 1868, etc. For the convenience of those who have not
these works at hand a few examples are given here.
«Leonardus» _de Utino or de Belluno_. _F1._ Sermones aurei de sanctis.
[_Colophon_:] Expliciūt Sermones aurei | de sanctis per totū annum
q̊^s | cōpilauit magister Leonar | dus d_e_ Vtino sacre theologie |
doctor . . . | . . . Ad instantiam & cō|placentiā magnifice coītatis |
Vtinensis . . . | . . . | M. cccc. xlvi . . . | . . . | . . . | . . .
| . . . | [Coloniæ per Ulr. Zell,] M. cccc. Lxxiij. fº. Registr_um_
(47) pp., (4) pp. blank, Tabula (1) p., (244) ll. In 2 coll. of 36
lines.
This copy has the leaves numbered in ms. and a Tabula prefixed to the
2d part by a contemporary hand. The work being very thick was probably
in general bound in two parts and is rarely complete; Santander
describes only the 1st part, the due de la Vallière had only the 2d.
The name of the printer, Zell, is found in only three or four of his
numerous publications. This is shown to be his by the type, which
is the same as that used in the Sermones of R. Caracciolus de Litio
issued in the same year. The present work went through 10 editions
in 8 years. According to Graesse it is {99} probably the first book
printed out of Italy which contains a line of Italian poetry, “Trenta
foglie ha la rosa”, at the end of the 1st part.
Brunet v. 1022, Graesse vi. ii. 232, Hain no. 16128.
(47) pp. means 47 unnumbered pages, ll. means leaves. Italicizing the
_um_ in Registr_um_ signifies that those letters are expressed in the
caption by a contraction which the printer of the catalogue has no
type for.
«Huon» _de Bordeaux_. Les gestes et faictz | merueilleux du no|ble
Huon de Bor|deaulx Per de France, Duc de Guyenne. Nouuellement redige
en bon | Francoys: et Imprime nouuellement a Paris pour Jean Bonfonds
| . . . | . . . | [_Woodcut_] [_Ending_] Lequel liure & | hystoire
a este mis de rime en prose | . . . | . . . | . . . | . . . | . . .
lequel fut fait & parfait le vinte | neufiesme iour de Januier. Lan |
mil. cccc. liiii | . . . | . . . | . . . | . . . | . . . «Imprime a
Paris» pour Jan | Bonfons . . . | . . . _n. d._ 4º. (8), 264 ll. @ 40
lines. With 14 woodcuts in the text, and the printer’s mark.
On the eighth leaf is written “Jehan Moynard me possidet 1557,” which
is probably not far from the date of publication. The 1st dated
edition appeared in 1516. Brunet mentions two other editions before
recording the present, one 1556, one undated.