THE SOCIETY
ANNOUNCES THE PUBLICATION OF
 The
Library of Leander van Ess and the Earliest American Collections
of Reformation Pamphlets
by Milton
McC. Gatch
Reformation
pamphlets were among the first rare book
acquisitions of American libraries. Gatch traces
the remarkable history of the Leander van Ess
collection purchased by the Union Theological
Seminary in 1838, the first and largest
collection of these religious tracts to arrive in
America. He notes how they were originally
obtained by van Ess, a Catholic priest,
translator of the Bible, and a former Benedictine
monk, who built an impressive personal collection
of books and manuscripts when monastic libraries
were being dispersed during the Napoleonic wars.
He has also identified a significant group of
pamphlets assembled at Wittenberg during the
1520s, Luther’s most creative period. Never
before accurately described, the surviving
pamphlets from this collection are listed here in
the order of van Ess’s own catalogue, with a
set of indexes to authors and printers, and with
concordances to major bibliographical resources.
Gatch reviews the history of Reformation pamphlet
collecting in the United States from these
earliest efforts up to the beginning of the
twentieth century, and reflects on how these
primary resources were used (or neglected) by
American church historians. An extensive
bibliography and a detailed index of the
introductory essays are included.
Feb. 2007,
wrappers, 8½ x 11 inches, 212 pages,
illustrated, ISBN 978-0-914930-18-1 /
Price: $50 or £25. Order from: Oak Knoll
Books, 310 Delaware Street, New Castle.
DE19720 Email: oakknoll@oakknoll.com Web: www.oakknoll.com Tel:
800-996-2556
BSA individual members may obtain a copy
(only one per member) by sending $25 by
credit card or check in U.S.funds drawn
on a U.S. bank to the Executive
Secretary, BSA, P.O. Box1537, Lenox Hill
Station, New York10021. Fax:
212-452-2710. New York residents please
add $2.09 sales tax. |
| This is the first
of the BSA Occasional Publications. The
next volume in this series will be:
Melissa Conway & Lisa Fagin Davis, Directory
of North American Institutions Holding
Pre-1600 Manuscripts. |
|
