Chapter III

Lists of Books Entitled "Bibliotheca"

The listing of books that contain the word _Bibliotheca_ in their titles is a special bibliographical development in the seventeenth century and continues into the eighteenth. It might have led by easy stages to making a bibliography of bibliographies, but it unfortunately attracted little notice and maintained a tenuous existence for only about a century. The word _bibliotheca_, which often appears in titles, has such more or less bibliographical meanings as bibliography, subject index, catalogue of a public or private library, and collection of materials dealing with a particular subject. Consequently, a list of books entitled _bibliotheca_ has much in common with a list of reference works and, more particularly, a bibliography of bibliographies. Although there was no proper place for such a list in his _Bibliotheca bibliothecarum_, Philip Labbé included one under the heading _Bibliotheca_ in an alphabet of authors.[93] This is an early example of a list of books chosen according to their titles.

Labbé limited himself strictly to works of a bibliographical nature. He did not, for example, include the collections of the church fathers that were very familiar to him, although they bore the title _Bibliotheca_. Many books that he cites are hard to identify: some titles seem to have been made up and others refer to books that were never printed. Labbé uses the term _bibliotheca_ so loosely that we do not always know whether he is referring to a library and its catalogue (for example, _Bibliotheca Augustana_ may mean the library or may be a short title for its catalogue) or a book (for example, Conrad Gesner's _Bibliotheca universalis_). In either case, he is thinking as a bibliographer, and we can easily conceive the enlargement of his list into a bibliography of bibliographies.

Labbé's classification of books entitled _bibliotheca_ shows a remarkable understanding of their different kinds and calls attention to their remarkable variety. I cannot easily cite an equally instructive and suggestive review of bibliographies.[94] Labbé's classification is as follows: (1) _Bibliothecae_ named for places (_vel a locis dictae_): Augustana,[95] Floriacensis,[96] Ingolstadiensis,[97] etc.: (2) _bibliothecae_ named for persons (_vel a personis_): Borromaea,[98] Bodleiana,[99] Thuana,[100] etc.; (3) _bibliothecae_ named for rulers (_vel a principibus_): Regia Gallica,[101] Caesarea,[102] Bavarica,[103] etc.; (4) _bibliothecae_ named for religious orders (_vel a Ordinibus Sacris_): Augustiniana,[104] Carmelitica,[105] etc.; (5) _bibliothecae_ named according to the subjects with which they deal (_vel a materia quam tractant_): Chymica,[106] Concionatoria,[107] Juridica,[108] etc.; (6) _bibliothecae_ named according to their arrangement or like circumstances (_vel a forma similibusve circumstantiis_): Classica,[109] Selecta,[110] Universalis.[111]

The anonymous author of _The Newly Opened Library (Die neu-eröffnete Bibliothec), in which good information about libraries as well as convenient directions for acquiring, maintaining, and using them are put into the hands of students and inquiring friends. To which are added: the chief European libraries and what travelers ought to notice in visits to them_ (1702) hit upon the same idea of listing _bibliothecae_.[112] In this book a special section or appendix labelled "A List of Authors Who Have Written Books Entitled 'Bibliotheca' and Books about Libraries (Series Authorum qui Bibliothecas & de Bibliothecis scripserunt)" names books called _bibliotheca_, catalogues of libraries, and treatises on library science. The selection is obviously even more definitely bibliographical in character than Labbé's list had been. The compiler arranges the titles alphabetically according to the author's last names or, in the case of an anonymous work, according to an important word in the title. This arrangement and the choice of titles show that he had no knowledge of Labbé. Like Labbé, he includes none of the collections of texts that were entitled _bibliotheca_.

Our author begins with Valerius Andreas, _Bibliotheca Belgica_ (1643), a biobibliographical dictionary of writers in the Low Countries. In the letter "A" he includes the _Augustanae Bibliothecae Catalogus_ (1633), which he also enters under the name of the compiler, Elias Ehinger, librarian at Augsburg. He cites the _Bibliothèque universelle_, a critical journal edited by Jean Leclerc, because the title contains the word _Bibliothèque_. Such titles show that he was thinking in bibliographical terms, for Andreas's book and the Augsburg catalogue are bibliographies and Leclerc's journal was a review of current publications.

The titles in this list are interesting because some are rarely mentioned and others are difficult to track down. Examples are "Augusti sereniss. Ducis Brunsvicensis Bibliothecae Sciagraphia, Bibliothecae Catalogus. Wolfenb. 1650. in 4-to;"[113] "Henricii Furenii Bibliotheca Medica." Hafn. 1659. in 4-to;[114] "Hamburgensis Bibliothecae scripta memoria." Hamb. 1651. fol.;[115] and Bartol. "Moseri Thesaurus Bibliatricus seu Bibliotheca gemina Onomastica & Classica." Dilingii. fol.[116] The list includes a few autobibliographies, for example, those written by such librarians and bibliographers as Peter Lambeck (Lambecius) and Philip Labbé. The most surprising title that the compiler names is "Joan. Brunderii [sic] index librorum MS quae in Bibliothecis Belgicis extant."[117] This union catalogue of manuscripts owned in the Low Countries was made by the Belgian Dominican Johannes Bunderius or Bunderus (b. 1481 or 1482, d. 1557). Down to 1666 it is mentioned occasionally by men who had consulted it, but our author probably never saw it and no fragment of it is known to have survived the dispersal of Anton Sander's library. A reference to such a manuscript was by no means an idle display of erudition. Allusions in various seventeenth-century works show that men used this union catalogue. For example, the Spaniard Pedro de Alva y Astorga, the author of several very rare encyclopedic works, which were published at Madrid and Louvain, drew upon it, and the Italian Antonio Possevino quoted it in his _Apparatus sacer_.

This curious list in _Die neu-eröffnete Bibliothec_ shows some signs of carelessness. Its compiler has not seen all the books in it. For example, he assigns Petrus Bertius's catalogue of the university library at Leyden to 1591 instead of 1595 (this error is probably a slip of the pen) and mentions the famous ghosts announced by Jodocus a Dudinck. He credits the _Philobiblon_ to both Richard de Bury and Richard Dunelmensis (De Bury's name as Bishop of Durham). With all its faults, this "Series" is nevertheless a respectable piece of work by a man who saw clearly the nature of a bibliography of bibliographies.

A generation later, in 1734, Johannes Gottfried Unger published a pamphlet entitled _De libris bibliothecarum nomine notatis_, a classified list of books entitled _bibliotheca_, and added critical and descriptive comments. Julius Petzholdt, who is often a severe judge, deals with it generously, when he says (p. 79) that it is worth a glance and can then be forgotten. Although he seems to be unaware of any predecessor, Unger's idea was not novel. His execution of the idea leaves much to be desired. Since his list contains few, if any, books that cannot be easily found elsewhere, his list has little value and his comments do not enrich it. His strict adherence to the task of collecting books entitled _bibliotheca_ prevented him from seeing the possible greater usefulness of what he was doing.

After some general remarks on libraries and bibliographies and a definition of the task, Unger cites seven general works: Labbé's _Bibliotheca bibliothecarum_ (he mentions here Teissier's _Catalogus_ and _Auctuarium_, but he has not seen them); G. M. König, _Bibliotheca vetus et nova_; Latinus Latinius, _Bibliotheca sacra et profana_; Jean Leclerc, _Bibliothèque universelle et historique_ (this is the _Bibliothèque universelle_ and its continuation, the _Bibliothèque historique_); Conrad Gesner, _Bibliotheca universalis_; Johannes Groeningius, _Bibliotheca s[ive] codex operum variorum_; and Louis Ellies DuPin, _Bibliothèque universelle des historiens_. "And these are the books entitled Universal Library or: Bibliography." His comments contain some information but do not on the whole show much familiarity with the books. For example, the remarks on König's late seventeenth-century biobibliographical dictionary are lifted from D. G. Morhof, _Polyhistor_. He points out that the subtitle of Latinius's _Bibliotheca_ gives a good idea of its contents: "Observationes, correctiones et variae lectiones in sacros et profanos scriptores, ex marginalibus notis codicum ejusdem [Latini Latinii] a Dominco Marco editae." In other words, the book is a miscellany of emendations and critical comments rather than a bibliography. He describes Leclerc's journals by a long quotation from the preface to the first volume. They are, he thinks, a better example of this genre of books than Latinius's collectanea. He dismisses Gesner's _Bibliotheca universalis_ with the remark that it "also deserves mention (praeterea notatu digna est)" and a reference to Morhof, _Polyhistor_. He does not describe the book by Johannes Groeningius.[118]

Unger's account of forty-one theological bibliographies and collections of texts entitled _bibliotheca_ is not altogether bad. He often quotes the titles of chapters from these books or says that a book is a collection of texts and not a bibliography. Much of this information was even then available in well-organized reference works, and Unger's only contribution is the selecting of the books entitled _bibliotheca_. His account of legal bibliographies begins with Martin Lipenius, _Bibliotheca juridica_, "which was published at Frankfurt in 1607 as a folio and was enlarged by F. G. Struve in 1720." This is not a good start, for the first date is wrong (it should be 1679) and he would have found five more legal bibliographies entitled _bibliotheca_ by opening Lipenius. In this category he cites nine more titles, counting three works by Caspar Thurmann as one book. This combination is not particularly objectionable. Thurmann had made a classified legal bibliography and finding no publisher, had printed portions as small bibliographies. Unger then proceeds to historical, medical, and philosophical categories, but we need follow him no further. He finally resigns himself to naming titles in a confused order. His disappointing performance has the merit of naming books called _bibliotheca_, but it does not suggest, as Labbé and the anonymous author of _Die neu-eröffnete Bibliothec_ had done, that they were primarily interesting as bibliographies.

The sixty folio pages (double columns) filled with entries beginning with the word _bibliotheca_ in Michael a San José, _Bibliographia critica_ (1740-1742) have the appearance of a list of books, but on closer examination many titles prove to be made up. In other words, San José offers what amounts to a general survey of bibliography. Since his book is almost unknown and the entries are often curious, a brief description will not be out of place. The articles are arranged alphabetically according to the adjective that follows the word _bibliotheca_. Thus, the list begins with J. F. Reimann, _Bibliotheca acroamatica_ (Hannover, 1712), a condensation of Peter Lambeck's catalogue of manuscripts in the Imperial Library at Vienna. The next entry consists of two columns headed "Bibliotheca Adriani Baillet" and is a brief discussion of the _Jugemens des savans_ (1685-1686) and a long summary of a prospectus of a philosophical dictionary that Baillet planned but never published. More entries follow in an alphabetical order according to proper names or adjectives derived from proper names or the subject matter. Laurentius de Cremona, _Bibliotheca aethiopica_ is entered under "Aethiopica," and Albert Bartholin, _Liber de scriptis Danorum_ under "Alberti." It is difficult to discover the plan of arrangement, and equally difficult to see the reasons for choosing the books. The presence of more than twenty entries entitled "Bibliotheca Biblica" is not surprising, but eleven botanical bibliographies and twelve pages summarizing the Linnean classification seem an unnecessarily generous allotment to that subject. A few pages later San José cites collective works--not bibliographies--that deal with Byzantine history and canon law, but he ordinarily limits himself to bibliographies and biobibliographies. He shows no sense of proportion in the choice of titles. Out of hundreds of regional biobibliographies he chooses one for Naumburg for mention. It can have meant very little to most readers of his book, and he might have omitted it. A "Bibliotheca occulta concionum P. Paulini a S. Joseph" (Rome, 1720) did not deserve three pages or a revision of Antonio León Pinelo, _Epitome_ (an early bibliography of American subjects) five. San José is careless with names and titles. Martin Hancke, the writer of a Silesian biobibliography (p. 528), acquires an Oriental look, when he is called Han Kii. San José's strange medley may yield a curious bit of information now and again, but it need not detain us longer.

The last list of books entitled _bibliotheca_ is the _Dissertation sur les bibliothèques_ (1758) by J. D. Durey de Noinville (1683-1768).[119] He does not hold to the purpose announced in the heading "Alphabetical list of both works published under the title of _bibliothèque_ and printed catalogues of collections in France and foreign countries."[120] He offers virtually a bibliography of bibliographies. His use of an asterisk to mark works containing an alphabetical index of authors shows some bibliographical sense, but the lack of a clear plan of selection and organization makes the book unusable. In a hodgepodge of seven hundred and fifty titles--I take the figure from Besterman--Durey de Noinville may list a book according to its author or its subject without any apparent reason for his choice of either method. His knowledge of available bibliographies is entirely inadequate. The accounts of reference books dealing with Belgium, church history and France are scanty,[121] the list of learned journals is almost worthless,[122] and the remarks about journals entitled _Mercure_ exceed somewhat the scope of his enterprise.[123] In addition to these faults Durey de Noinville makes bad mistakes in details.[124] His virtually worthless compilation yields an occasional nugget, but such discoveries are rare.[125] His book is only interesting or important for showing how a bibliography of bibliographies might have grown out of a list of books entitled _bibliotheca_.

The efforts that we have surveyed in this chapter produced nothing of lasting value. The list written by the author of _Die neu-eröffnete Bibliothec_ did not lead to either a bibliography of bibliographies or a guide to reference works. Durey de Noinville's disorderly book was not good enough to suggest making anything better. All these writers worked independently and made little or no use of their predecessors. We might see in this fact an omen of the course of bibliographies of bibliographies in the next century.

FOOTNOTES:

[93] See ed. 1664, pp. 21-22, eds. 1672 and 1678, pp. 30-31, ed. 1682, pp. 50-51.

[94] The only parallel that occurs to me is in John Ferguson's book that is discussed below.

[95] The noun "bibliotheca" is to be understood here and in conjunction with the following proper adjectives in his list. By Bibliotheca Augustana Labbé meant the library at Augsburg. At the time when he was writing, several catalogues of manuscripts and books in this library had been published. He could have referred to them by this short title made up for the purpose.

[96] Labbé refers to the library at Fleury and, in particular, to Joannes a Bosco (Jean du Bois-Olivier), _Floriacensis vetus bibliotheca benedictina_ (3 pts; Lyons, 1605. Copy in the Bibliothèque nationale). For accounts of this library see Edward Edwards, _Memoirs of Libraries_ (London, 1859), I, 281-287, 2d ed. (Newport, Isle of Wight, 1885), pp. 54-60; E. G. Vogel, "Die Bibliothek der Benediktinerabtei Saint Benoit oder Fleury an der Loire," _Serapeum_, V (1844), 17-29, 46-49.

[97] For the unpublished catalogue of the university library at Ingolstadt see