While we are here most concerned with the genealogy and family history
of the books, or in other words with their press relationships, the
personal history attaching to them--_habent sua fata libelli_--is not
without interest. The Zeno MS. and the Philo, printed on vellum, are the
dedication copies, not merely set apart, but specially prepared for this
use. In a few of the volumes are found the names or the arms of early
owners. The Livy MS. and one-half of the printed books are from the
library, dispersed in 1886, of Michael Wodhull (1740-1816) of Thenford,
Northamptonshire, the first translator into English verse of all the
extant works of Euripides, the most assiduous and painstaking and in
some departments of bibliography the best equipped among the book
collectors of his day. It was his custom (well illustrated in the
present collection) to enter on the fly-leaf of each purchase the source
and the cost, adding as a separate item the binding, often by Roger
Payne, and to affix his name and the date. His _visé_ "Collat: &
complet:" is seldom wanting and often bibliographical notes and
references to authorities are added. Justinian's _Novellae_, printed by
Schoeffer, and all the Aldine press books save one are from the library
gathered at Syston Park, Lincolnshire, by Sir John Thorold and his son,
Sir John Hayford Thorold, between 1775 and 1831 and sold in 1884.
One valued mark of ownership, common to all the volumes, is the _ex
libris_ of the lover of choice books who united them in one family, not
again to be separated, and gave them into the keeping of the University
Library.
The accompanying list of Authorities, as will be apparent, is intended
to supply merely the details necessary to complete the references of the
catalogue.
Acknowledgments are due from the compiler to his associates in the
Library and the University for assistance in the catalogue.
ADDISON VAN NAME, _Librarian Emeritus_.
Yale University Library, September, 1913.
AUTHORITIES.
Ames, J. Typographical antiquities, or, History of printing in
England, Scotland and Ireland, enlarged by T.F. Dibdin. 4 v. 4^o.
Lond., 1810-19.
Blades, W. The life and typography of William Caxton. 2 v. 4^o. Lond.,
1861-3.
British Museum. Catalogue of books printed in the XVth century now in
the British Museum. Pt. i, ii. 4^o. Lond., 1908-12.
Brown, H.F. The Venetian printing press. 4^o. N.Y. and Lond., 1891.
Brunet, J.C. Manuel du libraire. 5^e éd. 6 v. 8^o. Paris, 1860-5.
Burger, K. Deutsche und italienische Inkunabeln. Lief. i-ix. f^o.
Berlin, 1892-1912.
Campbell, M.F.A.G. Annales de l'imprimerie néerlandaise au XV^e siècle.
8^o. La Haye, 1874-90.
Claudin, A. The first Paris press: an account of the books printed for
G. Fichet and J. Heynlin in the Sorbonne 1470-72. [Bibl. Soc.
Illust. Monogr. vi.] 4^o. Lond., 1897.
Copinger, W.A. Incunabula Biblica. 4^o. Lond., 1892.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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