A History of Bibliographies of BibliographiesTaylor, Archer
History
A History of Bibliographies of Bibliographies
Taylor, Archer
Bibliography of bibliographies -- History
Meibom speaks harshly, and more harshly than Labbé has deserved, but
he does grudgingly acknowledge that the _Bibliotheca bibliothecarum_
is useful. Daniel Georg Morhof, whose _Polyhistor_, a general
treatise on university studies, demanded some mention of indexes,
bibliographies, and reference works, expresses much the same judgment
on Labbé and leaves one in doubt whether he has actually seen the
book. In a chapter entitled "De catalogorum scriptoribus," Morhof
begins with general remarks about the kinds of bibliographies that
a scholar then had within his reach, but fails to identify clearly
the bibliography of bibliographies as a special variety. He does,
however, go on to say, "Like Hodegeta and Janus Patulcis, Philip
Labbé is vigilant at the very entrance to learning."[76] This means
that he recognized Labbé's book to be one of the first books to
be consulted in undertaking an investigation. He should have said
more. Perhaps Vogler, Meibom, and Morhof, whose acquaintance with
the _Bibliotheca bibliothecarum_ seems superficial, knew it only
from book reviews, especially Denis de Sallo's review in _Le Journal
des sçavans_. Adrien Baillet, who quotes this review, mentions
also a brief notice by Henning Witte, who seems to have an equally
superficial knowledge of the book.[77]
A few scholars did understand what Labbé had done. Probably Vincent
Placcius (1642-1699), who spent his life in the study of anonyma and
pseudonyma, would have continued the _Bibliotheca bibliothecarum_ in
Labbé's spirit.[78] Theophilus [or Gottlieb] Spitzel (1639-1691), a
very intelligent bibliographer and theological writer of Augsburg,
gave more attention to the _Bibliotheca bibliothecarum_ than anyone
else of his generation. He obtained it after considerable delay and
with some difficulty. After reading the preface, in which Labbé
explains his plan, he characterized Labbé's flamboyance as "really
gorgeous indeed (satis profecto splendidam Praefationem)."[79] In
order to justify his criticism of the book, he reprinted the eighth
index--a list of men who had compiled bibliographies (_bibliothecae_)
and similar general works--and added a supplement to show how many
titles Labbé had overlooked. Spitzel's additions amount to nearly
one hundred titles, which are grouped in sixty categories. They
show that Spitzel understood the true nature of a bibliography of
bibliographies, but they do not show the _Bibliotheca bibliothecarum_
to be seriously incomplete or unsatisfactory. Some additions--for
example, the Oriental bibliographies by Paul Colomies--were published
after Labbé had given the last touches to his book or indeed after
he had died. Others are bibliographies hidden in non-bibliographical
works. For example, one can suspect his pleasure in adding "Joh.
Nadasi, in libro cui Tit. Annus dierum memorab. S. l. [sine loco]
ed. Antw. 1665"[80] to the bibliographies of the Jesuits. Labbé was
a Jesuit and seems to have been caught napping, although he had
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