Evening star., 1930-12-14
WORLD SCHOLARS
ATTEND EXHIBIT Of
100 INCUNABULA
Gutenberg Bible Is Center of
Attraction at Library of
Congress.
100000 VOLUME
IN PERMANENT DISPLAY
First Products of Printing Give
Cross-Section of Dawn of
Modern Thought.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

the Library of Congress yesterday.
Scholars from all over the East at
tended the opening exhibition of 1,700
incunabula-books printed in the fif-
teenth century shortly after the inven-
ton of movable type-selected by Lii
brarian Herbert Putnam out of the
5000 purchased by Congress from DR..
Otto H, F. Vollbehr of Berlin.
I The center of attraction was the
Gutenberg Bible on vellum, the earliest
printed book, which was purchased by
DR.. Vollbehr from the Benedictine
Monastery of st. Paul, in Carinthia,
and which is conservatively valued at
more than $1,000000. It Is by long
odds the most valuable book in the
world. The three volumes, finely print
ed and with decorated pages, reposed in
special cabinet made for the Library
of Congress and modelled after one de-
signed by Michelangelo for a Floren-
tine library. These volumes not only
were the handicraft of the inventor of
printing, but were closely associated
with the sinister Johan Fust, or Faust,
who peddled the output of Gutenberg's
press over Europe and passed into leg
end as the magician who sold his soul
to the devil.
The exhibit contains 40 other early
Bibles, all exquisitely printed and widely
circulated in Europe in the latter half
of the fifteenth century. OF interest
among them is the first poor mans
Bible" an octave volume printed in
1491 by a friend of the reformer Eras-
mus for general circulation. The larger
Bibles had largely been restricted to
the rich and to institutions.
Dawn Of Modern Thought.
The rest of the collection represents
cross-section Of the mind Of Europe
at the dawn of modern thought, when
all the nations were breaking away
from the traditions of medievalism
and the imagination was stirred by the
discovery OF new worlds across the At
laptic. The entire range is covered,
from the culinary arts to philosophy
and theology. Notable especially are
the illustrations-wood engravings and
the first copper plateS-many of which
are fantastic, but exquiSitely beautiful.
Prominent among the guests Of the
Library were DR.. and Mrs. Vollbehr. The
German scholar has made the collection
of these incunabula his life work.
tracing down Systematically the output
Of the first printing presses in each
city. He had intended, he said, to turn
the collection over to his native land,
but financial stress brought on by the
war forced him to turn to the United
States. For years he has guarded the
precious books as II they were children.
Among the incunabula of greatest
interest are those dealing with the dis
covery of America, the news of which
spread rapidly through Europe. One
book contains the letter of Columbus
announcing, his discovery. He wrote
two copies, one for the secretary of
King Ferdinand and one for the treas
urer Of the Kingdom of Aragon, and
these were quickly seized upon by the
printers.
Announces His Exploit.
Thus the great navigator announced
his exploit:
Having now accomplished the
undertaking on which set out I know
1t will be agreeable to you to be in
formed Of all have discovered in my
voyage. On the twenty-third day after
left Cadiz reached the Indian Ocean,
where I found many islands peopled by
innumerable inhabitants, Of all Of
which took possession without re-
sistance. These islands abound in the
finest variety Of trees so lofty they seem
to reach the stars. The people are of
very timid disposition and uncom-
monty simple, honest people, liberal in
bestowing what they possess"
One Of the incunabula printed in
1893, the Nuremberg Chronicle con-
tains puzZling claim to the discovery
Of the New World in 1888, nine years
before Columbus, by Martin Behaim of
Nuremberg and Diego Cam, a Portu-
guese, explorers in the service of King
John II Of Portugal 1t records that
these two by the grace of God crossed
| the equinoctial line and sailed to an
| other world where, facing east at noon,
their shadows fell on their right hands
ND NxyaoF
But the original Latin manuscript of
the Nuremberg Chronicle has been
found and contains no such reference.
It Is evidently later Interpolation in
the manuscript used by the printers by
some one who sought to rob Columbus
Of his credit
One of the earliest references is in
the Three Golden Books of Patience"
by Baptista Mantuanus, published in
1899, recording that especially in our
days through the activity of the King
OF Spain have been found islands in
| habited by men and also much larger
than ours TO the point of having a cir
.cumference of 5000 miles and more.
or these neither Strabo nor Ptolemy
nor Pliny nor any of the ancient writer's
makes any mention, from which 1t Is
evident they were unknown until the
present"
There Is another reference in the
ship of Fools" by Sebastian Brandt,
published in 1497, which records that
for move of late hath large londe and
grounde ben founde by maryners and
crafty gouernours, the which londes
were neuer knowen nor founde before
cur time"
There is also copy of the History
of Persons, Places and Things" by
Aeneas Sylvius, afterward Pope Plus
II, which was Columbus encyclopedia.
He took a copy with him on his fourth
voyage and covered its margin with
written notes on science and geography.
Another favorite book of Columbus in
this section of the exhibit is the
"Hexameron" of st. Ambrose, which the
diScoverer is supposed to have always
kept at hand and from which he made
long quotations in his reports
Even before Columbus there was some
idea of unknown lands to the west, as
| is shown by an edition of Ptolemy pub
| lished in 1882, containing a chart of
the universe. Here Greenland appears
for the first time on any map.
Other sections Of the exhibit cover
classical literature, philosophy and
| theology, secular and canon law, music,
science, history, medicine, philology,
books in other languages than Greek
! and Latin, broadsides from which has
developed periodical literature of today,
and popular literature. While the
reading public of the fifteenth century
may have been small, Il Is pointed out,