Gesamtkatalog Der Wiegendrucke
Leipzig: Verlag Von Karl W. Hiersemann. Six volumes. lxiii, 682col; xi, 786col; xxxiv, 754col; viii, 690col; x, 742col; viii, 854col. Publishers cloth 1-5. Vol 6 is unbound with the original publishers cloth containing in the original sheets in two cardboard portfolios and one set loose. Listing 7377 items fully described with cross references to Hain. Also includes the original prospectus stating that the work was commissioned in November, 1904, by the Prussian Board of Education and under the presidency of the learned bibliographer, Dr. Conrad Haebler. A complete list of all the items in the German Empire had been accomplished by the end of 1911 at which point they proceeded to investigate with the assistance of local bibliographers and scholars, the contents of the libraries in other parts of Europe and in America. They had by March, 1920, collected 37,639 descriptions of separate works arranged alphabetically by author. The publisher must have realized that the political situation in Germany and Europe would create difficulties, so an announcement printed on thin red paper in French, German, English and Italian stating that the printed matter of each volume will be increased from the sixth volume onwards. While previous volumes, they write, have contained an average of 50 quires, future volumes will contain and average of 54 quires, and at the same price as before. Furthermore, they write, from the seventh volume onwards, the number of incunabula described will be considerably increased from 1200 to 1800-2000 per volume owing to smaller spacing of the lines and greater concisiveness in the description, especially in the case of the numerous editions of practically the same text. A further seventh volume was published in 1938 before it was interrupted by the war. The project would not be resumed until 1972 when the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in East Berlin, who owned the card file collected by the Kommission prior to the War, began working on the additional volumes. But, it turned out to be, and in true tribute to bureaucracy, a slow process as only vol 8 and part 1 of volume 9 had been issued by 1984. Internally a fresh clean set with the portions of the original wrappers attached on the inside boards. Internationally a fresh clean set aside from the boards to volume 4 which are slightly soiled along edges. Dustjacked preserved on volume 5. Very Good. Item #003150
4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.
Price: $500.00