, an eminent German bibliographer, was a French preacher at Hanover,
, an eminent German bibliographer,
was a French preacher at Hanover, a man profoundly acquainted with the history of literature, and the author of
a well-known collection of bibliography, entitled “Bibliotheque curieuse, historique, et critique, ou Catalogue raisonne de livres difficiles a trouver,
” 9 vols. 4to, Gottingen,
&c. 1750 1760, at which last date^this useful work was
interrupted by his death, and has never been completed.
It is in alphabetical order, and extends no farther than the
letter H. Its only fault is that the author marks many
books as rare, which are very common. He published also
“Specimen Bibliothecae Hispano-Maiansianae, sive idea
novi catalog! critici operum scriptorum Hispanorum, quse
kabet in sua bibliotheca Gregorius Maiansius,
” Hanover,
, an eminent German bibliographer, and principal librarian of the
, an eminent German bibliographer,
and principal librarian of the imperial library of Vienna,
was born at Sclarden, in Bavaria, in 1729, and died at
Vienna in 1800, in the seventy -first year of his age. He
published several works on subjects of philology, bibliography, literary, and even natural history, and poetry.
The principal of these are, 1. A translation into German of “Ossian’s poems,
” Vienna, The Songs
of the Bard Sined,
” (Denis) with a preliminary dissertation on the ancient poetry of the North, Vienna, 1772,
8vo. 3. “A systematic catalogue of Butterflies in the
environs of Vienna,
” ibid. An
Introduction to the knowledge of Books,
” 2 vols. 4to,
1777 — 1778. This, which like most of his works, is written in German, contains a division of Bibliography into
three periods. The first relates to the state of book-writing,
previous to Christianity; the second comprehends the
state of Bibliography from the introduction of Christianity
to the restoration of letters, or the invention of printing;
and the third extends from this latter period to the present times. Each of these periods contains an historical
and mechanical account of book-making. The historical
account of the first period exhibits the origin, progress,
and decline of the art of writing and preserving books in
different nations; and the other part of this same period
contains a description of the alphabets, paper, and instruments employed in writing, and the form of books in these
early times. In the second period is the history of printing; and in the third, an account of the most celebrated
libraries of that time in Italy, England, France, Holland,
Spain, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Germany, and Vienna,
comprehending printed books and manuscripts. In this
exhibition, the books are reduced, like the sciences, under
the distinct classes of theology, law, philosophy, physic,
mathematics, history, and philology, and are considered
with respect to their number, their qualities, their rarity,
&c. and the manuscripts, whether Hebrew, Greek, Latin,
Gothic, Lombard, French, or Anglo-Saxon, are enumerated, though without many critical illustrations. 5. “A
Typographical History of Vienna from the year 1482 to
1560,
” ibid. 8.
Augustini Sermones inediti, admixtis quibusdarn dubiis,
”
ibid. 1792, fol. These were copied from a manuscript of
the twelfth century in the imperial library. 7. “Codices
manuscripti theologici Latiui aliarumque occidentis linguarum bibliothecae Palatinse Vindobon.
” vol. I. Carmina qusedam,
” Vienna,