BOOK-HISTORICAL DISSERTATIONS

Schwarz, Christian Gottlieb (praes.): Disputatio prima [-tertia] de ornamentis librorum apud veteres usitatis [...]  [with] [Id.] Disputatio de ornamentis codicum veterum [...]. Lipsiae [Leipzig], Stanno Fleischeriano [2: excudebat Christophorus Fleischerus] [3; [Altdorf] excudebat Iod. Guil. Kohlesius academ. typographus] [4: [ibid.] literis Iod. Guil. Kohlesii acad. typographi]. 1705 [1706] [1711] [1733].

Illustrated dissertations on the history of making and decorating books, presided over by the philologist Christian Gottlieb Schwarz (1675-1751), at Leipzig (1705 and 1706), and Altdorf (1711 and 1716). The last is in a reprint from 1733. A collectable series, later to be printed with others in a single volume (1756). The three plates in this set illustrate respectively [I] Schwarz’s second and third disputations and [II, III] his fourth. The contents of the first plate show how they were already being sold together.

In the third dissertation, Schwarz uses Hebrew sources to discuss Jewish library practices, and his work is illustrated with Torah scrolls. For the fourth dissertation, there is an illustration of an ancient papyrus library, which predates the first discovery of a real Roman library, the Herculaneum papyri (1752) (Norman).

Details

Four pamphlets in one volume, 19 cms. x 15 cms. in binding, quarto, pp. [20]; [58]; [32]; [54]. + 3 intaglio plates, one after the first pamphlet, the other two bound within the last pamphlet. Woodcut headpiece and initials. Bound in half-calf and marbled boards, spine gilt with red morocco gilt label; binding rubbed and slightly worn, some loss at head- and tail-caps, lower joint loosening, but binding otherwise good. Purchase inscriptions with shilling price codes: “5 [recte 4] pamphlets. Dr Paign’s 2nd sale. IV. 80”, and “Birdsall binding No. 501”. Added in manuscript, the number “19” to fourth title-page.

First work: OCLC 836551912; third: 80436207; fourth: 699847220.

Jeremy Norman, ‘Christian Gottlieb Schwarz's Researches on the History of Ancient Books and Libraries’, https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=5086 (accessed 8 April 2023).