[INCUNABULA REFERENCE]. Catalogue des incunables et livres du XVIe siecle de la Bibliotheque Municipale de Strasbourg

Strasbourg and Zurich: P.-H. Heitz, 1948. First Edition. Very good. Thick 8vo. 13, [2], 926 pp. Original printed wrappers, a little shelf-worn, edges mostly uncut (text with some toning throughout as is true in all copies). NOT ex-library! Francois Ritter remains the unsurpassed authority on early Strasbourg printing and humanism, and this is his masterpiece. ¶ The Strasbourg Municipal Library was basically burned to the ground in 1870, and thousands of incunables (many unique), precious medieval manuscripts, and irreplaceable archives were incinerated. Former librarian Rod. Reuss (1870-1895) made great progress in rebuilding the library. A worthy testament to said progress, and to the efforts of several generations of Strasbourg citizens, is the present catalogue, in which are recorded and very capably described ca. 2,300 books printed in the 15th and 16th century held by the Strasbourg Municipal Library. For obvious reasons, the present work is indispensable for all students and scholars of Alcacian humanism. See J.V.M. Pollet's glowing review of the work in: "Revue des sciences religieuses," 1949 (vol. 23, no. 3-4) pp. 376-377.

COMMENT: We are unable to explain why the editors of the RBMS Standard Citation Form recently removed "Ritter" from the citation, preferring only the lengthy title, although "Ritter, Catalogue de la BMS" is preferable.

¶ From the famed Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana (sale at Christies NY, 2005, lot 1235), with Bernard Breslauer's circled accession number in pencil on the front wrapper.