Evening star., 1927-03-09
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
GIVEN RARE BOOKS
IN THACHER WILL
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the collection in color and romance, az
well as in historical material, is con-
Sidered inestimable.
The fifteenth century books-the
incunabula, or cradle books" as they
are called, because they represent the
infancy Of the art of printing-num-
Der $40 different editions, or more than
one-eighth of the entire number Of
incunabula known to be owned in the
United States. The $40 different edi-
tiOns in this single collection include
235 that are the only copies at present
known to exist in the Western Hemi-
sphere.
The Thacher collection begins at the
early date of 1859. The use of NOV
able metal types first came into prac-
tical use in Germany, in the City of
MainZ, about the year 1450. By the
end of the year, ll470 presses had been
set UP in seven German towns. all of
which towns are represented in this
collection: by the close of 1880, % or
% towns had had presses, of which 10
are in this collection; by 1890 there
were 38 or 80, of which it has 30; by
the end of the century, so ,or 81, of
which 1t has SO. The Is places in
Germany not known to this collection
1Fe Oh comparatively little importance.
First Was Psalter.
The first book to which printers
put their names and the date of pub
Mcation was the famous Mainz Psal-
ter, printed by Fust & Schoeffer, as
sociates of Gutenberg, in. 1857; the
second was a Psalter of August 29,
1459; the third, dated October s, 1853,
is represented in the Thacher collec-
tion-the Rationale divinorum ofticio-
rum, or explanation of the divine Of
fees" William Durand.s chaplain to
Pope Clement w, and holder of many
other high offices in the church wrote
this book toward the end of the thir-
teenth century. 1t is an exposition
or explanation of the divine offices of
the Catholic Church, detailed state
ment of the origin and symbolic sig
nificance of all the church ritual and
Its relation to the church building,
and furniture. It accounts for all
the ceremonies, the sacraments, the
vestments, the mass, the holidays and
feasts. the calendar. 1t has been call
ed "the most valuable work on SYM
bolism that the Middle Ages has fur
nished." The Thacher copy has an
authentic personal history from the
year 1775. Among it's former owners
were the Duke of Sussex, Sir Mark
Masterman Sykes and Lord Ashburn-
ham.
Although Mainz was the mother of
printing, the metropolis Of the art, 1t
produced only about 200 incunabula.
Ten or IL presses-five of them
anonymous-are its total. OF the six
presses known by the master printers
names, Mr.. Thacher was able to get
four represented by. eight books.
Strassburg Was Second.
The second place to know printing
was Strassburg, where as early as
1851 Johann Mentelin issued a great
Latin Bible. About 26 or 27 presses
were established here before 1901. OF
the first 16 of these presses the
Thacher collection has 13, including
all the first three. Altogether there
are some 4S specimens from Strass-
burg, the earliest being Johann
Mentelin's miniature edition of the
"Speculum Historaile of Vincent OF
Beauvais. 1431." pocket encycloped
in four volumes. Mentelin did not
print many books-about 35. After
Mentelin's death his son-in-law, Adolf
Rusch, carried on the business, but
did not put his name in a single book
He was the first printer to use Roman
type. Two Of his books are in this
collection-parts of the "Speculum OF
Vincent of Beauvais." There are most
interesting inscriptions in the two
volumes of Rusch's "Speculum." Each
reads. "Magister Conradus Ansarg
chancellor of Ratisbon, presented me
to the monastery in Undensdorf ir
the year 1478." The British Museum
has other books with the very same
inscription. II the inscription is au
thentic and accurate, and there is nc
reason to doubt it. then these two
books were printed mot later thar
1878"
The Thacher collection has 2f
Cologne books from some 13 of its 8:
presses. including the most important
beginning with that of Ulrich Eel
Cologne's first printer.
The Thacher copy of the Summa OF
Thomas Aquinas, printed by Sen
senschmidt and Frisner in 1474, is one
Of Nuremberg's great books. Mr.
Thacher notes that Dibdin calls this
one Of the finest productions o.
Sensenschmidt's press, and he adds
This is certainly noble volume"
Has Ptolemy's Geography.
The Thacher collection has also one
Of the 48 books issued by Sweynhein
and Pannartz in Rome. a book o
Lenten sermons; and it has TIVE
printed by PannartZ after theil
partnership was dissolved. It ha:
besides an edition of Ptolemy's Geo
graphy printed by Arnold Bucking IL
1478, for which Sweynheim engraved
the maps, and an edition by Petrul
de Turre, 1490. in which the plates o
Sweynheim were used a second time
About one-fourth of the Thachel
collection is given up to specimens o
the presses of Venice. Among then
90 some Of the best work of the mos
famous printers. from Johann
Wendelin of Speier and Nicolas Jen
son through Erhard Ratdolt ant
Andreas Torresanus down to Aldu
Maputius.
Next among Venetian printers t,
the great Aldus himself, no doub
the fame Of Nicolas Jenson is mos
widely spread abroad. He was
Trenchman. His work was of sucl
excellence that 1t brought him
considerable fortune. Five year
after he began printing the Pop
made him a count. He used a beauti
fully clear Roman type. much imi