Traitté des plus belles bibliothèques de l'Europe
Subtitle: des premiers livres qui ont êté faits, del'invention de l'imprimerie, des imprimeurs, de plusiers livres qui ont été perdus & recouvrez par les soins des s~cavans, avec une methode pour dresser une bibliotheque
By: par le sieur Le Gallois.
Publisher: Chez Estienne Michallet
Published: 1680
Place of publication: Paris
Language: fre
Number of pages: 210
Subjects: Libraries.; Books.
Notes: Pagination erratic.

Rare first edition of this famous treatise on the celebrated libraries of the ancients and of 17th cent. Europe, listing their most renowned rarities both in manuscript and printing. Of English libraries, the Bodleian (as containing 30,000 vols.), the Cotton and Cambridge University libraries are specially mentioned. The 2nd part contains a history of printing of which the section on early printing is probably the first scholarly attempt at a comprehensive study of the subject. The work ends with the well-known chapters on how to organize a library. cf. Cioranesçu, Dix-septième siècle II, 41755.