Transcriber's Note: Inconsistencies in hyphenation and spelling found inthe original book have been retained in this version. A list of theseinconsistencies is found at the end of the text.
CATALOGUE OF EARLY PRINTED BOOKS
CATALOGUE
OF THE
William Loring Andrews
Collection of Early Books
IN THE
LIBRARY OF YALE UNIVERSITY
NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
MCMXIII
Copyright, 1913
by
Yale University Press
Printed from type October, 1913. 300 copies
PREFACE
The collection of early printed books presented to the Library of YaleUniversity in 1894 by Mr. William Loring Andrews, of New York, wasformed to illustrate the first century of printing, which is a betterboundary for the survey than the half-century ending with the year 1500,more often chosen. The latter, the so-styled cradle period of the art,is wanting in real definition, being at most a convenient halting place,not a completed stage, whereas at the middle of the sixteenth centurythe printed book of the better class had acquired most of its maturerfeatures and no longer has for us an unfamiliar look. Designed to serveas a permanent exhibition, it is a selection rather than a collection,not large, but wisely chosen, and no less attractive than instructive,having been formed a quarter of a century ago, at a time whenopportunities were unusually favorable.
The surviving books of the first presses, which are the chief sources ofour knowledge of the early art, are at the same time, when obtainable,the most efficient teachers. For the illustration of the typography, thefeature of first importance, there is nothing comparable to the openpages of a representative series of the original books, such as are herespread out before us. The best of the available substitutes, phototypereproductions of specimen pages, apart from other limitations, mustalways lack the authority and the impressiveness of the originals.
While it is the main office of the present collection to set before thestudents of the University as a whole the more general features of theart of the early printer, a further service which it is prepared torender must not be overlooked. To such as are prompted to go into thesubject more deeply it offers an excellent body of the original[vi]material upon which any serious study must of necessity be based.
The two fine fifteenth century MSS. at the head of the collection, farfrom serving a merely ornamental purpose, like their own illuminatedinitials for example, are a needful introduction. It is obvious thatfrom such sources the first printers got the models of their types, andthe MSS. in which Jenson found the prototypes of his famous romancharacters, which in the ju