BOOK III. Chapter VI. Local arrangement, and its appliauces. No. 92.-WEARING APPAREL (not previously enumerated). 93.--WEIGHING. 94.-WIRE-DRAWING and WORKING. Special Classifi cation of rare and curious books. 'Difficult and troublesome as the Classification of this series of publications is sure to prove, it will be found in the long run, to be worth all the pains that may be bestowed upon it. The utmost pains, indeed, will fail to realise any Classification that may not fairly be open to objection in some of its particulars. But a tolerable approximation to a good system will be found far more useful to readers than the mere numerical order or "rule of thumb." The practice of setting apart the choicer incunabula, and the other special treasures of a Library, under a classification of their own, is both older and more general on the Continent than in Britain. Carried to an extreme, it is a restrictive practice, less pleasing to the Public generally, than to Librarians and Bibliographers. But at the British Museum it has been, most commendably, connected with the public exhibition of bibliographical curiosities, in a way that unites safety with general utility. The student, it is true, must handle the books he is to profit by; but there is an instruction in the mere sight of a well-arranged series of open books, which is especially obvious in a group illustrative of the History of Printing, for instance, but is by no means confined within such narrow limits. The series exhibited in the British Museum occupies fourteen cases, and its arrangement is as follows: OTHER ANCILLARY COLLECTIONS. Cases I, II. Block books. 919 III, IV, V. Specimens of the earliest productions of the VI. Specimens, etc., in Italy. IX, X. Specimens of tine and sumptuous Printing and of XI. Specimens of Illustrations on Wood and Copper. XII. Books with Autographs;-Broadsides. XIII. Typographical and Literary Curiosities. The specimens of early printers here exhibited amount to more than a hundred. They include the earliest complete printed book (the "Mazarine" Bible) which is known to exist; the first books (or first known books) which were severally printed at Augsburgh, Nuremberg, Strasburgh, Zwoll, Subiaco, Treviso, Venice, Modena, Lucca, Verona, Piacenza, Paris, Lyons, Vienne, Abbeville, Westminster, and Oxford. Here also are a series of block books, and of impressions from blocks, twenty-four in number, many of which are of the highest interest; the first book printed in Greek Characters (the Grammar of Lascaris, Milan, 1476); the earliest book in which catch-words have been found (the Venice Tacitus of 1469); the first book printed in Italic types (the Aldine Virgil of 1501); the remarkable and unique collection of French farces printed between 1540 and 1550, acquired, a few years since, by the British Museum; one of the earliest books printed in Granjon's 'civilite' types; the first book printed in the English language, and the first book printed in the French language (neither of them printed in England or France); the superbly printed BOOK HII. Chapter VI. Local arrangement, and its appliances. The show cases of the British Museum. BOOK III. Chapter VI. allegorical poem of Melchior Pfintzing called TewrLocal arrange dannck (Nuremberg, 1517); and-not to make the list too long-a splendid series of Church Service Books. ment, and its appliances. Utility of a special series of printed books. Obviously, such a series is an admirable study for early and choice the young Librarian. The uninitiated may smile to see what they will regard as a fuss about early "catchwords," and "civility" type; but in such things the bibliographer recognises the rudimentary grammar of his art; and may also have his own ideas as to the depth or shallowness of that literary culture which conjoins with a professed love of learning, an indifference to the history of the marvellous art that has made the hardearned acquisitions of the scholar the common property of the million. The brief samples of early typography with which I illustrate this Chapter will, I hope, possess some interest even for readers who have not yet acquired any familiarity with the annals of Printing. To the student of Library Economy, at all events, they will suggest points of inquiry and of research which, when duly worked out, will throw new light on not a few matters of constant recurrence in his daily pursuits. The progress of the infant art is illustrated only fitfully (so to speak) by these few fac-similes. The dates of its successive stages from Mentz to Westminster, may, however, be noted. The early presses of the towns marked * are those of which illustrations are given: Pl. 1. Figl Guttenberg Fust and Schoeffer Mentz; about 1450. The Mazarine Bible. Dicut enim. Aō videt dus nos. Derr- Fig 2 Fust and Schoeffer; Mentz 1457. Omul eius ī pauperē Fig. 3. John Guttenberg, Mentz. 1460. fcripfi nupfi cur no per b fed p p fcribant. Et hoc Fig 4 Albert Pfister; Bamberg, about 1460. The Bambery Bible. Adiuro vos filie 1h2km : (1 ñuenerîtis dilectű meű ut mācietis e quîa amore languro - Qua To face Page 919. Vol II |