A History of Bibliographies of BibliographiesTaylor, Archer
History
A History of Bibliographies of Bibliographies
Taylor, Archer
Bibliography of bibliographies -- History
The time was not ripe for a bibliography of bibliographies and
Labbé's contemporaries and immediate successors neither perceived the
novelty of his idea nor fully appreciated its value. Contemporary
recommendations of the book have a perfunctory flavor. Valentin
Heinrich Vogler, who wrote an admirable survey of scholarly books
entitled _Introductio universalis in notitiam cuiuscunque bonorum
scriptorum_ (Helmstadt, 1670), is representative. He passed a
judgment on a book that he had not seen. When Heinrich Meibom made
a new edition of Vogler's handbook in 1691, he summarized Vogler's
comment and having seen Labbé's book, added some characteristic and
interesting remarks of his own:
Vogler did not see it [the _Bibliotheca bibliothecarum_].
Nevertheless, with only a few excerpts available to him, he
did not use bad judgment in saying that it offers only a brief
review of authors arranged according to their names[74] and
makes no comments on the way in which these men have dealt
with their materials. Still, the work is very useful (_Utilis
tamen valde labor est_), although I have found many authors
cited, of whom some have no pertinence and others tell the
lives of men who are famous for their reputations and deserts
rather than in literary endeavors and writing. From not a
few entries it would also appear that he has often not seen
the books, but, deceived by the title, he has nevertheless
cited them. This is, for example, the case when he cites
David Frölich, _Viatorium_.[75] And he does not blush to make
venomous remarks in his usual fashion about some excellent men,
especially those who differ from him in religious matters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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