Printed Books, 1468-1700, in the Hispanic Society of America: A Listing

An up-to-date listing of the books published before 1700 in the library of the Hispanic Society of America is a valuable bibliographical tool, because the Society’s collection is unique, and because previous catalogues of it are incomplete. The previous catalogues include Miss Penney’s publication of 1929 listing the society’s holdings of books printed before 1601 and her publication of 1938 giving those printed from 1601 to 1700. In 1962 the card catalogue of the society was photographically reproduced and published in ten large volumes by G. K. Hall, but the somewhat surprising fact is that “most of the volumes printed before 1701” were not represented by cards. Since the issuance of these works the regular process of acquisition has continued, and a number of exceptional rarities were received from the private collection of Archer M. Huntington following his death in 1955. Thus the present listing is much larger than earlier ones, and it amounts to a full bibliography of Hispanic publications prior to the eighteenth century. The titles are particularly relevant to Spanish peninsular history of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, but there is much of Spanish American interest too, including both the works issued by colonial presses and those published in Europe on American topics. The collection is so good that the catalogue can be used as a bibliographical checklist for early editions, even by those who do not have access to the society’s holdings in New York. Full bibliographical citations are not given, but the information in each case is sufficient for identification. It includes the author’s name, a short title, the place of publication, the printer, and the date. Additional notations provide the names of editors and translators, the provenience, and citations to bibliographical works where fuller data can be obtained. The list of these further bibliographical reference works, all in the Reading Room of the Hispanic Society, is itself an important contribution. The titles are not numbered, but a quick estimate suggests that about 12,000 items published between 1468 and 1700 are included.