AN ECLECTIC LIBRARY.

On Books and Libraries.

See also our page of Literary Anecdotes and Miscellanea.

Authors and Their Public in Ancient Times: A Sketch of Literary Conditions and of the Relations with the Public of Literary Producers, from the Earliest Times to the Fall of the Roman Empire. By George Haven Putnam. Third Edition, Revised. New York & London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1923. [George Haven Putnam was one of the Sons.]

Books and Their Makers During the Middle Ages: A study of the conditions of the production and distribution of literature from the fall of the Roman empire to the close of the seventeenth century. By Geo. Haven Putnam. New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, the Knickerbocker Press, 1896.

Vol. I. 476–1600.

Vol. II. 1500–1709.

The General Catalogue of Books, Printed in England since the dreadful Fire of London 1666. To the end of Trinity-Term 1680. Together with the texts of single sermons, with the authors names: playes acted at both the theaters: and an abstract of the general bills of mortality since 1660. With an account of the titles of all the books of law, navigation, musick, &c. And a catalogue of school books. To which is now added a catalogue of Latin books printed in foreign parts and in England since the year 1670. London: Printed by S. Roycroft for Robert Clavell, 1680.

Traitté des plus belles bibliothèques de l'Europe. Des premiers livres qui ont été faits. De l’invention de l’imprimerie. Des imprimeurs. De plusieurs livres qui ont été perdus & recouvrez par les soins des sçavans. Avec une methode pour dresser une Bibliothèque. Par le Sieur Le Gallois. Paris: Estienne Michallet, 1680.

Gabriel Peignot.

☛A French bookseller and bibliophile who produced numerous books about books.

Manuel bibliographique ; ou, Essai sur les bibliothèques anciennes et modernes, et sur la connaissance des livres, les formats, des éditions, sure la manière de composer une bibliothèque choisie, classée méthodiquement, et sur les principaux ouvrages à consulter dans chaque partie de l'enseignement des ecoles centrales : le tout suivi de plusieurs notices bibliographiques, instructives et curieuses. A Paris, an IX de la République (1800).

Dictionnaire raisonné de bibliologie, contenant 1.° L’explication des principaux termes relatifs à la Bibliographie, à l’Art typographique, à la Diplomatique, aux Langues, aux Archives, aux Manuscrits, aux Médailles, aux Antiquités, etc. ; 2.° des  Notices  historiques  détaillées sur  les  principales  Bibliothèques anciennes  et  modernes ; sur  les  differeutes  Sectes  philosophiques ;  sur les  plus célèbres Imprimeurs,  avec une indication des meilleiires éditions sorties  de leurs presses, et sur les Bibliographes, avec la liste de leurs ouvrages ;  3.° Enfin,  l’exposition  des différens Systèmes bibliographiques, etc. Ouvrage utile aux Bibliothécaires, Archivistes, Imprimeurs, Libraires, etc. Par G. Peignot. Paris, Chez Villier, 1802.

Tome premier.

Tome second.

Supplément. « Nota. Ce Supplément est indispensible aux personnes qui ont les deux premiers volumes, parce qu’il renferme des corrections, des additions et des tables générales qui appartiennent à l’ouvrage entier. Cependant les six cents articles nouveaux qui forment la base de ce Supplément offrent des détails exacts sur la bibliographie, la typographie, l’histoire littéraire, etc. On peut le consulter séparémen ; d’ailleurs on y a ajouté un Tableau synoptique de toutes les parties de la science bibliologique. »
Another copy.

Essai de curiosités bibliographiques. Par Gabriel Peignot. A Paris, Chez Ant.-Augustin Renouard. XIII.—1804.

Dictionnaire critique, littéraire et bibliographique des principaux Livres condamnés au feu, supprimés ou censurés ; précédé d’un discours sur ces sortes d’ouvrages. Par G. Peignot. A Paris, Chez A. A. Renouard, 1806.

Tome premier.
Another copy.

Tome second.
Another copy.

Essai historique et archéologique sur la reliure des livres, et sur l’état de la librairie chez les anciens. [1834.] —It appears that the scan missed the title page; the title comes from the page data, which also quote the title page, or the back of it, as saying the book was “Imprimé à 200 exemplaires.”

Typographical Antiquities; or the History of Printing in England, Scotland, and Ireland: containing memoirs of our ancient printers, and a register of the books printed by them. Begun by the late Joseph Ames, F.R. & A. SS. Considerably augmented by William Herbert, of Cheshunt, Herts; and now greatly enlarged, with copious notes, and illustrated with appropriate engravings; comprehending the history of English literature, and a view of the progress of the art of engraving, in Great Britain; by the Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin. London: William Miller, 1810–1819. —As the title page indicates, there are several editions; the history of this work would itself make a fine subject for a typographical antiquarian.

Vol. I (1810).

Vol. II (1812).

Vol. III (1816).

Vol IV (1819).

The whole set at HathiTrust.

An Index to Dibdin’s Edition of the Typographical Antiquities first compiled by Joseph Ames, with some references to the intermediate edition by William Herbert. Printed from a copy in the library of Sion College. London: Printed for the Bibliographical Society by Blades, East & Blades, 1899. —“This Index to Dibdin’s Edition of the Typographical Antiquities, or the History of Printing in England, Scotland and Ireland, originally compiled by Joseph Ames, is not a new work, but a reprint of one which exists, so far as is known, only in a single copy, that belonging to the library of Sion College, as to the provenance of which no information can be obtained. The Index has been reprinted at the suggestion of Mr. Gordon Duff, not because it is a good Index, but because the technical defects, which probably account for its never having been put into circulation, are not sufficiently serious to prevent its being a useful makeshift, the publication of which is quite worth the few pounds it has cost to print.”

Bibliomania; or Book-Madness; a bibliographical romance. Illustrated with cuts. By Thomas Frognall Dibdin, D.D. New and improved edition, in which are now added preliminary observations, and a supplement including a key to the assumed characters in the drama. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1842.

The Bibliographer’s Manual of English Literature. Containing an account of rare, curious, and useful books, published in or relating to Great Britain and Ireland, from the invention of printing; with bibliographical and critical notices, collations of the rarer articles, and the price at which they have been sold in the present century. By William Thomas Lowndes. New edition, revised, corrected, and enlarged, by Henry G. Bohn. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1857–1859.

Vol. I.

Vol. II.

Vol. III. (Marked as Vol. I on the title page, but corrected by the librarian with a pencil.)

Part IV. (There seems to be no particular reason why this is a “part” instead of a “volume,” especially since “Part IV” contains the “Ninth Part” and the “Tenth Part.” Some day some graduate student will write a Bibliographer’s Manual of Bohn’s Lowndes’ Bibliographer’s Manual.)

Index Librorum Prohibitorum: being notes bio- biblio- icono- graphical and critical, on curious and uncommon books. By Pisanus Fraxi. London: Privately Printed, 1877.

Centuria Librorum Absconditorum: being notes bio- biblio- icono- graphical and critical, on curious and uncommon books. By Pisanus Fraxi. London: Privately Printed, 1879.

Catena Librorum Tacendorum: being notes bio- biblio- icono- graphical and critical, on curious and uncommon books. By Pisanus Fraxi. London: Privately Printed, 1885.

Bibliographie clérico-galante. Ouvrages galantes ou singuliers sur l’amour, les femmes, le mariage, le théatre, etc., écrits par des abbés, prêtres, chanoines, religieux, religieuses, archevêques, cardinaux et papes. Par l’Apôtre Bibliographe [Antoine Laporte]. Paris: M.-A. Laporte, 1879.

A Select Bibliography of the Negro American. A compilation made under the direction of Atlanta University. Edited by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. Atlanta: The Atlanta University Press, 1905.

Catalogue of Books Printed for Private Circulation. Collected by Bertram Dobell, and now described and annotated by him. London: Published by the author, 1906.

Some Old Egyptian Librarians. By Ernest Cushing Richardson. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1911

Biblical Libraries. A sketch of literary history from 3400 b.c. to a.d. 150. By Ernest Cushing Richardson. Princeton, 1914.

The Beginnings of Libraries. By Ernest Cushing Richardson. Princeton, 1914. —If the words “antediluvian libraries” do not intrigue you, then, first, this is not the book for you, and second, there is something wrong with you.

Book Repair and Restoration. A manual of practical suggestions for bibliophiles, including some translated selections from Essai sur l’art de restaurer les estampes et les livres, par A. Bonnardot, Paris 1858. By Mitchell S. Buck. Philadelphia: Nicholas L. Brown, 1928.