Guide to the Bancroft Library Incunabula Collection

Processed by Patrick J. Russell
The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
© 1999
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Guide to the Bancroft Library Incunabula Collection

The Bancroft Library



University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

Processed by:
Patrick J. Russell
Date Completed:
August 9, 1996
Encoded by:
Gabriela A. Montoya
© 1999 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Bancroft Library Incunabula Collection
Creator: Bancroft Library. Special Collections
Extent: ca. 460 volumes
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Online inventory:
A detailed inventory of The Bancroft Library Incunabula Collection is available online.

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research. Permission of the Rare Books Curator is required for use of all items, except facsimiles.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from this material must be submitted in writing to the Rare Books Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Bancroft Library Incunabula Collection, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The greater portion of these works come from the library of James Kennedy Moffitt, a graduate of the University of California, class of 1886, for 36 years a University Regent, as well as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Crocker National Bank of San Francisco. Several volumes are from the collection of John Henry Nash, one of the leading typographers of California. Another part comes from the library of Charles Kay Ogden, noted linguist and originator of Basic English. Other volumes came through purchase and gift, most notably from the collections of the Italian humanist manuscripts, Charles William Dyson Perrins, the Dante enthusiast George John Warren, 5th Baron Vernon, the San Francisco attorney Alfred Sutro, and the medievalist James Westfall Thompson of Berkeley's History Dept.

Scope and Content

The Incunabula Collection of The Bancroft Library comprises more than 400 titles (several of which are only leaves) printed before 1501. It includes philosophical, theological, scientific, historical, and literary works. The collection has specimens from each of the major western European countries. The largest representation is from Italy, with 132 titles from Venice alone. In addition, there are leaf books, collections original leaves from German, Italian, and West-European incunabula, described by Konrad Haebler, noted historian of incunabula, a miscellany collection of unidentified original leaves, and a selection of facsimiles and photographic reproductions of other incunabula and early type faces.

A detailed inventory of The Bancroft Library Incunabula Collection is available online.
Vault

Individual Incunabula

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged by country and city of printing, then by date and author.
Vault

Leaf Books

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged by author of work describing an incunable and containing one or more leaves from it.
Vault

Collections of Original Leaves

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged by compiler or title of the collection.
Rare Book Stacks

Facsimiles of Incunabula

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged by original country and city of printing, then by original date and author. Collections of facsimiles and other photographic reproductions are at the end.