Catalogue of the John Boyd Thacher Collection of Incunabula

Books on Books, European History, Most Recent Listing; 329 pages; Washington DC: Very Good. 1915. First Edition. 329 pages; Publisher's brown morocco leather spine over tan cloth boards, top edges gilt, others trimmed rough. An excellent copy; the spine is intact and the gilt lettering fresh, corners and the foot of the spine very slightly bumped, internally clean and free from foxing. Frontispiece portrait of John Boyd Thacher [1847-1909]. Several page facsimiles of fifteenth century books in the LC's Thacher collection, one features a stunning decorative initial letter in red. Thacher's aim as a collector was to attempt to assemble an example from each press active during the period 1455-1500. His success can be gauged by examining his extensive collection carefully catalogued in this volume -- a catalogue which constitutes 840 works -- specimens of over 500 presses. Outstanding items include a vellum copy of Rationale Divinorum Officiorum by Gulielmus Durantis (Mainz: Johann Fust and Peter Schàffer, 1459) and the only known American copy of Breviarium Moguntinum (Marienthal: Frates Vitae Communis, 1474) and Vocabularis ex Quo (Eltvil: Nicholas Bechtermüntze, 1476) . Our copy of the Thacher incunablua catalogue is the issue with added titlepage and short preface on its verso, which forms the first volume of the three volume catalogue of the collection of John Boyd Thacher in the Library of Congress, 1931. The binding is identical in materials and design to the 1915 issue, except that the gilt lettering on the spine states "LIBRARY / OF / CONGRESS/ Collection / of / John Boyd / Thacher / 1 / 1915." The retention of the original date at the foot of the binding is further evidence that these are just original 1915 sheets, bound up at the time of the issue of the entire Thacher catalogue -- following the death of Thacher's widow and the transfer of the last of the gifts of the collection to the LC. This is a significant Incunabula catalogue. Contents: Introduction. --John Boyd Thacher: a biographic sketch. --List of works of John Boyd Thacher. --Preface. --Authorities. --Fifteenth century books (the catalogue) . -- Indexes: I. Countries: II. Towns: III. Printers and publishers: IV. Authors and books: V. Hain numbers. .…