Guides: Rare Books: Early Printed Books

Overview

In the West, printed books may be traced to Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in Mainz, Germany, in the mid-1450s. Books produced during the next 50 years are known as "incunables" or "incunabula," a Latin-derived term that refers to the infancy of printing in fifteenth-century Europe. The handpress technology initially developed by Gutenberg continued to dominate book production until the Industrial Revolution of the early nineteenth century.

In this section of the Rare Books LibGuide, you will find a description and sample list of Texas Tech University's early printed book collection as well as a list of resources to help you start researching books of the handpress era. The resource list includes catalogs, bibliographies, and histories of incunabula and later handpress books (subdivided geographically by books of the European Continent, British Isles, and the Americas); key texts for studying the material features of early printed books (paper, typography, illustration, and binding); and resources for researching provenance or the history of book ownership.

Early Printed Books at Texas Tech

Rare Books currently has ten incunabula available for research, including a leaf from the first incunable, Gutenberg's 42-line Bible, and a copy of the most illustrated incunable, the Nuremberg Chronicle. You can pull up a list of our incunable holdings by searching "incunabula specimens" in the TTU Libraries online catalog.

The collection is home to about 1,600 titles printed during the handpress era. Searching "early works to 1800" under "Southwest Collection/Special Collections" in the online catalog will pull up a number (but not all) of the records for these books, though some modern reprints may appear in the results.

The following are some highlights from our early printed books collection:

Leaf from the Gutenberg Bible
Call Number: OVERSZ SPL BS75 1454 leaf 311

Publication Date: 1454
Vitae XII Caesarum by Suetonius
Call Number: OVERSZ SPL PA6702 .A2 1471

Publication Date: 1471
The Nuremberg Chronicle (German Edition) by Hartmann Schedel
Call Number: OVERSZ SPL CE57 .S3

Publication Date: 1493

The most illustrated printed book of the fifteenth century.
Aldine Edition of Valerii Maximi dictorum et factorum memorabilium libri novem by Valerius Maximus
Call Number: SPL PA6791 .V6 1502

Publication Date: 1502
Shakespeare's Second Folio by William Shakespeare
Call Number: SPL PR2751 .A2 1632b

Publication Date: 1632
Elsevier Edition of De tragoediae constitutione liber by Daniel Heinsius
Call Number: SPL PN1891 .H4 1643

Publication Date: 1643
First Illustrated Edition of Paradise Lost by John Milton
Call Number: OVERSZ PR3560 1688

Publication Date: 1688
Benjamin Franklin's Printing of Cato Major by Marcus Tullius Cicero
Call Number: PA6308.C2 L6 1744

Publication Date: 1744
Complete Set of the Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot
Call Number: OVERSZ AE25 .E53

Publication Date: 1751-1765

We also have the 4 supplementary volumes (OVERSZ AE25 .E53 Suppl.) and the 11 volumes of illustrations featuring some of the most iconic engravings of the Enlightenment era (OVERSZ AE25 .E53 PLATES )

Researching Early Printed Books

Catalogs and Bibliographies of Incunabula (1450-1500)

Incunabula and Americana, 1450-1800 by Margaret Bingham Stillwell
Call Number: Z240.A1 S8

Publication Date: 1931

Authored by a Brown University librarian who specialized in two distinct areas of bibliographic study which are covered in this work: incunabula and Americana. For each section, Stillwell reviews the history, key terminology, and major reference sources for further study.
Repertorium Bibliographicum by Ludwig Hain
Call Number: Z240 .H15 1948

Publication Date: 1948

An attempt to list every book printed in Europe in the fifteenth century, commonly cited as "Hain." Arranged alphabetically by author and written entirely in Latin. Entries denoted by an asterisk were personally examined by Hain himself.
Supplement to Hain's Repertorium Bibliographicum by Walter Arthur Copinger
Call Number: Z240.H15 S 1950

Publication Date: 1950

The first expansion of Hain's attempt to list every book printed in fifteenth-century Europe, commonly cited as "Hain-Copinger."

Appendices ad Hainii-Copingeri Repertorium Bibliographicum, vols. 1-4
Vols. 1-4 of Dietrich Reichling's expansion of Hain-Copinger, an attempt to list every book printed in fifteenth-century Europe. Commonly cited as "Hain-Copinger-Reichling."
Appendices ad Hainii-Copingeri Repertorium Bibliographicum, vols. 5-7
Vols. 5-7 of Dietrich Reichling's expansion of Hain-Copinger, an attempt to list every book printed in fifteenth-century Europe. Commonly cited as "Hain-Copinger-Reichling."
Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (GKW)
An ongoing German project to represent every edition of every book produced in fifteenth-century Europe in an online database.

Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century Now in the British Museum by British Museum
Call Number: OVERSZ Z240 .B85

Publication Date: 1963

A complete catalog of incunabula held by the British Library (along with some incunabula not held by the library). Volumes are organized in "Proctor" order: by countries in the chronological order in which they developed printing; within each country, by towns in the chronological order in which they developed printing; and within each town, by print shops in the chronological order in which they developed printing. Volumes on books printed in English and Hebrew were published separately.
Fifteenth Century English Books by E. Gordon Duff
Call Number: Z240 .D852

Publication Date: 1917

A standard bibliography of incunabula printed in England as well as fifteenth-century books printed outside of England and intended for the English market.

Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC)
An English online catalog of incunabula recorded by abbreviated or "short" form of the title. This resource is useful for locating individual copies as libraries from across the globe send updated holdings information to the ISTC. Entries also include citations from other major reference works as well as links to digitized copies.

A Catalogue of the Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in the Harvard University Library by James E. Walsh
Call Number: Z240 .H37 1991 (and Z240 .H37 1991 suppl. 1)

ISBN: 0866980962

Publication Date: 1991-1997

A catalog of incunabula held by Harvard University in five volumes plus one supplement. Organized by country of publication in the order in which European countries developed printing. Commonly cited as "Walsh."

General Resources for Incunabula Study

Latin Place Names
A searchable database to translate Latin place names, commonly found in the imprints of early printed books, into their modern English equivalents.
Common Latin Imprint Terminology
Brief glossary of Latin terms (other than proper nouns) that may be found in the imprints of early printed books.
The Atlas of Early Printing
An interactive map that visualizes the spread of printing technology from the 1450s to the year 1500. Allows the user to add layers such as trade routes, political borders, paper mills, universities, and styles of typography. The timeline can also be adjusted.

Resources for Post-Incunabula Books (1500-1800)

Bibliographies and Catalogs of Early European Books

Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe, 1501-1600, in Cambridge Libraries by H. M. Adams
Call Number: Z1014 .A38

Publication Date: 1967

A catalog of sixteenth-century books held by all the college libraries in the Cambridge University system. Excludes works printed in the British Isles. Commonly cited as "Adams."
Sixteenth-century Imprints in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania by M. A. Shaaber
Call Number: Z1014 .P45

Publication Date: 1976

A catalog of all European (inclusive of the British Isles) books printed in the sixteenth century that are held by the University of Pennsylvania. Commonly cited as "Shaaber."

Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachebereich erschienen Drucke de XVI. Jahrhunderts (VD16)
A German online database of sixteenth-century books printed in German-speaking countries.

Catalogue of a Collection of Early French Books in the Library of C. Fairfax Murray, vol. 1 by Charles Fairfax Murray
Publication Date: 1910

Vol. 1 of a catalog of early French printed books collected by a pre-Raphaelite artist.
Catalogue of a Collection of Early French Books in the Library of C. Fairfax Murray, vol. 2 by Charles Fairfax Murray
Publication Date: 1910

Vol. 2 of a catalog of early French printed books collected by a pre-Raphaelite artist.
Harvard College Library Department of Printing and Graphic Arts, Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts by Ruth Mortimer
Call Number: Z881 .H346

Publication Date: 1964

A catalog of the collection of Harvard librarian Philip Hofer, who donated his library to the university. Part 1 covers sixteenth-century French books; part 2 covers sixteenth-century Italian books. Arranged alphabetically by author.

Bibliographies and Catalogs of Early Books of the British Isles

The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature by George Watson
Call Number: PR2 .N45

Publication Date: 1969-1977

A bibliography of English literature that covers works produced from 600 to 1950, organized chronologically. Bibliographic entries are brief, but the scope of material covered is broad.
The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature by William Thomas Lowndes
Call Number: Z2001 .L92 1869

Publication Date: 1869

A major bibliography of English books of the handpress era. Covers more than just works of fiction since "literature" at the time of publication was defined as anything expressed in the written word. Commonly cited as "Lowndes."
A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad, 1475-1640 by A.W. Pollard & G.R. Redgrave
Call Number: Z2002 .P77 1976

Publication Date: 1976-1986

The second edition of Pollard & Redgrave's STC. This bibliography is inclusive of all printed materials (not just books) printed in any language within the British Isles and printed in English outside of the British Isles from the beginnings of English printing until the start of the English Civil War. This scope includes works printed in English in North America. Entries arranged alphabetically with vol. 1 covering A-H and vol. 2 covering I-Z.
Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641-1700 by Donald G. Wing
Call Number: Z2002 .W5

Publication Date: 1945-1951

A chronological continuation of the work of Pollard & Redgrave (STC) that covers printed works (notably excluding periodicals) produced in the British Isles and English works printed outside of the British Isles from the English Civil War until the end of the seventeenth century. Commonly cited as "Wing."

English Short Title Catalogue
An online database of all works printed in the British Empire and all works outside of the British Empire printed in the English language from the beginnings of English printing in the 1470s until the year 1800. Each record includes lists of institutions that hold a copy as well as a link to an Early English Books Online (EEBO) digital copy, if available.
Early English Books Online
With over 17 million page images and 130,000 titles, EEBO Online is an exhaustive repository of "virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America ... from 1473-1700.

Oxford Books : A Bibliography of Printed Works Relating to the University and City of Oxford, or Printed or Published There by Falconer Madan
Call Number: Z152.O9 M17

Publication Date: 1895-1931

A chronological bibliography of books printed in or relating to the city of Oxford from 1468-1680. During the English Civil War, the Royalist printing press was located in Oxford and notably produced pro-Crown literature.
Annals of Scottish Printing by Robert Dickson and John Philip Edmond
Call Number: Z152.S42 D5

Publication Date: 1890

A combined bibliography and history of early printing in Scotland.
A List of Books Printed in Scotland before 1700 by Harry G. Aldis
Call Number: Z2051 .A55

Publication Date: 1970

A bibliography of early Scottish works that goes further chronologically than Dickson & Edmond's Annals.

Resources for Studying the British Book Trade

Printers' & Publishers' Devices in England & Scotland 1485-1640 by Ronald B. McKerrow
Publication Date: 1913

A standard work that is useful for studying the devices or the imagery/symbolism English and Scottish printers used to mark their works. Devices are arranged in chronological order of first appearance from the incunabula era to the start of the English Civil War.
A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London, 1554-1640 A.D. by Edward Arber
Call Number: PR670 .L64

Publication Date: 1950

A printed transcript of the manuscript records of the Stationers' Company of London. Before the Copyright Act of 1710, the guild known as the Stationers' Company regulated the English printing/publishing trade by requiring works to be registered with the company before publication. Not all of the works listed in these records reached publication.
The Term Catalogues, 1668-1709 A.D. by Edward Arber
Call Number: Z2002 .A31

Publication Date: 1903-1906

Historical English booksellers' catalogs that were issued four times per year. Organized by subject.
A Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of Foreign Printers of English Books 1557-1640 by Ronald B. McKerrow
Call Number: Z151 .D51

Publication Date: 1968

Includes useful information on some of the more obscure participants in the book trade of the British Isles.

British Book Trade Index
An online database of printers, publishers, booksellers, papermakers, engravers, and other professionals involved in the British book trade up to 1851. Each entry cites sources for further research.

Bibliographies and Catalogs of Early Books of the Americas

Incunabula and Americana, 1450-1800 by Margaret Bingham Stillwell
Call Number: Z240.A1 S8

Publication Date: 1931

Authored by a Brown University librarian who specialized in two distinct areas of bibliographic study which are covered in this work: incunabula and Americana. For each section, Stillwell reviews the history, key terminology, and major reference sources for further study.
Bibliotheca Americana: A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, from its Discovery to the Present Time by Joseph Sabin
Call Number: Z1201 .S2

Publication Date: 1868-1936

One of the largest and most influential bibliographies of Americana. The scope broadly covers the Americas, although there is an emphasis on works relating to North America. Arranged alphabetically. Commonly cited as "Sabin."
Author-Title Index to Joseph Sabin's Dictionary of Books Relating to America by John E. Molnar
Call Number: Z1201 .S222

ISBN: 0810806525

Publication Date: 1974

This index is a significant help to researchers who are navigating Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana, a bibliography which sometimes misplaces entries out of alphabetical order.
A Catalogue of Books Relating to the Discovery and Early History of North and South America by E. D. Church
Call Number: Z1203 .C55 1951

Publication Date: 1951

An excellently detailed catalog of the collection of E. D. Church, a New York collector of rare English literature and Americana. Most of the books described are currently held by the Huntington Library in California. The catalog has an overall chronological arrangement with works listed alphabetically under each year from 1482 to 1884.
Bibliotheca Americana: Catalogue of the John Carter Brown Library in Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Call Number: Z881 .P9665 1961

Publication Date: 1961-1973

A catalog of the library of John Carter Brown, who was a preeminent collector of Americana of the Western Hemisphere and son of the namesake of Brown University. Entries are arranged chronologically overall, and works are listed alphabetically under each year. This edition goes up to the year 1700.
U.S. -iana (1700-1950) by Wright Howes
Call Number: Z1215 .H75

Publication Date: 1954

An important checklist of 11,450 printed works developed by a Chicago bookseller who specialized in United States imprints. Arranged alphabetically by author.
American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets, and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America from the Genesis of Printing in 1639 Down to and including the Year 1820 by Charles Evans
Call Number: Z1215 .E92

Publication Date: 1941-1959

An extensive bibliography for study of the handpress era of American history, arranged chronologically. Commonly cited as "Evans."
National Index of American Imprints Through 1800 by Clifford K. Shipton
Call Number: Z1215 .E93 Index

Publication Date: 1969

The alphabetically arranged index to Evans' American Bibliography, with corrections and some additions.
Manual del Librero Hispano-Americano by Antonio Palau y Dulcet
Call Number: Z2681 .P16

Publication Date: 1948-1977

A major Spanish bibliography of 28 volumes that covers early imprints of Spain and Latin America. Commonly cited as "Palau y Dulcet."
An Essay Towards an Indian [sic] Bibliography by Thomas W. Field
Call Number: 13 F456 1991

Publication Date: 1991

A collector's catalog of antiquarian books, both historical and fictional, about the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Originally published in 1873. Publication dates of Field's books range from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Entries arranged alphabetically.
A Bibliography of the Negro [sic] in Africa and America by Monroe N. Work
Call Number: GN645 .W8 1965

Publication Date: 1965

A bibliography of roughly 17,000 entries of Afro-Americana compiled by the Tuskegee Institute sociologist Monroe Work. Arranged chronologically.

Material and Artistic Features of the Early Printed Book

Paper

An International Sourcebook of Paper History by Irving P. Leif
Call Number: TS1090 .L52

ISBN: 0208016910

Publication Date: 1978

The first published comprehensive bibliography of paper history. Covers sources for histories of handmade paper and watermarks as well as for the development of paper in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft by Dard Hunter
Call Number: TS1090 .H816 1978

ISBN: 0486236196

Publication Date: 1978

A classic work on papermaking history that considers all aspects of the papermaking process from cloth maceration to drying and sizing.
Marbled Paper: Its History, Techniques and Patterns by Richard J. Wolfe
Call Number: Z271 .W638 1990

ISBN: 0812281888

Publication Date: 1990

An essential history of marbled paper, a Japanese and Middle Eastern artform which entered European bookbinding around the seventeenth century.

Typography

Printing Types: Their History, Forms, and Use by Daniel B. Updike
Call Number: Z250.A2 U6 1980

ISBN: 0486239292

Publication Date: 1980

An essential history and study of typographical development from Gutenberg to the twentieth century. Contains numerous illustrations. Authored by a printer and typographer.
The Encyclopaedia of Type Faces by W. Turner Berry, A. F. Johnson, and W. P. Jaspert
Call Number: Z250 .B5 1962

Publication Date: 1962

A major resource on 2,000 specific type faces. Overall organization is by three families of type (Romans, Lineales and Scripts) and then alphabetically under each section.

Illustration

Book Illustration and Decoration by Vito J. Brenni
Call Number: NC960 .B8

ISBN: 0313223408

Publication Date: 1980

A bibliography that cites over 2,000 reference sources and studies on book illustration. Entries include illustration manuals and histories as well as works on specific kinds of illustration in scientific, medical, geographical, and children's literature.
Introduction to a History of Woodcut by Arthur M. Hind
Call Number: NE1030 .H55 1963

ISBN: 9780486209524

Publication Date: 1963

A general source for studying printed book illustration of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
A History of Engraving & Etching, from the 15th Century to the Year 1914 by Hind, Arthur M.
Call Number: NE400 .H66 1923

Publication Date: 1923

A general survey of engraving and etching with bibliographies and descriptions of historically significant artists.
How Prints Look by William Ivins, Jr.
Call Number: NE863 .I9 1958

Publication Date: 1958

An essential manual for learning how to distinguish different printing techniques in fine art prints and book illustrations. Photographic reproductions of example prints accompanied by descriptive commentary. Also discusses and illustrates various printmaking tools.
How To Identify Prints by Bamber Gascoigne
Call Number: NE400 .G3

Publication Date: 1986

A detailed and comprehensive manual for identifying different printing techniques in fine art prints and book illustrations. Covers a broader range of material than Ivins and has a helpful glossary/index.

Binding

Bookbinding: A Guide to the Literature by Vito J. Brenni
Call Number: Z266.5 .B73 1982

Publication Date: 1982

An accessible bibliography of reference sources and studies of bookbinding, including historical and cultural studies of binding practices/styles.
ABC of Bookbinding by Jane Greenfield
Call Number: Z266.7 .G74 1998

ISBN: 1884718418

Publication Date: 1998

An essential illustrated dictionary of bookbinding terms compiled by a Yale University book conservator. Covers 2,000 years of bookbinding styles and techniques in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Twelve Centuries of Bookbindings, 400-1600 by Paul Needham
Call Number: Z269 .N37

ISBN: 0192115804

Publication Date: 1979

An exhibition catalog of 100 historical bindings found in the Pierpont Morgan Library. Arranged chronologically from the fifth to the seventeenth centuries. Commentary written by a leading scholar of fifteenth-century books.
Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings by E. Ph. Goldschmidt
Call Number: Z269 .G62 1967

Publication Date: 1967

A pivotal study of Gothic and Renaissance bindings authored by an antiquarian bookseller and scholar. Volume 1 contains text; volume 2 contains binding illustrations drawn from books in Goldschmidt's collection.
Humanists and Bookbinders: The Origins and Diffusion of the Humanistic Bookbinding, 1459-1559 by Anthony Hobson
Call Number: Z269.3.R46 H63 1989

ISBN: 9780521355360

Publication Date: 1989

An authoritative history of Humanistic binding written by a scholar interested in the spread of Islamic binding motifs into Europe.
The History of Decorated Bookbinding in England by Howard Millar Nixon and Mirjam M. Foot
Call Number: Z269.3.O75 N59 1992

ISBN: 0198181825

Publication Date: 1992

Authored by a leading scholar of bookbinding and based on lectures he delivered at Oxford in 1979. Offers a succinct but useful history of the art of English decorated binding from the earliest surviving example (St. Cuthbert Gospel, 7th century) to the 1940s.
English Bookbinding Styles, 1450-1800 by David Pearson
Call Number: Z270.E5 P44 2005

ISBN: 9780712348287

Publication Date: 2005

This is a handbook for identifying the style and historical period of standard (not luxury) bindings of the English handpress period. Authored by a leading scholar in bookbinding and provenance studies.

Provenance: The History of Ownership

Online Provenance Resources
Compiled by the Consortium of European Research Libraries, this is the go-to online reference source for researching book provenance. Most of the resources are categorized by country: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Provenance Research in Book History by David Pearson
Call Number: Z994.G7 P43 1998

ISBN: 0712303448

Publication Date: 1998

An essential handbook that cites major reference sources for researching provenance. Includes sections on inscriptions, bookplates, stamps, mottoes and heraldry. Due to the author's area of expertise, there is an emphasis on British books.
English Collectors of Books & Manuscripts (1530-1930) and Their Marks of Ownership by Seymour de Ricci
Call Number: Z989 .R48

Publication Date: 1960

Describes major English collectors from the sixteenth to early twentieth centuries and their marks of provenance, often illustrated by an example in facsimile.
Contributions Towards a Dictionary of English Book Collectors by Bernard Quaritch
Call Number: Z989.A1 Q3 1968

Publication Date: 1968

Published by a major antiquarian bookselling firm that has been in operation since 1847. A series of biographical sketches, particularly of notable Quaritch customers.
American Book Collectors and Collecting From Colonial Times to the Present by Carl Cannon
Call Number: Z987 .C3

Publication Date: 1941

Covers major American collectors and what happened to their libraries from colonial times to the 1920s.
American Book-plates: A Guide to Their Study by Charles Dexter Allen
Call Number: Z994.A5 A4

Publication Date: 1968

A standard reference for early American bookplates, with facsimile reproductions.

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