Book Censuses: Making Every Copy Count

BEYOND THE BASICS Owen Gingerich’s detailed census of the ﬁ rst and second editions of Copernicus’s De revolutionibus, the book that suggested that the earth revolved around the sun, includes descriptions of the notations found in the margins of each copy of the book. B C Making every copy count ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE LILLY LIBRARY. racking down the surviving copies of of books, but compiling a complete list of with many of the bindings dating from the Ta rare book is seldom an easy task, unless all known copies of a book is much more late-nineteenth and early-twentieth cen- there is just one known copy, like the di cult and far less usual. Joseph van Praet turies. Famous books also tend to receive quarto of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus or included the locations of the copies of the much more repair work than lower-priced the Spanish folio edition of Columbus’s books he listed in the Catalogue des livres volumes, and most First Folios have indeed letter describing his discovery of America. imprimés sur vélin (Catalog of Books Printed been heavily repaired, with title-pages For most books, the task is di cult. There are on Vellum), which was published between and other signi cant leaves remargined for example, several dozen copies, in vary- and , but few other bibliographers or restored. First Folios have often been ing states of preservation and completeness, followed suit. One of the first attempts sophisticated, or made up from leaves taken of the Gutenberg Bible and well over two at a complete census of a book from more than one copy. Some hundred copies of the First Folio, the rst was Sidney Lee’s tabulation of the copies have had missing leaves collected edition of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, which was appended replaced by facsimiles, too. First plays, published in . The more impor- to Oxford University Press’s Folios sometimes have manuscript tant (and expensive) a book is, the more likely facsimile. In this pioneering cen- notes or other distinctive mark- it is that collectors and booksellers have tried sus, Lee identi ed and provided Joel Silver ings, and a bibliographer doing to track down the locations of the surviving details about copies. Four years is Curator of a census can potentially record all Rare Books at copies to establish its rarity and to assess the later, in his Notes and Additions to the the Lilly Library. of this information. likelihood of future appearances on the mar- Census, he was able to add fourteen Contact him at The importance of details joel@ﬁ nebooks ket. Depending on the thoroughness of the more to his total. magazine.com. such as these, and the potential use survey and the amount of detail recorded, Lee, who is thought to be the of a book census as a tool against this kind of detective work can take days rst bibliographer to apply the term cen- crime, is illustrated by the current case of the or decades. When the results of these sur- sus to a listing of all of the known copies of University of Durham’s missing First Folio. veys are published, they become reference a book, organized his work based on the This Shakespeare Folio was stolen from the works for anyone interested in the books condition of the books, rather than arrang- university library in December . In the themselves, and they provide troves of infor- ing the listings in groups according the most recent census of Shakespeare First Folios, mation for those fascinated by the history countries and towns in which they were which was compiled by Anthony James West of book collecting. located. Collectors of modern literature and published in , the Durham copy “is Bibliographers, book historians, and need to adjust their usual standards of con- given its rightful position in the census in collectors have published a considerable vol- dition considerably when looking at First the hope that it will be returned.” West also ume of information about particular copies Folios. Nearly all copies have been rebound, provided whatever information he could 56 F INE B OOKS & C OLLECTIONS @2012 Fine Books & Collections 8FBC35BeyondBasics.indd 56 8/11/08 4:21:28 PM FURTHER READING he Book Nobody Read is a good place to start to learn about the effort T and knowledge required to make a book census. For those who want additional reading about travels in search of copies of books, Don Cleveland Norman’s lavishly produced tale of his travel adventures in search of copies of the Gutenberg Bible, The 500th Anniversary Pictorial Census of the Gutenberg Bible (Chicago: Coverdale Press, 1961), is a well-illustrated, though far from scholarly, account. Anthony James West’s census is The Shakespeare First Folio: The History of the Book. Volume II: A New Worldwide Census of First Folios (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). This forms a part of a planned four-volume set on the First Folio which, when completed, will be a major resource for scholars and bibliographers. The future possibilities of book censuses are laid out in “De Revolutionibus in Bibliography: Analysing the Copernican Census,” Neil Harris’s review of Owen Gingerich’s census efforts (The Library: The Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, Seventh Series, Volume 3, Anthony James West’s September 2006, pages 320 to 329). In addition to covering the strengths Shakespeare census and weaknesses of Gingerich’s work, Harris also discusses the ways that describes the Lilly Library collectors have treated some treasured rarities of English literature, such copy of the First Folio as as the Shakespeare Folios and Quartos. He also explains how a focus on “quite complete.” books such as these has affected our perceptions of European books from ALL PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE LILLY LIBRARY. the handpress period. obtain on the condition, distinctive features, De revolutionibus is in question, and he has ductions of William Caxton (the rst printer and provenance of the Durham Folio. served as an expert witness and a consultant in England), and the earliest books printed in What would previously have appeared in cases involving thefts of the book. In An Mainz, Germany, where Johann Gutenberg to non-bibliophiles as a mass of arcane Annotated Census of Copernicus’ “De revolution- worked. There also have been several pub- and super uous information took on new ibus,” Gingerich revealed the results of his lished censuses of incunabula in American importance this past June, when a First examinations and the extent to which each libraries, and for those interested in more Folio was brought to the Folger Shakespeare of the copies had been annotated by its var- modern books, there are censuses of the Library in Washington, D.C., for evalua- ious owners. Though the census is intended suppressed edition of Lewis Carroll’s tion. Upon examination, the librarians and for specialists, Gingerich went on to describe Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as well a consultant matched the book to West’s his pursuit of Copernicus for a more general as of the rst edition () of James Joyce’s description of the Durham copy. Although audience in The Book Nobody Read: Chasing Ulysses. Censuses are currently underway for it’s too early to tell how things will nally the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus (New the rst edition of Charles Darwin’s be settled, it’s clear that whatever the result, York: Walker, ), which described the On the Origin of Species and the edi- West’s extremely detailed census of the - original production and dissemination of tion of Chaucer printed by William Morris odd surviving copies of Shakespeare’s First De revolutionibus, and also provided an engag- at the Kelmscott Press. Folio has already played an important role. ing account of Gingerich’s travels. In The Wanderings and Homes of The current case of the Durham Folio Few people devote their lives to study- Manuscripts, M. R. James wrote about the isn’t the only time that a census has been ing unimportant books, and as a result, the circuitous journeys taken by medieval useful in the identi cation of a stolen book. subjects of censuses have tended to be books manuscripts. Censuses of printed books— The Harvard astrophysicist Owen Gingerich that are considered landmarks and that are particularly those that provide information spent several decades pursuing every copy of also highly valued in the rare-book mar- on the succession of owners of the books the rst () and second () editions ket. There have been a number of censuses described—can be read like bibliophilic of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the devoted to the Gutenberg Bible, as well as a novels and travelogues, with the books Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) by series of censuses of the surviving copies of themselves as the main characters and with Nicolaus Copernicus. Gingerich’s travels the Shakespeare Quartos (as the individual readers, booksellers, collectors, and librar- have taken him around the world, and he plays published in the smaller quarto format ians taking the supporting roles. Reading has personally examined hundreds of cop- are called). The remarkable bibliographer a book census (and the best of them can ies of these books and made notes on their Seymour de Ricci compiled several detailed indeed be read straight through) will characteristics and peculiarities. Gingerich censuses, including listings of medieval teach you a great deal about books and the has been consulted whenever a copy of manuscripts in American libraries, the pro- history of collecting. & @2012 Fine Books & Collections S EPTEMBER /OCTOBER 2008 57 8FBC35BeyondBasics.indd 57 8/11/08 3:15:57 PM.

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