Volume 1
An index to the early printed books in the British Museum ... / by Robert Proctor.
- Robert Proctor
- Date:
- 1898-1938
Licence: In copyright
Credit: An index to the early printed books in the British Museum ... / by Robert Proctor. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![1 PREFACE. The present work, though essentially complete in itself, will, it is Parts i and 2. 0 J 1 ’ hoped, eventually form the first of two parts. The second part, if ever completed, is intended to form a continuation of the first, and to contain a similar list of the books in the British Museum printed in the years 1501 to 1520. In such a list it will be advisable, owing to the absence of general bibliographies for that period, to include in the majority of cases a transcript in some form of the titlepage ; on the other hand, it will be neither necessary nor possible to devote such close attention to the types used as in the earlier portion. This first part consists of an indication in the briefest possible form of the books printed in the fifteenth century which were in the library of the British Museum on 1st July, 1897, together with additions showing such books as are also or only in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It includes an attempt at a complete chronological list of the fifteenth century presses, and a list of types. It is not to be supposed that every early printed book in both libraries has been inserted ; especially in the British Museum, where the incunabula are scattered throughout the library, such a result is extremely improbable ; but I hope that the work will be found to be reasonably complete. The motives which induced me to adopt the index form were Form adopted. majn]y, three. a desire) firstly, to abstain from encroaching on the ground likely to be covered by an official catalogue, the preparation of which has, I believe, been now and again contemplated ; secondly, to include the whole in a single easily-handled volume, impossible in dealing with libraries of such size unless the space allowed to each book be extremely limited ; the belief, in the third place, that a clearer view of a printer’s work is obtainable if the eye is free to run straight down a page unencumbered by lengthy collations. Within the narrow limits I have endeavoured to give as much information as possible, and I believe that the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29003611_0001_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
