Book Collecting: A Guide for AmateursSlater, J. Herbert (John Herbert)
History
Book Collecting: A Guide for Amateurs
Slater, J. Herbert (John Herbert)
Book collecting
The only part of a title-page which gives any real difficulty to a
person who has a fair knowledge of the Latin language, in which most of
these old books were printed, is the name of the place of publication,
which, being in a Latinised form, frequently bears but a slight
resemblance to the modern appellation. Dr. Cotton, many years ago now,
collected a large number of these Latin forms, partly from his own
reading and partly from the works of various bibliographers who had
chanced occasionally to mention them in their works, and at the present
day his collection stands unapproachable in point of the number of
entries, as well as in general accuracy. The use of this compilation
will be apparent to those who have occasion to consult it even for the
first time, while to advanced collectors, who are not satisfied with
mere possession, it will be found indispensable. The title-page of a
book now before me runs as follows: "_Kanuti Episcopi Vibergensis Quedam
breves expositos s legum et jurium cocordantie et allegatioes circa
leges iucie_"; at the foot is "Ripis, M. Brand, MI[C]IIII". The question
immediately arises: Where is Ripis, the place where the book was
evidently printed by Brand? The best gazetteer may be consulted in vain,
for the title is obsolete now; it is, in fact, the Roman name for Riben,
a small place in Denmark. In like manner, Firenze frequently stands for
Florence, Brixia for Breschia, Aug. Trinob. (Augusta Trinobantum) for
London, Mutina for Modena, and so on. This being the case, some kind of
tabulation becomes absolutely necessary, and the best that occurs to my
mind is to place the Latin titles of all the chief centres of printing
in alphabetical order, and append to each the English equivalent. The
date is that of the first book known to have been printed at the
particular town against which it is set. As the list is not complete,
and could not be made so without the sacrifice of a great deal of space,
the reader is referred to Dr. Cotton's _Typographical Antiquities_ for
any further information he may require. The omissions will be found,
however, to consist, for the most part, of unimportant places, from many
of which only some half-dozen books or less are known to have been
issued, so that the following list will be found sufficient in the vast
majority of cases:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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