A classified index of the fifteenth century books in the collection of the late M. J. de Meyer
1870 · London
by Bradshaw, Henry
London: Macmillan, 1870. The Beginning of Modern Bibliographical Analysis Bradshaw, Henry (1831-86). A classified index of the fifteenth century books in the collection of the late M. J. de Meyer . . . 28pp. London; Macmillan, 1870. 223 x 147 mm. (uncut and unopened). Original plain wrappers, spine chipped. Very good. . First Edition. It is highly unusual in the history of bibliography for a major innovation to be traced to a single work, but in Bibliographical Analysis: An Historical Introduction (2009) G. Thomas Tanselle traces the beginning of modern bibliographical analysis to this small pamphlet by Henry Bradshaw. Tanselle writes : "In April 1870 Henry Bradshaw, librarian of Cambridge University, published a little pamphlet entitled A Classified Index of the Fifteenth Century Books in the Collection of the Late M. J. de Meyer, Which Were Sold at Ghent in November 1869. Despite the unpromising title, it deserves to be considered a landmark in intellectual history-indeed, as far as bibliographical scholarship is concerned, one of the greatest of landmarks-for it contains a passage of major significance [on pp. 15-16] emphasizing the importance of systematically examining the physical evidence in printed books. Bradshaw insisted that arranging early books according the locations and presses where they were printed was the only method whereby knowledge of early printing would be advanced, since it provides a basis for dating or identifying the printers of books that do not readily proclaim their origins . . . This passage gains its landmark status by being the first published rationale of bibliographical methodology, explicitly envisioning a whole field of endeavor, from the person who was more responsible than any other for setting in motion what Stanley Morison called the 'bibliographical revolution' " (Tanselle pp. 6-7). The methods that Bradshaw began to enunciate in this small pamphlet were adopted by Robert Proctor in his Index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum, and by the compilers of the British Museum's Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century, among many other works. . (Inventory #: 42462)