College and Research Libraries


one may carp, it is that not much account is 
taken of the human satisfaction one gets 
from handling a physical book whether 
(each in its own time) that be a cuneiform 
tablet, papyrus roll, vellum codex, or 
Library Quarterly. 

It is interesting to examine the opinions 
in this collection with some advanced in an 
earlier conference of men who were con-
cerned primarily with book-making, pub-
lished as Graphic Forms; the Arts in Rela-
tion to the Book (Harvard University Press, 
1949). T w o of its contributors who were 
troubled as to the future of the book offered 
solutions that might help to preserve it. 
Merle Armitage felt that the format should 
be brought up to date with text, picture, 
and design so conceived that the book's 
meaning would be expressed and thus help 
the reader. J. Donald Adams also considered 
the appeal of design important in competi-
tion with other media, but he was more 
concerned with the quality of the book's 
content. Mr. Adams felt that the survival 
of the book depends primarily on the 
author. 

We can be grateful that The Future of 
the Book has been made available to a large 
circle of readers in such a format that it will 
be on hand for the next generation to ap-
plaud or condemn.—Bertha M. Frick, School 
of Library Service, Columbia University. 

Catalogus der 
Niet-Nederlandse Drukken 

Catalogus der Niet-Nederlandse Drukken: 
1500-1540, aanwezig in de Koninklijke 
Bibliotheek 's-Gravenhage. Comp. by R. 
Pennink. The Hague: Koninklijke Biblio-
theek, 1955. xviii, 267 p. 

Dr. Brummel, director of the Royal Li-
brary in The Hague, reminds the reader in 
his introduction that J. W. Holtrop and 
M. F. A. G. Campbell had at one time been 
intimately connected with this important 
library. Holtrop published in 1856 the cata-
log of incunabula in the Royal Library. 
Campbell is well known among specialists 
as the author of the Annales de la typo-
graphic neerlandaise au XVe siecle (1874). 

Dutch imprints of the post-incunabula pe-
riod have been listed with locations, includ-
ing those of the Royal Library, in Nijhoff 
and Kronenberg's Nederlandsche Bibliog-
raphic van 1500 tot 1540 (1923-51). The 
present volume thus supplements these 
earlier reference books by rounding out the 
inventory of holdings of the Royal Library, 
as well as of its affiliates, the Museum Meer-
manno-Westreenianum, the Nederduits Her-
vormde Gemeente te Edam, and the Neder-
landse Akademie van Wetenschappen. 

The Catalogus lists, in alphabetical order, 
2,373 imprints produced between 1500 and 
1540 outside the Low Countries. It goes be-
yond a mere short-title list. By including 
ample and very well selected references, by 
most careful cross referencing, and through 
its exhaustive imprints index and the ap-
parently complete list of former owners, the 
catalog deserves to be considered more than 
a location tool and will prove of consider-
able value to historians of early printing. 

The collection as such is varied in nature 
and, while containing some very rare books, 
is not outstandingly rich in any area or in 
works of any particular author, perhaps with 
the one exception of Erasmus. Among places 
of printing Paris, Lyons, Venice, Strasbourg, 
Basle and Cologne predominate (as would 
be the case with practically any collection 
of books produced during the first half of 
the sixteenth century). Some of the lesser 
known imprints found in the catalog are 
Altenburg, Colmar, Reichenau, Angers, 
Rennes, St. Nicolaus-du-Port, Ortona, 
Saluzzo and Toscolano. Only four English 
imprints are listed, while we were surprised 
to locate through this catalog ten titles 
printed in Constantinople. 

The form of entry frequently differs, 
quite naturally, from that used in our li-
brary catalogs. However, the descriptions 
will prove useful to rare book catalogers in 
this country. The excellence of bibliographi-
cal details and the form of publication de-
serve study and imitation.—Rudolf Hirsch, 
University of Pennsylvania Library. 

Catalogs of Incunabula 
Fifteenth-Century Books in the Library of 

Howard Lehman Goodhart; with a De-

446 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES