College and Research Libraries


Recent Foreign Books on the Graphic 
Arts, Bibliography, and Library Science 

By L A W R E N C E S. T H O M P S O N 

D E C I P H E R M E N T O F A N C I E N T S C R I P T S 

Ernst Doblhofer's Zeichen und Wunder; 
die Entzifferung verschollener Schriften und 
Sprachen (Vienna: Paul Neff Verlag, 1957) is 
the history of the decipherment of ancient 
scripts; a n d it ranges f r o m the Rosetta Stone 
to the yet undeciphered Etruscan, Indus, a n d 
Easter Island inscriptions. Well illustrated 
a n d fully documented with references to the 
basic monographs a n d articles in scholarly 
journals, Doblhofer's text is nevertheless in 
a light, almost journalistic style. H e deals 
not only with the language of peoples who 
developed a high level of culture, but also 
with the languages a n d scripts of more primi-
tive civilizations. As a text for courses in the 
history of books a n d writing, Zeichen und 
Wunder deserves a high place on the reading 
lists. At the same time, however, the rapid 
advances being made in many fields covered 
by this book suggest the need for f r e q u e n t 
revision of this book. 

H I S T O R Y O F W R I T I N G 

T h e definitive general work on the history 
of writing is Marcel Cohen's La grande in-
vention de I'ecriture et son evolution ( P a r i s : 
Imprimerie Nationale, Librairie C. Klinck-
sieck, 1958; 3 v.). T h e first volume is the text 
proper, the second the notes, bibliography, 
a n d index, a n d the third a carefully selected 
portfolio of plates. T h e authority of the 
author, one of the half dozen greatest living 
linguists, is beyond question. H e has spent 
over twenty years on the project, a n d the 
final product reflects a full maturity of 
scholarship. 

T h i s work is a logical complement to 
Cohen's famous joint work with Alphonse 
M e i l l e t , Les langues du monde (2d ed., 1952), 
a n d it has the same broad a n d comprehen-
sive coverage. Cohen traces the origins of 
writing, using the most recent scholarship, 
a n d he covers all recorded written languages 
a n d their peculiar vehicles. T h e portfolio of 

Dr. Thompson is Director of Libraries, 
University of Kentucky. 

plates is exceptionally well produced a n d 
can be used effectively for display or as a 
teaching aid as well as for reference. La 
grande invention de I'ecriture a n d Les lan-
gues du monde a r e i n d i s p e n s a b l e f o r a l l r e f -
erence collections. 

G E R M A N M A N U S C R I P T S 

T h e late Albert Boeckler's Deutsche Buch-
malerei vorgotischer Zeit ( K o n i g s t e i n i m 
T a u n u s : Karl R o b e r t Langewiesche, 1959) 
a n d h i s Deutsche Buchmalerei der Gotik 
(Konigstein im T a u n u s : Karl R o b e r t Lange-
wiesche, 1959) are now available either sepa-
rately (as Langewiesche's "Blaue Bucher") 
at D M 5.40 each or in a single volume un-
der one cover f o r D M 12.80. These extraordi-
narily handsome books are accompanied by 
short texts that are simple, direct, a n d com-
prehensive in spite of their brevity. Boeckler 
was an acknowledged master in the field, a n d 
these two little books are an adequate intro-
duction to the history of illumination in the 
Germanies d u r i n g the Middle Ages. Boeck-
ler's introductory essays give us a broad pic-
ture of the intellectual a n d social back-
g r o u n d for the manuscript luxury book, and 
at the same time there is p r o p e r attention 
to techniques and factual detail. 

M A N U S C R I P T S O F T H E B I B L I A P A U P E R U M 

W h e n the very, very occasional manuscript 
or even more occasional xylographic Biblia 
P a u p e r u m turns u p at auction, one can only 
watch for the sale price a n d wonder why 
t h e s e rarissima a r e n o t c a l l e d biblia picta o r 
biblia parabolica. Indeed, even in the late 
Middle Ages this designation would proba-
bly have been considerably more accurate. 

H e n r i k Cornell's Biblia Pauperum (Stock-

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 0 411 



holm, 1925) is a n d will remain a basic work 
in this field, b u t a great deal of other signifi-
cant research on the subject has come out in 
the last q u a r t e r of a century. G e r h a r d 
S c h m i d t ' s Die Armenbibel des XIV, Jahrhun-
derts (Graz a n d Cologne: Bohlau, 1959) uses 
this material a n d combines it with his own 
extensive, o f t e n ingenious research to pro-
duce the definitive study of the Biblia Pau-
p e r u m . H e reconstructs the lost original, 
which was created in Bavaria or Austria 
a r o u n d the m i d d l e of the thirteenth century, 
a n d h e traces carefully the changes in various 
textual lines d u r i n g the next h u n d r e d years. 
In this analysis it is very clear that an emo-
tional, subjective tradition of religion existed 
on a level of mediaeval society that was far 
removed f r o m the learned clerks and their 
objective, highly systematized theological 
speculation. 

T h e forty-four plates f r o m some twenty 
manuscripts show a rich variety of examples 
of south G e r m a n book p a i n t i n g in the four-
teenth century. T h e r e are sophisticated, 
o f t e n inspired drawings in some of the manu-
scripts, the scribblings of idle monks in oth-
ers. I n both we can see (especially with the 
help of Schmidt's analysis) the bases of 
Gothic art. For art historians, for general 
mediaevalists, a n d for students of the history 
of the book Schmidt's work is a cornerstone 
of their literature. 

M E D I E V A L A N D R E N A I S S A N C E B O O K A R T 

Buchkunst und Bibliophilie in Spatgotik 
und Renaissance (Munich: Karl Zink Verlag, 
1959) is a handsome catalog of an exhibit by 
the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in h o n o r of 
the First I n t e r n a t i o n a l Congress of Biblio-
philes a n d the sixtieth a n n u a l conference of 
the Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen in 1959. 
T h e r e are 213 entries with very brief anno-
tations; a n d there are a half dozen carefully 
chosen illustrations, including one in color 
of a m i n i a t u r e f r o m the vellum copy of the 
Decretum Gratiani (Mainz: Peter Schoffer, 
1472). T h e treasures of the Bavarian State 
Library are sufficient f o r a thousand such 
exhibits, b u t this one is tastefully chosen a n d 
edited, just sufficient to make any bibliophile 
yearn to spend the rest of his days in 
Munich. A small g r o u p of a dozen a n d a half 
m o d e r n illustrated books in editions for bib-
liophiles was also exhibited. 

J A G I E L L O N I A N T R E A S U R E S 

Zofia A m e i s e n o w a ' s Rekopisy i pierwod-
ruki iluminoivane Bibliotek: Jagiellonskiej 
(Wroclaw a n d Krakow: Zaklad Narodowy 
Imienia Ossoliriskich, 1958) is a handsome and 
highly detailed catalog of illuminated manu-
scripts a n d illustrated i n c u n a b u l a in the Uni-
versity of Krakow's Jagiellonian Library. In 
all there are 215 manuscripts a n d p r i n t e d 
books, all described minutely, with special 
reference to the illustration a n d ornamenta-
tion. T h e largest n u m b e r of entries is for 
Italy. T h e other sections are devoted to 
France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, a n d frag-
ments. T h e r e is an extensive bibliography, 
a n d several indexes make the work q u i t e easy 
to use. Most i m p o r t a n t , perhaps, are the 256 
illustrations in the section of plates a n d the 
eight handsome colored plates in the text. T h e 
book is a m o n u m e n t both of Polish biblio-
graphical scholarship a n d of book production. 

M A N U S C R I P T S IN F F . R M O 

S e r a f i n o P r e t e ' s I Codici della Biblioteca 
comunale di Fermo ( " B i b l i o t e c a d e b i b l i o g -
rafia italiana," X X X V ; Florence: Olschki, 
1960) is a comprehensive catalog of 122 manu-
scripts in the library of Fermo. A partial list 
a p p e a r e d earlier in Studia Picena in 1954-57. 
T h e library was f o u n d e d in 1688, a n d it has 
h a d a long history of worthwhile service to 
scholarship, especially u n d e r the administra-
tion of Filippo Raffaelli f r o m 1872 to 1893. 
T h e manuscript collection itself is r a t h e r 
miscellaneous in content, including classical 
texts, liturgical a n d theological works, some 
r a t h e r interesting medical texts, legal works, 
a h e r b a l a n d lapidary, a seventeenth-century 
nautical chart, a n d so on through the cus-
tomary list of subjects f o u n d in late medi-
aeval manuscripts. Most of the manuscripts 
date f r o m the t e n t h to the fifteenth century. 
T h e texts of m a n y of the manuscripts are of 
greatest importance for the palaeographical 
history of the individual titles, a n d Professor 
Prete's careful descriptions, including biblio-
ographical references, will earn him the grati-
tude of scholars in many fields. T h e r e is a 
general index a n d an index of incipits. 

E A R L Y T R A N S Y L V A N I A P R I N T I N G 

Veturia J u g a r e a n u ' s Bibliographie der 
siebenburgischen Frilhdrucke ( " B i b l i o t h e c a 
bibliographica aureliana," I; Baden-Baden: 

412 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S 



Verlag Heitz, 1959) is an alphabetical check-
list of 380 sixteenth-century imprints f r o m 
Transylvania (mainly Kronstadt, Klausen-
burg, H e r m a n n s t a d t , a n d Karlsburg). Print-
ing was introduced to Transylvania by the 
Kronstadt humanist a n d reformer J o h a n n e s 
H o n t e r u s (1498-1549), a n d the craft thrived 
vigorously in the m a i n centers. T h e twenty-
n i n e facsimiles in the bibliography indicate 
a highly developed state of the black art 
among the Siebenbiirgen Swabians of the 
R e f o r m a t i o n period. T h e r e is a list of 
sources, a list of libraries for which locations 
are given, a n d indexes of Cyrillic books, il-
lustrations, languages, a n d localities (with a 
chronological list u n d e r each). An introduc-
tory note on the library of the Brukenthal 
Museum in H e r m a n n s t a d t contains an inter-
esting bit of Eastern E u r o p e a n library his-
tory. T h i s library has what is probably the 
largest existing collection of Transylvania 
imprints. 

R U S S I A N P R O T O T Y P O G R A P H Y 

Y istokov russkogo Knigopechataniia ( M o s -
cow: Izdatel'stvo Akademii N a u k SSR, 
1959), edited by M. N. Tikhomirov, A. A. 
Sidorov, a n d A. N. Nazarov, is a handsome 
a n d significant work on Russian p r i n t i n g in 
the sixteenth a n d seventeenth centuries. 
T h e r e are chapters on the beginning of 
p r i n t i n g in Russia, physical characteristics of 
the earliest imprints, early Cyrillic p r i n t i n g 
in other parts of Russia, Ukraine, a n d Rou-
mania, ornaments, a n d other related mat-
ters. Problems of descriptive and historical 
bibliography are skillfully h a n d l e d in the 
light of the technical aspects of composition, 
presswork, a n d paper. T h e r e are numerous 
facsimiles, all well reproduced. T h e r e is a 
useful short bibliography on Russian pro-
totypography at the end of the book, but un-
fortunately there is n o index. As an intro-
duction to Slavic historical bibliography, the 
work of T i k h o m i r o v a n d his colleagues is 
the best available book, a n d it should be in 
every collection of books on early European 
p r i n t i n g a n d historical bibliography. 

H I S T O R Y O F P R I N T I N G 

H . S t e i n b e r g ' s Five Hundred Years of 
Printing (1955) has appeared in a German 
translation by J a k o b Hasslin u n d e r the title 
of Die schwarze Kunst: 500 Jahre Buchdruck 

(Munich: Prestel Verlag, 1958). Like other 
Prestel books, this little volume is so well 
produced a n d the facsimiles are so sharp 
that the translation deserves a place on the 
shelf even of a library owning the original. 
Steinberg's narrative moves swiftly, and he 
is judicious in the choice of high spots in 
the history of the craft. T h e bibliography in 
this edition has been brought u p to date, 
a n d a few minor adjustments made in the 
text. 

An incidental but not totally irrelevant 
value of books of which there are editions 
both in English a n d in French or G e r m a n is 
for graduate students who are p r e p a r i n g for 
a reading knowledge examination. T h e un-
dergraduate training of many of them is so 
poor that intelligent use of a " p o n y " may 
often be h e l p f u l . 

B O O K H I S T O R Y 

T h e Archiv fiir Geschichte des Buchwesens 
appears irregularly u n d e r the editorship of 
Bertold Hack a n d Bernhard W e n d t and, for-
tunately, allows the inclusion of longer es-
says than most learned journals accept. In 
Fascicles 7-9 of vol. II (1960) Heinrich 
G r i m m has a long study of "Die deutschen 
'Teufelsbiicher' des 16. J a h r h u n d e r t s : ihre 
Rolle im Buchwesen unci ihre Bedeutung." 
T h i s interesting genre had an i m p o r t a n t 
roll in the book trade of the R e f o r m a t i o n 
era, a n d Grimm brings out their significance 
within the whole framework of the religious, 
social, political, a n d economic conditions of 
the age. These fascicles of the Archiv (deliv-
ered u n d e r one cover) also contain thirteen 
other shorter studies. 

R o c o c o I L L U S R A T I O N 

Joachim Wiecler's new edition of Wilhelm 
H a u s e n s t e i n ' s Rokoko: franzosische und 
deutsche Illustratdren des 18. Jahrhunderts 
(Munich: R. Piper, 1958) is a welcome addi-
tion to the lists of books in p r i n t . Hausen-
stein's account of eighteenth-century book il-
lustration in Germany a n d France is a pene-
trating study of the whole era; for the fine 
nuances of artistic creation are perhaps the 
best vehicles for describing the galanterie of 
the salons, r a d i a n t melancholy, heroic scenes, 
a n d endless variations of erotic rendezvous, 
all so typical of the fashionable book of the 
eighteenth century a n d the culture behind 

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 0 413 



it. T h e careers of the artists f r o m poverty to 
prosperity (or, too o f t e n , poverty back to 
poverty) a n d the roles of the patrons 
are among the most characteristic a n d 
the most revealing aspects of society in the 
m o r i b u n d ancien regime. Hausenstein's book 
is heavily loaded with factual data, b u t his 
narrative moves rapidly. T h e r e is an index 
of artists a n d a short b u t concise biblio-
graphical essay a d e q u a t e f o r the purpose. 
Rokoko is a work that is a " m u s t " on the 
reading lists f o r all courses in the history 
of the book, n o t to m e n t i o n general studies 
in eighteenth-century E u r o p e a n history. 

O T T O D O R F N E R 

W o l f g a n d Eckardt's Otto Dorfner (Stutt-
gart: Max H e t t l e r Verlag, 1960) describes the 
life a n d work of one of the greatest book-
binders a n d teachers of b i n d i n g in the 
twentieth century. W h e n Professor D o r f n e r 
died in W e i m a r at the age of seventy in 1955, 
he left one of the great traditions of G e r m a n 
art binding. H e h a d received nearly every 
professional h o n o r in his field, h a d served 
effectively as director of the T h u r i n g i a n 
Crafts School in Weimar, a n d h a d personally 
created some of the most remarkable original 
designs of bindings to be f o u n d in twentieth-
century Germany. Eckhardt's narrative is pri-
marily biographical, b u t there are many 
worthwhile glimpses into the well-springs of 
D o r f n e r ' s genius. T h e thirty-two plates are 
halftones p r i n t e d letterpress, a n d they b r i n g 
out the details of Dorfner's craftsmanship 
effectively. 

D A N I S H B O O K P R O D U C T I O N 

T h e superior quality of Danish books sug-
gests, inter alia, the existence of superior 
training facilities in the book production 
industry a n d of good textbooks. O n e such 
m a n u a l which has received insufficient atten-
tion abroad is O t t o Andersen's Boghaand-
vaerket: Bogtryk, Papir, Reproduktion, Bog-
bind (3d ed.; C o p e n h a g e n : Boghandlerfag-
skolen, 1954). T h e author, a Copenhagen 
publisher a n d bookseller, covers the various 
processes of composition a n d presswork, pa-
per, pictorial reproduction, b i n d i n g (hand 
a n d machine), design, the development of 
types, technical terms (arranged logically by 
process b u t fully indexed), samples of print-
ing types commonly used in Denmark, a n d 
a bibliography. T h e illustrations, carefully 

chosen a n d well reproduced, will justify the 
presence of the book in a collection where 
Danish is not widely understood by readers, 
a n d the collection of technical terms with 
definitions has a substantial reference value. 

C h a r l e s M o e g r e e n ' s Laerebog i Typografi 
(Copenhagen: Fagskolen for Boghaandvaerk, 
1958) is a comprehensive a n d compact text-
book in all aspects of typography. Richly il-
lustrated a n d with an index c o n t a i n i n g some 
six h u n d r e d terms, Moegreen's book is lucid, 
authoritative, a n d well organized, a n d a 
q u a r t e r of a century of experience as a 
teacher undergirds the entire work. Although 
the book was written with special a t t e n t i o n 
to the needs of students, it may also be used 
f o r reference. W e have n o comparable work 
in English with so many detailed illustra-
tions, a n d the text is also considerably more 
extensive than a n y t h i n g we have in any sin-
gle volume. T h e bibliography, a select but 
a d e q u a t e list of a b o u t seventy titles on typo-
graphical practice, reveals clearly the relative 
volume a n d quality of the literature in vari-
ous languages. In English-speaking countries 
we must d e p e n d heavily on works such as 
Moegreen's a n d comparable books in Ger-
m a n a n d Swedish. 

T U S C A N S E R I A L S 

Clementina R o t o n d i ' s Bibliografia dei pe-
riodici toscani (1852-1864) ( " B i b l i o t e c a d i 
bibliografia italiana," X X X V I ; Florence: 
Olschki, 1960) is an analytical list of 207 
serials published in Tuscany, mainly in Flor-
ence, d u r i n g a critical period of Italian his-
tory. All types of serials are included, regard-
less of periodicity, content, or importance. 
For each title there is i n f o r m a t i o n on the 
complete history of the printing, the period 
covered, editors, a historical a n d descriptive 
note, bibliographical references, a n d location 
of copies. T h e arrangement is chronological, 
a n d there is an alphabetical index of titles 
a n d a n o t h e r index of persons. Miss Rotondi's 
work is a key to Italian history of the period 
just prior to n a t i o n a l unification, but it is 
also a basic contribution to the history of 
Italian journalism. Comparable works for 
other periods a n d other jurisdictions would 
do well to follow this model. 

T H E V E R T I C A L F I L E 

W e r n e r Liebich's Anwendungsmoglichkei-
ten der Vertikalablage ( " A r b e i t e n a u s d e m 

414 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S 



Bibliothekar-Lehrinstitut des Landes Nord-
rhein-Westfalen," 18; Cologne: Greven Ver-
lag, 1959) is a definitive study of die verti-
cal file. Liebich examines die history, the 
physical forms, inclusion of materials, a n d 
administration of the vertical file, a n d he 
provides an exhaustive bibliography. His 
treatment is tempered with common sense, 
b u t at the same time h e shows much imagina-
tion about the potential of the vertical file 
in all types of libraries a n d library situations. 
T h e r e is a section of illustrations showing 
various types of vertical file equipment. Ref-
erence librarians in this country as well as 
in Europe will find that this work will be a 
useful addition to their desk-top reference 
set. 

T H E B I B L I O T H E Q U E N A T I O N A L E 

J u l i e n Cain's Les Transformations de la 
Bibliotheque Nationale de 1936 a 1959 ( P a r i s , 
1959) is a handsomely illustrated brochure 
of seventy-four pages showing the physical 
changes in the French national library dur-
ing the past q u a r t e r of a century. T h e spatial 
problems of the Bibliotheque Nationale 
were probably the most aggravated of any of 
the great national libraries, b u t M. Cain and 
his colleagues have attacked them with vigor 
a n d imagination. Many of their solutions are 
suggestive for research libraries of all types 
a n d in different countries of the world. 
T h e r e is a subject index a n d a topographi-
cal index to the various parts of the library. 

I T A L I A N L I B R A R I E S 

La ricostruzione delle biblioteche italiane 
dopo la guerra 1950-55 ( R o m e : D i r e z i o n e 
Generale delle Accademie e Biblioteche, 

Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, 1955; 
2 v.) reveals considerably greater damage to 
Italian libraries than was generally suspected 
in this country. Divided by regions, each 
Italian library of any significance is described 
briefly, and, when possible, the exact extent 
of the damage caused by military action is 
noted. T h e second volume is organized on 
parallel lines and gives detailed accounts of 
reconstruction. Both volumes are richly il-
lustrated. As a prime source of twentieth-
century library history, these two volumes 
deserve careful study, for they provide con-
siderable insight into the present status of 
Italian libraries. T h e vigor a n d imagination 
applied to the problem of reconstruction is a 
partial indication of the Italians' apprecia-
tion of their great libraries as a national re-
source. 

T h e s e c o n d e d i t i o n of t h e Annuario delle 
biblioteche italiane ( R o m e : D i r e z i o n e G e n -
erale delle Accademie e Biblioteche, Ministero 
della Pubblica Istruzione, 1959; 3v.) reveals 
a healthy library situation in Italy, at least 
as far as the organization, housing, and avail-
ability of the collections are concerned. T h e 
first two volumes cover, in alphabetical or-
der, the libraries outside of Rome; and the 
third covers Rome, Vatican City, and San 
Marino. History, holdings, special collections, 
a n d catalogs are noted, and there is a list of 
references to literature about the library, 
when such exist. At the end of each volume 
there is an extensive collection of photo-
graphs of the libraries in the volume in ques-
tion. T h e Annuario is one of those contribu-
tions to library literature which can be read 
with pleasure a n d also serve as a key ref-
erence book. 

B O O K S A R E F O R R E A D I N G 

"Books Are f o r R e a d i n g , " a speech by P a u l Bixler at the Burma-American In-
stitute, R a n g o o n , Burma, has been p r i n t e d as a p a m p h l e t . T h e A C R L office will 
fill requests for copies as long as its limited supply lasts. Mr. Bixler has been on 
leave f r o m Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, since the summer of 1958 as 
Library Adviser to the Social Science L i b r a r y of the University of R a n g o o n . H e re-
t u r n s to Antioch this m o n t h . 

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 0 415